Food entrepreneurs recognised for lighting a fire under their competitors

FOOD entrepreneurs Matt Turner, chief executive of tastecard, and Red’s True Barbecue co-founders James Douglas and Scott Munro won awards at the North of England awards of the 2016 EY Entrepreneur Of The Year programme.

Huddersfield-headquartered tastecard’s group chief executive Matt Turner won the consumer products category, having built a diners’ club with nearly 3m UK members and thousands of restaurants.

The duo behind Red’s True Barbecue showed off their contrary nature by shunning the black-tie dress code as they picked up the emerging entrepreneur award, on the back of their business’s fast growth – achieved in a more conventional manner – that has increased the smokehouse chain to seven outlets.

The overall winner was former Leeds University graduate, Solly Solomou founder of online phenomenon The LADbible.

Stuart Watson, UK Entrepreneur Of The Year leader at EY, and senior partner for Yorkshire said: “Entrepreneurs are the bedrock of our economy and it’s vitally important that we continue to celebrate and recognise their successes, and help them to share best practice. Entrepreneurs will be amongst the North’s most important assets if it is to truly become a globally competitive ‘powerhouse’.

“This year’s Entrepreneur Of The Year finalists and winners give me the confidence that we have all the right ingredients to grow our region and deliver on this vision in the long-term, but we must continue to support innovative business leaders.”

The North of England winners were:

•    Business Services award: Ged Mason, CEO of the Morson Group in Salford.

•    Consumer Products: Matt Turner, Group CEO, tastecard, Huddersfield

•    Healthcare Services award: Naser Fouad, chairman and CEO of St George Healthcare Group in Warrington.

•    Emerging: James Douglas and Scott Munro, co-Founders of Red’s True Barbecue, Leeds.

•    Innovation award: Reg Rix and Louis Rix, joint managing directors of Carfinance247 in Manchester.

•    Master award: Peter Done, managing director of Peninsula Business Services in Manchester.

•    Private-Equity Backed award: Matthew Hirst, CEO of Utiligroup in Chorley.

•    Retail Services award: Jennifer Atkinson, CEO of ITC Luxury Travel Group in Chester.

•    Social Enterprise award: Guy Turnbull, Managing Director of Care & Share Associates, in Newcastle.

Each of the winners were judged and selected from 40 finalist companies from across the North West, Yorkshire and North East. All of the North of England winners will go on to represent the region at the UK finals in October 2016.