The Beverage Standards Association is calling all ‘out of home’ cafes (fixed & mobile) and restaurants in England, Scotland and Wales to enter this year’s prestigious Beverage Standards Awards – the Michelin stars of the hot drinks industry, open to members and non-members. Only anonymous trained assessors will provide accurate and impartial assessments of an outlet’s beverages and service.
The Awards are split into two areas – the first is a National Accreditation: – instead of ‘stars’, the BSA’s ‘cup’ rankings will be awarded to the different outlets. These BSA cup logos will be displayed on the doors or windows to show the general public the standard of the outlet. The cups are a recognised symbol on the door. If a café has three coffee cups, for example, the general public will know its beverages, service and facilities are very good – more than that, they will know it’s outstanding.
Running alongside this are the seven Best Drink Awards which include Best Small
Espresso, Best Tea, Best Cappuccino, Best Latte, Best Flat White, Best
Filter and Best Hot Chocolate.
Good practice
Last year Spring Espresso (www.springespresso.co.uk) in Fossgate, York, won Five Cup Accreditation and Best Latte. Owner Steve Dyson who started the business a year ago with his wife Tracey says “I feel honoured to have won these Awards. It’s wonderful to have our hard work recognised. I would recommend outlets to enter the Awards, as it is good practice to have someone else look at and assess your business, especially a well respected organisation like the BSA.”
Staggering benefits
Mandy Cook, who runs Cafelicious in Swindon with her husband Barry and won a Five Cup Accreditation and Best Hot Chocolate, says “The press and media publicity resulting from our winning the BSA Awards have helped to produce frankly staggering benefits. Our overall beverage sales have increased as have our average customer spend. I feel elated and proud we have received recognition for all our hard work. We will be entering this year and encourage other café owners to do the same.”
How to enter
Entry for the Awards will open online on 4 February on www.beveragestandardsassociation.co.uk; in the meantime you can register your interest at info@beveragestandardsassociation.co.uk
Entries can include cafes, tea shops, cafes within hotels or bars, restaurant, mobiles, beverage carts and service areas. Outlets can enter themselves and nominations can be received from suppliers, companies, groups, customers or consultants.
One entry fee covers entry to the BSA National Accreditation Standard Scheme and all seven Beverage Awards. The fee is £38 (plus VAT) for BSA members per café/site/mobile per entry and £50
(plus VAT) for non BSA members per café/site/mobile per entry. Closing date for entries to be received is 25 April, 2013. Judging starts in May and there will be an Awards ceremony in September.
For more information click here
