Best of Lancashire business honoured at Red Rose Awards

More than 1,000 attended the Red Rose Awards at Winter Gardens Blackpool to celebrate and honour the achievements of the county’s business community.

Awards were handed out in 22 categories with some dedicated to sectors, others based on the size of the business and the remainder for special achievements such as customer service, transformation or commitment to skills.

The shortlisted companies represented a range of sizes, sectors and geography, from a local independent beauty products manufacturer launched during lockdown to multinational firms achieving sales growth across several continents.

Each winner was selected after three stages of judging by a panel of expert local business leaders culminating in an in-person judging event at Burnley Football Club. They will now join an exclusive club of winners and benefit from a special package including tailored mentoring and exclusive networking.

Two companies were victorious in two categories: Chiptech, which won the Scale Up and Small Business categories, and GA Pet Food Partners, which won the Export and Family Business awards.

Lancaster-based Chiptech supplies assistive technology products and software solutions to local authorities, housing, monitoring and insurance companies who in turn provide them to vulnerable people. In the last year, the company redeveloped its products to overcome problems with supply chains and communications networks, and quadrupled sales.

GA is a family-owned private label pet food manufacturer based in Chorley. Over the last year, it has invested £100m in a new ingredients kitchen, and increased its sales by 20 per cent - more than half of which was shipped overseas.

Granby Marketing Services, based in Blackburn, won the Lancashire Business View Award, the only category judged by the organising team .

Granby provides end-to-end fulfilment services to some of the best-known household brands and public sector organisations. The company has developed its own AI streamlining processes and introduced a range of workforce wellbeing measures. Last year, managing director Jo Kimber’s sold her shares to an Employee Ownership Trust (EOT) to give them greater control of the business.

Richard Slater, publisher of Lancashire Business View and founder of the Red Rose Awards, said: “We have enjoyed another fantastic night of celebrating exciting, innovative and inspiring Lancashire-based businesses.
“There have been many unexpected economic and political challenges over the last year but each of the finalists - and especially the winners - have shown that there are still opportunities out there.

“These awards showcase the best of Lancashire’s resilience and I hope they inspire others to work hard, aim high and to share the story of their successes with the world.”

A full report with pictures will be included in the May/June edition of Lancashire Business View.