BUSINESSES in Horsell and Woking are celebrating success in the Surrey Life Food and Drink Awards.

Deli Class won the Best Independent Food & Drink Retailer Award, Boz’s Fruit & Veg landed the Customer Service Award and the Good Living Brew Co. secured the Sustainability Initiative Award.

There were also a remarkable five Highly Commended accolades: Prince & Sons Family Butchers (in the Butcher of the Year category), the Goldfinch Kitchen (Food Producer of the Year), Thurstons Brewery (Drink Producer of the Year), Eden Greens Urban Farm (Sustainability Initiative Award) and for Boz’s once more in the Best Independent Food & Drink Retailer section, an award they won last year.

Deli Class, in Horsell High Street, is owned and run by husband and wife team Dom Minardi and Filippa Genco Russo.

“We are absolutely humbled, honoured and delighted to be a winner,” Filippa said. “We work hard for our local Horsell and broader Woking and Surrey communities, and love serving our food and drinks. It’s what we do.

“It’s been a challenging year and we are proud of our efforts, of the support and hard work of our staff, and of the first-class produce from our suppliers, from Boz’s next door to all over Italy.

“And especially we thank our customers for their unfailing support.

“The encouragement to shop local did benefit us, and we hope benefited our community too, businesses and residents alike.

“We hope shopping local will continue next year.  Horsell is a fabulous community and the businesses and residents are very supportive of each other.

“We understand COVID has negatively affected family budgets, so we will bring in some special offers to help people enjoy meals, whether to eat in or take home.”

Boz’s, too, had plenty to celebrate and took to social media to mark the success.

“We are over the moon to win again at this year’s SLFDA. Thank you to all of our amazing customers, everyone who took the time to vote, and to everyone involved in continuing with this year’s awards.

“We are extremely grateful for the recognition. We would just like to send a special thank you to every single member of our staff, who worked tirelessly and under intense conditions this year. You are all superstars!

“Thank you to all our customers for your amazing comments and support, we are so proud to be serving you. We’re delighted, and it’s just been great news to lift the lockdown mood.

“Congratulations to all the other finalists, well done and stay safe.”

The third category winner, the Good Living Brew Co., is behind Binary Botanical beer, jointly created in a Horsell kitchen by Danielle Bekker.

“The hop leaf is normally thrown away at harvest so it’s actually a waste product,” Danielle said. “We are quite passionate about sustainability and so we also use brown recyclable boxes, and recycle the bottles.

“I am genuinely more proud of this award than our great taste or other awards because it is at the heart of what we do and love.

“Our company philosophy is to ‘live lighter’ – lighter on the planet and in what you eat and drink.  That is why we are so proud and thrilled to have won the sustainability award, which really is at the heart of our business.  

“By turning a waste botanical into a core ingredient, not only are we are driving sustainability and revenue for local farmers, we have made a beer that tastes completely different to anything you have tasted before.  The wine-lovers’ beer shows that being sustainable can also be delicious.”

Picture captions:

Picture captions 1 and 2: Danielle Bekker and her Binary Botanical beer

Picture caption 3: Signature platters from Deli Class

Picture caption 4: Quality fruit and vegetables from Boz’s