Prepared fruit company PrepWorld is celebrating winning the prestigious Judges’ Star Performer award in what is dubbed the industry’s Oscars – the Food Manufacture Excellence Awards.
The firm’s achievements were celebrated in front of hundreds of food industry guests as
managing director Ben Olins collected the award during the event held at London’s The Hilton, Park Lane.
English Rugby Union cup winner and former team captain Matt Dawson was hosting the event.
PrepWorld, based in Southfleet, beat off stiff competition to scoop the prize which recognises food and drink manufacturing excellence.
Part of BerryWorld Group, PrepWorld was established in 2012 and has rapidly carved out its place in the market as a fast-growing prepared fruit company supplying the UK market with high-quality fresh-cut packs.
PrepWorld has achieved solid growth since its creation and successfully completed a turnaround of the factory operation following its purchase in early 2016. The factory had previously been run as a service provider to PrepWorld by a third party but struggled to keep up with volume and quality standards.
This turnaround was achieved thanks to the appointment of a new management team, a focus on improving culture and standards, and significant investment in all areas of the business, according to the company.
The new team significantly improved satisfaction levels while cutting complaints by moving to a new quality assurance (QA) system. Investment in training has resulted in production teams taking ownership of the quality of their output and completing their own checks, supported by the QA team.
Academy for Food and Drink praised PrepWorld’s inspired management record.
The judges agreed: “PrepWorld dominated this category from the start with its truly inspiring turnaround story, headed by the new management team dedicated to delivering improvements at the firm’s Southfleet factory.
“A big factor behind its success was a relentless commitment to improving customer satisfaction scores through its 24/7 quality assurance programme.”
