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General Manager of Manor West Shopping Centre and Retail Park, Derek Rusk, with winner of last year’s 2019 Food and Craft Fair Award, Denise Hanbidge of Dee’s Delightful Bakes, launching this year’s awards. Photo by Domnick Walsh
MANOR West Shopping Centre and Retail Park recently launched their 2019 Food and Craft Fair Awards in association with the Kerry Local Enterprise Office (LEO) and Connect Magazine.
The launch of the awards took place at Manor West’s recent Food and Craft Fair, the first of a series of popular fairs that will take place at Manor West throughout 2019.
The award will be an opportunity for Kerry’s finest food producers and craftspeople, whose thriving businesses celebrate all the county has to offer, to be recognised for their excellence and entrepreneurship.
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In 2018, due to the huge success of Manor West’s Food and Craft Fairs, it was decided to celebrate the outstanding producers of Kerry’s vibrant culinary and creative scene.
Over the years, Kerry’s finest producers have been exhibiting their fantastic array of food and craft produce for free of charge at Manor West and in 2018, the awards were launched to provide a fantastic opportunity for the lucky winner.
At the helm of the awards is Derek Rusk, General Manager of Manor West Shopping Centre and Retail Park. Commenting at the recent launch of the awards, Derek said, “We are delighted to welcome the return of the Food and Craft Fair Awards for 2019. The awards were a huge success in 2018 and we are looking forward to another successful year ahead as we lead up to the awards. It is so important that we support the abundance of talent that the Kingdom of Kerry has to offer and the awards are a fantastic way of recognising this talent.”
The award-winning craft or food producer will win the opportunity to exhibit their produce in a Pop-Up Shop once a week in the Manor West Shopping Centre free of charge (subject to terms and conditions), as well as promotion through the Manor West Facebook and Twitter pages, and website.
The Local Enterprise Office Kerry will also present the winner with a VIP package, which includes business mentoring, a training course or courses of their choosing in 2019/2020 and a Trading Online Voucher to a maximum of €2,500 (subject to terms and conditions).
In addition to this, the winner will receive a full page advert in Connect Magazine and a double page interview in Connect Business Magazine.
The winning producer in 2018 was Denise Hanbidge of Dee’s Delightful Bakes who praised Manor West for their continued support and opportunities for Food and Craft producers.
Denise said, “The awards are a fantastic initiative by Manor West and since winning the title in 2018, it has provided my business with a huge boost, enabling me to continue to grow my business and reach a much larger audience. Running a business on your own can be quite daunting at times, but when you have people in your corner backing you it really helps. I would like to thank Manor West, the Local Enterprise Office Kerry and Connect Magazine for their support.”
Following the completion of Manor West’s Food and Craft Fairs in December, the public will get the opportunity to vote for their favourite stall on social media. Along with a final judgement, the winner will then be announced.
Delighted to once again be involved in the awards, Fiona Leahy, Business Advisor and Training Coordinator with the Local Enterprise Office Kerry said; “We are surrounded by so many talented businesses here in Kerry and it’s so important to support this talent and create opportunities for these small businesses to excel. Small businesses are vital to maintain and build a thriving local economy, creating sustainable jobs. Here at the Local Enterprise Office Kerry, we promote a ‘can-do’ business culture and Kerry’s food and craft producers are a perfect representation of this.”
For more information on Manor West Shopping Centre and Retail Park and the Food and Craft Fair Awards visit www.manorwest.ie or find them on Facebook and Twitter.
