The Westmorland Family has a long tradition of sourcing and supplying the best of Cumbrian food and drink and is maintaining that history by backing the Cumbria Food Awards.
The family-owned firm is to sponsor the Newcomer of the Year category at the new, independent awards.
The Westmorland Family has been showcasing the best of Cumbrian produce to a national audience ever since it opened Tebay Services nearly 50 years ago.
Founded in 1972 by farmers John and Barbara Dunning after the M6 was built across their land, the UK’s first family-owned motorway service area set itself apart by serving freshly cooked real food, sourcing ingredients as locally as possible and selling Cumbrian craft produce from a small shop.
Good quality, locally produced food is still at the heart of this second-generation Cumbrian family business, which has expanded to include motorway service stations outside Cumbria as well as the Rheged centre near Penrith.
The Farmshop & Kitchen at Tebay Services is an exemplar of local sourcing, working with more than 70 producers within a 30-mile radius and maintaining a traditional butchers’ counter selling beef, lamb and Herdwick mutton from the Dunnings’ family farm on its doorstep.
At Rheged, too, the Café team seeks out products and ingredients from established and emerging local suppliers to inspire dishes on its all-day menu.
Rheged is also the home of Westmorland’s development kitchen, where new recipes are created and newcomers to the hospitality industry are inspired and trained.
Marketing director Danny Martin said: “Our business is built on the skill and dedication of the farmers, food producers, chefs and innovators local to each of our places, and our future will be shaped by people we haven’t even met yet.
“The Cumbria Food Awards are all about celebrating the creativity and talent that makes our home county such an exciting place to come for food and drink. We’re really looking forward to meeting the candidates for Newcomer of the Year.”
