HEART of England Fine Foods, the regional group that covers Worcestershire and the West Midlands, has beaten four of the country’s biggest brands to take home a top food industry award.

Despite being up against multinationals Tesco, Boots, United Biscuits and Kimberly Clark, HEFF won the ECR UK Award for Sustainable Distribution at the prestigious IGD Food Industry Awards for its HEFF Delivery Service.

The HEFF Delivery Service is a partnership with logistics providers Heart Distribution.

It provides a more effective route to market for small to medium-sized regional food producers, such as Kit’s Kitchen in Worcester, Goodman’s Geese from Abberley and and Plantation Cottage Herbs of Pershore.

This in turn has had a big impact on reducing food miles in the supply chain.

HEFF was able to show judges that following a survey on just two of its accounts over a six-month period, 60,600 miles had been saved by transferring these accounts to the HEFF Delivery Service.

Chief executive of HEFF Karen Davies said: “I’m absolutely thrilled we have won this award.

“It was such an honour to have been shortlisted but as a smaller, regional business, to have come out on top against such strong competition is just incredible.”

Karen Wright, Advantage West Midlands’ food and drink cluster manager, added: “The success of this innovative scheme highlights how food producers across the West Midlands are dedicated to introducing new, low carbon alternatives to the traditional retail supply chain. By reducing food miles and improving the sustainability of the logistics involved, the HEFF Delivery Service sets an example that should be followed around the UK.”