Please see the list of Key Dates below for Members’ Fortnight and General Entry.
Please note that there is an entry cap for Great Taste 2019. Entry will close once the entry cap is reached or on 15 February 2019, whichever is first.
Entry Brochure | Terms & Conditions | Category List | Product Journey | Online Entry Guidance Notes
Entry is completed via your company’s MyGuild account and an online entry form. The link for the entry form will be available in your MyGuild account once entry opens (please see the list of Key Dates below).
If your company does not have a MyGuild account please see the FAQs section for further information.
Watch this useful video to help you with the entry process, including writing your product description:
16 January 2019 | Members' FortnightOpen for entry. Ensure that your membership runs until at least 31 January 2019. Membership must be in place by 11 January 2019. You cannot join the Guild in Members' Fortnight. |
31 January 2019 | Members' FortnightCloses for entry |
1 February 2019 | General EntryOpen for entry |
15 February 2019 | General EntryCloses for entry (or earlier if entry cap is reached) |
1 August 2019 | Results and feedback |
A one, two or three-star accreditation means your food will stand out on the overcrowded retail shelves. Coupled with the extensive consumer and trade promotion by the Guild of Fine Food it will lead to increased sales and brand awareness.
Quite simply Great Taste encourages greater confidence and commercial success in small businesses locally, regionally, nationally and internationally whilst helping to improve the food and drink of those who don’t quite make the grade.
Over 500 judges working in small teams judged 12,634 food and drink products this year at 65 judging days, from March through to early July 2018. They awarded one-, two or three-stars to the foods that deserved it and one of the judges on each team captured constructive feedback for the producers who didn’t quite make the grade.
Last year we judged at Guild HQ in Gillingham, Dorset, and at our permanent office, event and judging venue near Borough Market in London. As ever we judged at specialist test centres for tea, filter coffee and espresso.
You can hear the thoughts of our final panel on this year’s big winner. They were nuts about these nuts…
You can search for all Great Taste 2018 winners here
View the night’s highlights in our gallery
Great Taste 2018 Entrants: please login to your MyGuild account to view your feedback and results Access MyGuild
Great Taste 2018 Supreme Champion & Golden Fork Awards
Great Taste has crowned its first ever Supreme Champion from Asia, as Philippines-based Mount Mayon took the title for its pili nuts flavoured with Ecuadorian cacao.
Already a popular healthy snack across Asia, the nuts are sustainably harvested in the volcanic soil that surrounds Mount Mayon before being pre-sprouted and undergoing a 17-step drying process to retain nutrients – but it was the “moreish” flavours that wowed Great Taste judges.
The winning variety, which is dusted with Ecuadorian cacao, was hailed for its “ethereal texture”, “toasty cereal flavour” and “incredible creaminess”, all while delivering mouthfuls that are rich in Vitamin E, Omega and fibre.
Mount Mayon’s James Costello, Cara Weil, and Dr. Steven John Costello collected the award – as well as the Golden Fork for Best Imported Product at the Great Taste Golden Fork Dinner held on Sunday 2nd September at the InterContinental Park Lane Hotel London, where over 350 guests from the world of fine food gathered to discover the results of many months of rigorous judging.
The pili nuts had to see off a strong field of Golden Fork winners competing for the top prize, including Argyle Smokery’s Kiln Roasted Salmon (Golden Fork from Scotland), Natural Umber Organic Apple Cider Vinegar (Golden Fork from Northern Ireland) and Sicilian Bronte Pistachio Ice Cream from Manchester’s Rogue Artisan Ice Cream (Golden Fork from the North)
You can search for all Great Taste winners from the last four years here
For a full list of 2017 Golden Fork winners, click here
To see photo highlights from the Great Taste 2017 Golden Fork Awards, click here
If you have achieved awards for your products in the last three years you can order labels or the electronic award artwork to display on your product’s packaging. Please complete and return the relevant form:
Great Taste artwork guidelines | Great Taste Label Order Form | Great Taste Logo Artwork Request Form
Please refer to this P&P cost matrix if the delivery address for the labels is in Ireland, EU or rest of the world:
Great Taste Labels Overseas P&P
Please note that a charge may be applicable for the Logo Artwork, depending on the company turnover as stated on entry to the awards.
Download the Great Taste national & regional press releases. For further press enquiries contact Amy Brice or Tortie Farrand or visit our Press Room.
What is Great Taste? | History of Great Taste
You can search for all Great Taste winners from the last four years here
Interested in supporting or sponsoring Great Taste? Click here.
Please ensure that you read through the guidance documents in the How to enter section above before you submit your entries. Below we have provided some answers to frequently asked questions about entering Great Taste:
Entering Great Taste
How do I enter Great Taste?
All entries are made via your company’s online MyGuild account. Once Great Taste opens for entry a link to the 2019 entry form will become available in your MyGuild account – please see the Key Dates section above for entry dates for Great Taste 2019. The entry form is a series of questions about each of the products you wish to enter into Great Taste. There will be a link at the end of the entry form to make payment for your entries via Sage Pay.
What is MyGuild?
MyGuild is your company’s online account, through which you enter Great Taste. To login to MyGuild you will need a user account (an email address and password). The MyGuild account contains your Company Profile, where you provide contact details and further information about the company, and links to your company’s previous entries to Great Taste, including results and judging feedback.
If your company does not already have a MyGuild account:
You will need to create a user account (email address and password) and then the Company Profile Create a MyGuild account.
