Trading since the spring of 2004 and celebrating their “Ten Year Anniversary” in spring 2014, Essence of Eden has a lot to be proud of. They were recently selected as a Finalist in the Quality Food Awards and also received a Gold Award in the Organic Food Awards. Add this to their existing level of awards for product quality, consistency of supply and customer service all add up to an exceptional little company.
Starting with the Quality Food Awards, Simon Wright, Food Consultant and Chair of the QFA Judging Panel stated “Every Year the Quality Food Awards provides us with a glimpse of what is possible when the best food and drink producers focus on making something extraordinary. This year was no exception”
The Quality Food Award accolades are the most difficult to win in the food and drink business sector. So for Essence of Eden to be selected as a Finalist as a small producer amongst the giants of Tesco, Aldi, Lidl , Sainsbury, Asda, Marks & Spencer, The Cooperative and others is no small accomplishment. So congratulations to all the Finalists and all the Winners of each category.
With over 1000 products submitted and over a 100 judges, the QFA of 2013 was a record breaker! This award process is not a blind tasting session, but an analysis of the whole product. Value for money, quality of product, packaging, labelling and those that meet customer demand in all aspects. The awards now in their 40th year are well placed to make such judgements.
The Organic Food Awards and the Free From Food Awards are run as blind tasting sessions, which are most useful.
This process is conducted via a panel of judges who do not know which company is behind the product they are tasting until all is revealed and Essence of Eden have been awarded a total of five awards to date, the only coconut oil to do so. In 2004 when Essence of Eden was born, it was out of sheer desperation to have access to a top quality oil as what was available was gravely below standard, even though top prices were applied. It made it very difficult to determine top quality oil from those that were being made available as a food. With blind tasting awards it put a stop to that scenario.
And although Essence of Eden does not have the Fair Trade logo they are Fairly Traded as the price paid is above and beyond. Each logo adds to the cost of producing the product which is then clawed back by adding to the price to the customer. We would rather give the annual fee direct to the farmer and quietly lead the way based on what we know to be morally right, even if that means paying quite a bit extra for our raw materials. We appreciate that the Fair Trade Organisation is absolutely necessary due to the majority wanting to purchase raw materials at base cost, believing it to make good business sense. We beg to differ, we don’t think it is good for business and are happy to pay a rate above being sustainable and so are our customers when they understand our stance on the issue. More importantly so are our farmers! Not to say we will never go the Fair Trade route, even if it is just to ensure the correct public perception of what we stand for..........
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