by Becky Hawes | May 20, 2024 | News
Another Win for Unbeleafable at the Sammies
GrowUp is celebrating another win, this time at the Sammies—the Oscars of the sandwich and food-to-go industry. Unbeleafable took home the New Product Award at the prestigious ceremony, held at the Royal Lancaster Hotel in London. Tom Robb, National Account Manager, and Lisa Harrison-Bell, Head of Marketing, were there to accept the award. Both were dressed to impress as they proudly represented the team.
Recognizing Innovation and Quality
The New Product Award celebrates development and innovation by suppliers, focusing on both ingredients and packaging. This win is a major boost for our incredible team, who have worked tirelessly to bring Unbeleafable to life. Since its launch in Tesco last summer, Unbeleafable has continued to impress.
A Fourth Award for Unbeleafable
This is the fourth award for Unbeleafable since its debut. Previously, the brand was named Champion in The Grocer’s New Product and Packaging Awards 2023, in the Deli category. It also won a silver award at the Quality Food Awards 2023. These accolades highlight the consistent quality and innovation behind the product.
More Recognition for Unbeleafable
Earlier this year, Unbeleafable rocket and baby leaves won Best Vegan Side at the Vegan Food and Living Product Awards 2024. These wins show the growing demand for high-quality, sustainable, and delicious products in the market.
Looking Ahead to More Success
With several more awards on the horizon, GrowUp is excited to continue its winning streak. This recognition at the Sammies is just the beginning. We look forward to even more successes and innovations from Unbeleafable in the future.
by Becky Hawes | May 20, 2024 | News
We are over the moon to share that GrowUp Farms has been recognised by the Sunday Times as being one of the best places to work in the UK for 2024, for the second year in a row!
The Sunday Times Best Places to Work list is like the ultimate validation for companies that know how to keep their employees happy and motivated leading to an Unbeleafably positive work environment.
The newspaper once again partnered with the career development platform, WorkL, to create a comprehensive employee survey to build an in-depth picture of employees’ engagement and wellbeing in the workplace. To make the cut, you’ve got to score at least 70% in overall engagement. And guess what? We smashed it!
We’re delighted to be in the top 200 medium-sized businesses in the UK to snag this honour. And with WorkL checking out 50,000 companies, it’s no mean feat.
Our aim at GrowUp Farms is to nurture, educate and develop our employees to be the best they can be, and to encourage their curiosity and their passion.
Our team is the heart and soul of our operation, and we’re committed to making sure they have the most inspiring, rewarding, and—let’s not forget—fun place to work! 🌟
by Becky Hawes | Apr 29, 2024 | News
Our founder, Kate Hofman, recently joined the Institute of Imagination for an inspiring workshop where she introduced young minds to vertical farming and how GrowUp is using this innovative technique to reshape agriculture. Kate shared her passion for sustainable farming and explained how vertical farming is helping GrowUp address the challenges of food security, environmental sustainability, and climate change. Her lively discussion sparked curiosity and excitement among the attendees, encouraging them to think about how this method can impact the future of food production.
How Vertical Farming Is Revolutionizing Agriculture
During the session, Kate discussed how GrowUp uses vertical farming to grow fresh produce in controlled indoor environments using stacked layers. This method saves space, reduces the need for large amounts of water, and minimizes the environmental footprint of traditional farming. GrowUp’s approach to farming provides a sustainable alternative to conventional agriculture, making it a powerful tool in addressing global food production challenges and the need for environmentally friendly practices.
Inspiring Young Minds to Explore Careers in Sustainability
Kate also took the opportunity to inspire the next generation of innovators by discussing the exciting career opportunities within GrowUp and the broader sustainability sector. She highlighted the growing demand for professionals in vertical farming and other green industries, encouraging young people to explore careers that can make a real impact on the planet. Through this innovative approach, young minds can help shape a sustainable future and contribute to solving major environmental issues.
