At an exclusive black tie award ceremony at the Porsche Centre Hatfield on Thursday May 14th, 2015, Foxholes Farm Shop was announced winner of the prestigious Inspiring Hertfordshire’s “Excellence in Customer Service Award” and Catherine Smith was awarded “Entrepreneur of the Year 2015”. They were also finalists in The Environmental Award and Business of the Year Award (Small to Medium).
Introducing the Inspiring Hertfordshire Awards 2015, Neville Reyner CBE DL, Chairman of the Hertfordshire Chamber of Commerce, officially welcomed the sponsors and finalists to the Awards evening. He said, “It is an honour to celebrate such outstanding businesses in Hertfordshire and I want to personally thank our wonderful sponsors for their continued support. To the finalists, you’re all winners and should be incredibly proud of your achievements!”
Managing Partner of Foxholes Farm Shop, Catherine was up against strong competition from other entrepreneurs in her category representing industries as diverse as recruitment, distribution, digital marketing and charity, but she caught the judges’ attention because of her obvious passion for providing local products and delivering outstanding customer service which is at the very heart of Foxholes Farm Shop‘s success.
From left to right: Michael Leake, Catherine Smith (Foxholes Farm Shop), Neil Baker, Paul Saunders (Shoppers Anonymous) and Sheila Hyham (Foxholes)
Catherine said: “I’m am so delighted and surprised to win an award that recognises my accomplishments over the past 8+ years and I wish to extend a very big thank you to the award sponsors and judges. It is also a huge privilege to win the Customer Service award which I share with all the dedicated staff, suppliers and customers at Foxholes. My primary aim has always been to offer our growing number of loyal customers the very best of locally sourced produce together with the finest home-grown meats and butchering service that we could possibly could. And all of this delivered by a team of enthusiastic, engaged staff who have the customer as the centre of everything they do.”
The Inspiring Herts Business Award judges commented:
Re: Excellence in Customer Service: “Foxholes Farm Shop is a working farm, family-run business, visitor attraction, gift shop, butchery and grocery store which cannot be found anywhere else in Hertfordshire. Foxholes Farm Shop has the customer at the heart of everything it does; feedback is welcomed, listened to and acted upon. The owner, Catherine Smith, is clearly an inspiration to her staff and customers alike and the business has a clear and well-articulated strategy that is demonstrating really positive results. Overall this is a truly inspiring submission.”
Re: Entrepreneur of the Year: “Catherine has combined some great new ideas with hard work and dedication in order to allow her business to grow. The drive to succeed is being realised every day. Catherine is a forward thinking woman with a forward thinking business built on real entrepreneurial enthusiasm. Success is the goal that will and is being achieved. “
In its 8th year, local is Foxholes Farm Shop’s passion, producing and selling fresh, flavoursome and ethical farm produce, reducing food miles and supporting other local farms and our community. It employs 25 staff who are equally as passionate and dedicated to offering excellent customer service.
Foxholes Farm is a 3rd generation family run business with arable and livestock enterprises. The farm celebrate their 50th Anniversary this year in farming.
Follow Foxholes Farm Shop on Twitter for updates @foxholesfarm.
