Meet the Environmental Champion finalists in the Rutland & Stamford Mercury Business Awards 2024
In the run-up to the Rutland & Stamford Mercury Business Awards 2024, we are introducing you to the finalists in each of our categories.
The awards are being held on Friday, September 27, at Rutland Hall Hotel, sponsored by Hegarty, when finalists in 10 categories will discover who has won.
This week we’re featuring the finalists in the Environmental Champion category. Look out for other finalists over the coming weeks.
Going head to head will be Retail Data Partnership (Essendine), Root and Branch Out (Rutland), and Two Chimps Coffee (Oakham).
Retail Data Partnership runs the country’s leading electronic point of sale system ShopMate, designed to make pricing and promotions easier for convenience stores, from its environmentally-friendly offices in Essendine.
Bryony Watson, from the firm said: “Retail Data Partnership takes great care to make a positive difference – towards our employees, retailer customers and partners as well as our local community and the environment so it is fantastic to have been recognised as a leading local business."
The firm is also shortlisted in the Large Business of the Year category.
Root and Branch Out is a community interest company set up to “nurture the community through nature”. It runs community fridges in Oakham, Uppingham and Greetham, a ‘souper space’ where people can chat over soup, a forest school and a shared community garden.
Clare Caro said everyone at Root and Branch Out was “delighted” to have been shortlisted for the award.
She said: “Environmental work is at the heart of everything we do at Root-and-Branch Out, whether it's our food waste prevention project, working with the community to grow food, or connecting children and adults to nature through Forest School, crafts, and workshops.”
Two Chimps Coffee based in Oakham is described as a “small team with a passion for opening the world of speciality coffee to everyone”.
Laura Shead, from the firm, said: “We are absolutely thrilled and honoured to have been selected as a finalist for a category that is so important to us. At Two Chimps, we are dedicated to making a positive impact on the planet, supporting our incredible farmers, and providing delicious, carbon-neutral and single-origin speciality coffee.
“We are deeply grateful for this recognition and are excited to keep improving our operations to become as climate-positive as possible.”
The other categories are: Best New Start-Up (sponsored by Alltech); Best Independent Retailer (sponsored by Hegarty); Business Innovation (sponsored by Stamford College); Best Social Enterprise (judged by Richard Olsen); Team of the Year (sponsored by PVS Media), Businessperson of the Year (sponsored by Quibble); Environmental Champion (judged by Lincolnshire County Council); Customer Care (sponsored by Thetford Farm Estate), Small Business of the Year (sponsored by South Kesteven District Council) and Large Business of the Year (sponsored by Chattertons).
Tickets for the event are on sale now and can be bought from tinyurl.com/MercuryBusinessAwards2024
With grateful thanks to our headline sponsor Hegarty, category sponsors Alltech, Chattertons, South Kesteven District Council, Stamford College, Quibble and Thetford Farm Estate, and drinks reception sponsor and host Rutland Hall Hotel, event programme sponsor Moore Thompson and video production company PVS Media.