The Future of Sustainable Agriculture with GrowUp
The workshop also showcased how GrowUp is leading the way in sustainable farming and how vertical farming is integral to a more sustainable food system. Kate emphasized how innovative farming methods, such as those used by GrowUp, are helping to reduce the carbon footprint of food production while increasing local food security. The students left the session inspired by the potential of vertical farming and eager to be part of the solution to the world’s biggest challenges.
by Becky Hawes | Apr 25, 2024 | News
Kate Hofman, founder of GrowUp Farms, has been recognised in The Grocer’s prestigious list of top 10 women shaping the future of grocery technology. This honour acknowledges her pioneering work in sustainable farming and technology, with GrowUp using cutting-edge methods like vertical farming to address food security and climate change.
Reflecting on her place in this top 10 list, Kate said: “I’m both honoured and excited to be included – and also a good shake-up of my imposter syndrome because I don’t think of myself as a woman in tech!”
Kate went on to discuss her evolving role as a business leader and the responsibility she feels to inspire others, especially young women. “I am really starting to take my position as a role-model in business seriously – again, not easy with that imposter syndrome whispering in my ear. There is always more we can do to improve representation so that any young person with brilliant potential can look at people in positions of authority and power and think ‘that could be me one day!’”
According to Kantar research commissioned by HelloFresh that The Grocer’s featured in their focus on this top 10, 49% of young women in the HelloFresh survey said that seeing more women in leadership roles would encourage them to enter the sector, and they are inspiring others to join them. This is an encouraging trend for women aspiring to leadership roles in technology and innovation across various industries.
Kate Hofman is now rubbing shoulders with some of the most influential women in the grocery tech industry, including: Hannah Gibson, CEO of Ocado Retail; Rachel Higham, chief digital and technology officer at M&S; Suzy McClintock, grocery and retail VP at Deliveroo; Claire Pointon, MD of Just Eat UK; Clodagh Moriarty, chief retail and technology officer at Sainsbury’s; and many other incredible tech leaders.
by Becky Hawes | Apr 25, 2024 | News
https://unbeleafable.co.uk
by Becky Hawes | Mar 28, 2024 | News
Pioneering vertical farm GrowUp Farms has added another award to its trophy cabinet after scooping the Best SME of the Year accolade at the edie Awards last week.
Now in its 17th year, the edie Awards are the UK’s largest sustainable business awards scheme and they celebrate companies that are making outstanding progress on sustainability initiatives. They are organised by business media brand edie, which delivers news and events to sustainability, energy and environmental professionals.
The edie award is the sixth award for GrowUp Farms in just over six months and follows hot on the heels of its success for its ready-to-eat, bagged salad brands, Unbeleafable and Fresh Leaf Co. which won The Grocer New Product and Packaging (Champion) 2023 and The Grocer New Product and Packaging (Silver) 2023 respectively. Unbeleafable also won Silver the Salad category in the All-Year Round categories in the Quality Food Awards.
GrowUp Farms won the Sustainability Excellence Champion (Climate) 2023 in the FPC Fresh Awards and GrowUp Farms founder Kate Hofman was named Southeast Sustainability Entrepreneur of the Year 2023 in the Great British Entrepreneur Awards.
GrowUp Farms became the first vertical farm in the UK to launch a branded, ready-to-eat bagged salad into a major supermarket group with the launch of Fresh Leaf Co. into Iceland stores in February 2023. Fresh Leaf Co. is also now stocked in SPAR stores too.
Last summer, GrowUp Farms also launched Unbeleafable, a range of ready-to-eat bagged salad grown at its farm in Kent. The salad collection is available to buy at Tesco stores across the UK.
The salad leaves that are grown at the farm are longer lasting than other salad brand on the market because they are grown in a controlled environment without pesticides or being chlorine washed – all processes that degrade the leaves.
Reflecting on the awards success, GrowUp Farms founder Kate Hofman said: “It’s a real honour to win SME of the Year award. While our journey as an SME began 10 years ago in a small shipping container on a roof in east London, the last year has really seen us reap the rewards of all of the hard work that we have put into getting to this point. Being able to say that we are the first vertical farm to launch a branded ready-to-eat salad into a supermarket group with leaves that last longer than other bagged salad is a huge achievement, and something we are proud of.
“We are grateful to the edie judges for recognising all of the work that we have undertaken to create a vertical farm that truly lessens the impact of its activity on the environment. We are ambitious, optimistic and passionate about growing salad leaves in the most sustainable way possible so that we can feed the nation with home-grown leaves all year round.”
growupfarms.co.uk/
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