ROYAL HONOUR FOR APETITO

Vice Lord-Lieutenant presents The King’s Awards for Enterprise in Sustainable Development

Leading meals provider to the Care Homes sector, apetito, which also delivers to consumers in their own homes through its retail brand, Wiltshire Farm Foods, has been presented with the prestigious King’s Awards for Enterprise in Sustainable Development, by Vice Lord-Lieutenant, Lt. General Sir Andrew Gregory KBE, CB, DL.

The Award sees the company’s fourth Royal honour, having previously won three Queen’s Awards for Enterprise (two for Innovation in 2005 and 2016, and one in 2019 for Sustainable Development).  This latest honour recognises apetito’s commitment to conducting business in a way that impacts positively on the environment, society and economy.

In particular, it celebrates apetito’s outstanding dedication to sustainability, its pledge to reach Net Zero by 2040, and the work the company has taken in delivering actions to meet challenging short-term targets for carbon reduction and supporting climate change – targets which are validated by the Science Based Targets Initiative (SBTi).

Central to its King’s Awards for Enterprise 2024 win, was apetito’s work in launching the world’s-first closed loop recycling scheme for plastic meal trays, “Project Boomerang.”

Under the Boomerang’ initiative, once the meals have been eaten, the used trays are collected from the company’s customers and turned back into new meal trays. The award-winning initiative is far more effective than household kerbside collections. Not only does it “collect” more (apetito collects close to 50% of all trays compared to household recycling which collects just 39%), apetito then guarantees that 100% of clean trays collected will be turned into new ones. This is in stark contrast to UK household recycling rates, where it is estimated that 46% is sent abroad for processing, often with uncertain results, including being sent to landfill.

To celebrate the occasion, apetito held a celebratory lunch, inviting over 40 of its Long Service Heroes, members of team apetito with more than 20 years’ dedicated service.

During the occasion, the Vice Lord-Lieutenant was full of praise for apetito for achieving yet another Royal honour:

“It’s impressive for a business to be recognised four times with the UK’s highest business accolade.

“apetito is one of just 29 businesses that were recognised in 2024 for their work in Sustainable Development.  The company is an exemplar of a business that leads the way through its actions to reduce its impact on the environment.

“To present this award today to a Wiltshire-based business has been a privilege”.

The presentation also was attended by the CEO and Chair of apetito UK, Paul Freeston and many of those involved directly with the award entry and sustainability projects that contributed to the award win.

Paul dedicated this award to all members of staff who made it possible:

“This award reflects the hard work, commitment and vision of everyone here at apetito | Wiltshire Farm Foods. We are proud to be making a real difference in the area of ethics and sustainability and making significant strides on our journey to Net Zero by 2040.

“The continued success of our sustainability journey is the culmination of all the hard work and passion of everyone who works here.”

The King’s Awards for Enterprise, previously known as The Queen’s Awards for Enterprise, were renamed last year to reflect His Majesty The King’s, desire to continue the legacy of HM Queen Elizabeth II, by recognising outstanding UK businesses. 

The Awards celebrate the success of exciting and innovative businesses which are leading the way with pioneering products or services, delivering impressive social mobility programmes or showing their commitment to excellent sustainable development practices.

The Award programme, now in its 58th year, is the most prestigious business award in the country, with successful businesses able to use the esteemed King’s Awards for Enterprise emblem for the next five years.

2005: apetito / Wiltshire Farm Foods, wins its first The Queen’s Awards for Enterprise: Innovation for its development of the ‘Chefmobil’.

2016: apetito / Wiltshire Farm Foods wins its second Queens Awards for Enterprise: Innovation, for its world-leading texture-modified food range.

2019: apetito / Wiltshire Farm Foods wins the Queen’s Awards for Enterprise for its commitment to Sustainable Development.