Mash Direct, the Co Down-based family owned farming and food production business, has been named SME of the year at the Telegraph festival of business awards.
The annual awards run by the Telegraph newspaper in the UK is considered to be a prestigious event which attracts more than 600 senior business executives across the UK.
Mash Direct picked up the SME of the year award for the “quality of their vegetable side dishes, an impressive export strategy and innovative marketing campaigns”.
Phenomenal achievement
Jack Hamilton, the director of the business said the award was a "phenomenal achievement". Established in 2004, Mash Direct sells a vegetable side every two seconds and last year had a turnover of €19 million.
The business was founded by the Hamiltons, who have farmed on the shores of Strangford Lough for six generations, as a result of the poor returns on wholesale vegetable sales.
As of last year the company sold into 5,000 stores across Ireland, England and Scotland.
