Last night the very best within the vending and water industries descended on London’s Millennium Gloucester Hotel for The Vendies 2017.
Organised by Datateam Business Media, The Vendies – formally known as the Vending Industry Awards – is the prestigious awards programme designed to recognise and reward the success, innovation and technology of companies and individuals within the vending and water industries.
Upon arrival guests were able to take advantage of the unrivalled networking opportunity during an exclusive drinks reception, before heading into the main hall where the evening’s host, Ryan Philpott, welcomed guests.
After dinner, the ‘Voice of the Balls’ Alan Dedicoat kicked off the evening’s awards, announcing the first winner as Coffetek which scooped the Online Initiative of the Year accolade for its Customer Web service. Siemens Financial Services was next up, winning the supplier’s Customer Service Award, before Coffetek returned to the stage to collect the award for Best Machine Innovation for the Vitro M3 – Fresh Milk Innovation.
Nayax was presented with the Payment System of the Year award for VPOS, while Lavazza scooped the Hot Beverage Brand of the Year award. In a tightly fought category, Burts Potato Chips took home the Snack/Confectionery Product of the Year for its Levi Roots Reggae Reggae crisps.
Next up was the Best Ancillary award which was presented to SB Software for Vendmanager, while Westomatic Vending Services was the winner in the Best New Product category for The Primo Touch.
Host Ryan Philpott treated the audience to an interlude of stand-up comedy, before continuing with the EDWCA sponsored water categories. Best Innovation of the Year was awarded to Alfred Kärcher GmbH & Co KG for the WPD 100/200/600 Advanced; AA First’s Arctic Star 55 with ECO Mode won the Best Environmental Initiative award while David Hilton of Maestro Pressure Coolers was the deserving recipient of the Best Quality Service award.
In the Operator categories, Express Vending clinched four awards; Operator of the Year, Marketing Campaign of the Year, Stephanie Jones was awarded the Customer Service Award and Dave Grist took home the Service Engineer of the Year accolade. Mr Lee’s Pure Foods was the deserving recipient of the Best Newcomer award, while Uvenco UK’s Joanna Cunliffe earned the title of Route Operator of the Year.
After the awards were presented, all in attendance came together to partake in the evening’s charity fundraiser raising a generous amount for Demelza House, a specialist children’s hospice providing care and support to children and parents throughout Kent, East Sussex and South East London.
Hannah Dedman, publication director at Datateam Business Media, was delighted with success of this year’s event, commenting: “All of our finalists at The Vendies 2017 should be congratulated – everyone that entered was of the highest calibre and should be proud of all of their achievements this past year.”
She continues: “I would like to thank everyone that attended the awards for making it truly outstanding, in particular all of our great sponsors who make the awards possible!”
The 2017 Vendies was sponsored by Vendman, Coffetek, Lavazza, SB Software, Siemens Financial Services, the EDWCA, Vending International, Barry Callebaut, Burts Potato Chips, Mr Lee’s Pure Foods and Nupik Flo.
For the full list of winners and highly commended, or for more information on The Vendies, visit www.thevendies.co.uk.
