Dinner Dance

The 2010 BFFF Gala Dinner Dance and Awards Presentation evening was held at the London Hilton on Park Lane on Thursday, 10th June 2010 with over 800 guests gathering to enjoy this popular occasion in the frozen food calendar. Of course, it was not only BFFF members who attended but also the important customers of our industry from both the retail and foodservice sectors.

On the night BFFF President, Paul Freeston, thanked all our sponsors who added to everyone’s enjoyment by sponsoring those elements of the evening so much appreciated by all the companies attending.

Delice de France sponsored the surprise cabaret acts, starting with the fabulous Waiters Encore and followed by the charismatic Stavros Flatley. Westbridge Food Group provided the popular band, Rollacoaster, who filled the dance floor from start to finish. Iceland also added their support by generously sponsoring our seating brochure, whilst at the end of the evening Aunt Bessie’s provided an early breakfast for everyone.

This year we were delighted to have sponsorship for the Annual Awards for New Products both from the Yearsley Group for the Retail Sector and S.F.C (Wholesale) Ltd. for the Catering Sector and we thank them both for their excellent support in recognising all the entrants’ endeavours to bring new products of quality to the market place. BFFF thanks both Harry Yearsley and Tony Nuttall and their teams for demonstrating their on-going commitment to the frozen food industry in this way.

Our sincere thanks to all the sponsors for showing such tremendous support of the Federation’s endeavours to provide a prestigious networking occasion and an award scheme of stature.

We were also honoured to have Aldo Zilli, Celebrity Chef, with us on the evening. He presented the Retail Product of the Year Award with Harry Yearsley of The Yearsley Group and the BFFF President, Paul Freeston. A special thank you to Aldo.

Brian Young, BFFF Director-General, announced the winners to the usual blast of attention-catching music, whilst retail and foodservice buyers and product developers had the added enjoyment of collecting several awards for products throughout the categories. All the winners’ press releases and awards photographs are available here

Congratulations to all our Gold, Silver and Bronze winners. You deserve this recognition for all your commitment to high standards in product development.

Once the awards presentations were over and the music started, the dance floor was full with members and guests enjoying themselves to current hits and rock anthems. We also enjoyed the entertainment by SupaNova who kept the tempo going and dancers energized.

It was with reluctance that the dancing came to a close with everyone still chanting the choruses to old favourites, but at the end of the evening Aunt Bessie’s provided the very welcome chance to slow the pace down, enjoy an early breakfast and talk with colleagues in the industry. With over 600 people for breakfast it’s a great opportunity to meet all those people you haven’t been able to catch up with earlier in the evening. Judging by the number of people still there at 3.00 am, the breakfast is proving to be as popular as ever.

The Dinner Dance always provides a fantastic opportunity to meet with old friends in the industry and BFFF are appreciative of the tremendous support that members give to this event. Thank you to all those members who have written to us with their comments – it’s good to know that you and your customers had such a good time.

It is always great for us to see our regular supporters and to welcome new companies to the event. It was especially good to get feedback and the reaction from so many on the night was that the night had been ‘outstanding’. If you intend to do it all again next year, keep the second Thursday in June free in your diary and join the rest of the frozen food industry on Thursday, 9th June, 2011… you’ll be very welcome.