If your company already has an existing MyGuild account and Company Profile:
We can link up multiple user accounts to this MyGuild account. To create a new user account click here Create user account and enter your email address, first name/last name, and a password. Logout without creating a new company profile and send an email to myguild@gff.co.uk to advise the company name, previous contact there and your email address, and we will link up your user account to the existing company account.
How can I make sure I receive reminders about entering Great Taste next year?
Please fill in the contact form in the Mailing List section below. We will add you to the mailing list to receive reminders about Great Taste. Ensure you add our domain gff.co.uk to your safe senders list, to help our emails to reach you.
Login Issues
My colleague entered Great Taste last year but has now left the company, so I can’t login to our MyGuild account. Please help!
To enter Great Taste via MyGuild, the online portal, you need a user account (email address and password) and a Company Profile. If there is already an existing Company Profile for your company we can link up multiple user accounts to this Profile. To create a new user account click here Create user account and enter your email address, first name/last name, and a password. Logout without creating a new company profile and send an email to myguild@gff.co.uk to advise the company name, previous contact there and your email address, and we will link up your user account to the existing company account.
I have a user account for MyGuild but can’t remember my password. What do I do?
If you already have a user account for MyGuild it will recognise your email address and prompt you for a password. If you cannot remember your password, enter your email address, click Next, then click Trouble Logging In and follow the onscreen prompts.
I’ve tried to re-set the password for my user account, but I have not received the email. What do I do?
The email, which is sent from noreply@gff.co.uk, contains a link to click on and re-set the password. Please ensure that the domain gff.co.uk is added to your safe senders list. Check that the email has not been sent to your Spam or Junk Mail folder. If the email is not there, please contact the team on myguild@gff.co.uk and we will be able to help you.
Categories & Entry Form information (Please note: entry to Great Taste 2018 has closed – information for Great Taste 2019 will be available shortly)
I can’t find a category for my product, what should I do?
Is there a category that nearly fits? If so, please use that one. The categories are more for our use – to help us plan each judging week and judging session. Your product is judged on its own merits, not against a category or any other products in that category. You can use the Product Description field to explain what your product is. However, please check that your product is not on the list of items that we cannot judge and please remember that one flavour = one entry, so we cannot accept entries of selection boxes or multi-packs.
What is Members’ Fortnight?
Great Taste is run by the Guild of Fine Food, a trade association. The Guild has a membership for fine food and drink producers and independent retailers. One of the benefits of membership is early and discounted entry into Great Taste. New membership applications need to have been received and processed by Friday 11 January 2019 to qualify for Great Taste 2019’s Members’ Fortnight and current members must have a valid membership running up until 31 January 2019 to qualify. However, there are lots of other benefits to Guild membership and you can find out more here Join the Guild
I entered Great Taste last year. Does this mean I am now a member so can enter during Members’ Fortnight?
Membership and Great Taste are two separate things (please see the explanation under ‘What is Members’ Fortnight’) so you are not automatically a member of the Guild of Fine Food if you have previously entered Great Taste. You do not need to be a member to enter Great Taste, but only current members can enter during Members’ Fortnight. General Entry opens from Friday 1 February 2019.
What do I write in the Product Description field?
All products are blind-tasted so the judges won’t see company names, product names or the product packaging. The Product Description field is your chance to tell the judges about your product. Use it to explain the key facts about your product, without using brand names or marketing speak. For example, main ingredients, traditional production methods, breed of animal, if the product is gluten-free. If the product is not typical of its type, you may choose to explain this here. There are only 150 characters available (including spaces and punctuation) so keep it concise. You don’t need to write in full sentences, as long as it makes sense to the reader. The judges will also have access to the Product Ingredients list you provide when you enter.
Do I include cooking instructions in the Product Description field?
You do not need to supply cooking or preparation instructions on the entry form when you enter Great Taste. However, you must ensure that these are included with your products when you deliver the samples later in the year. The delivery instructions will include guidance on the quantity of product to send, and a reminder to supply cooking instructions.
I entered a product into Great Taste last year. Can I re-enter it this year?
Yes, you can re-enter the same product into Great Taste each year if you wish to do so.
Which products are not eligible for entry to Great Taste?
The category list and T&Cs will give guidance on the types of products that we can accept for entry. However, please note that unfortunately we are unable to accept the following for judging at Great Taste 2019:
If you are unsure if your product can be entered in to Great Taste please contact the Great Taste team.
Deliveries of entries
I’ve entered Great Taste online and received my receipt. Do I send my products now?
Not yet! Once we close for entry we will begin issuing delivery instructions from around mid-March and these will continue until early June. We may ask you to deliver your products at any time between those months, and will give you at least 2 weeks’ notice ahead of your delivery date. We send an email to the Primary contact email address you provided when you entered Great Taste to let you know when your delivery instructions are ready to download from the portal.
How much product should I send?
We will advise the quantity of product to send when we issue delivery instructions. However, as a general guideline we ask for around 25-30 mouthfuls/teaspoonfuls of a product for the judging.
Results & Feedback
How will I know when the feedback and results are available for my products?
The results and feedback from Great Taste 2019 are due for release on Thursday 1 August 2019. Entrants will be sent an email to advise as soon as this information is live and available to view through your MyGuild account.
Would you like to be added to our Great Taste mailing list?
If so, please complete the form below with your full company details and we will add you to our database to receive reminders and updates for next year. This form is only to register your interest in entering Great Taste and to be added to our mailing list.
