Sessions, a platform that empowers founder-led food brands to develop and rapidly scale their businesses, has been announced as the official partner for the 2022 British Street Food Awards (BSFA.) Sessions will also be sponsoring the ‘Future Food Legend’ award, a new category which has been introduced to the competition this year.
The ‘Future Food Legend’ award will see one lucky competitor win a four-week intensive brand development programme with Sessions which will include Marketing support (photoshoot, social media analysis and plan, influencer engagement strategy and local marketing activation playbook). They will also provide recipe and COGS training to position the brand to scale, with this part of the course facilitatedby Sessions’ Executive Development Chef Mark Rush. Additionally the winner will also have the opportunity to occupy an eat-in and delivery residency at one, or multiple, of Sessions’ nationwide direct-to-consumer venues such as Brighton’s Shelter Hall. The Sessions team are on the lookout for the next great brand, and will provide every opportunity for independent founders to unlock massive growth through a network of nationwide kitchens with no CAPEX required.
Now in its thirteenth year, the BSFA is part of the biggest street food competition in the world with the winner from this year’s UK competition going on to compete in Europe. The prestigious awards have had a tremendous impact on aspiring street food brands. Previous winners at the BSFA include: Wingmans, (winners at the BSFA and the ESFA in 2017) who recently opened up their second restaurant – in Soho and MEATliquor, who won at the Awards back in 2009 – now has 12 branches. Bao, who started with a stall on Netil Market won Best Main Dish in 2013 and has since gone on to open five restaurants.
This year there will be four regional heats culminating in a live, national cook-off judged by the general public and a stellar line-up of judges (previous panels have included Andi Oliver, Thomsina Miers and Ed Cooke). The regional heats kicked off in Wales this month with the final taking place in September. Applicants can still register via the BSFA website.
