The British International Freight Association (BIFA) has added a culinary touch to its annual Freight Service Awards event, as the deadline for entries this year is extended.

BIFA’s director general Steve Parker has revealed that the celebrity host for the awards ceremony in January 2025 will be writer, media personality and former greengrocer. Gregg Wallace MBE.

“I am often asked for the secret ingredients that constitute the recipe for success for any company looking to win one of our awards. So it seemed appropriate to invite someone who is probably best known for co-presenting MasterChef, Celebrity MasterChef and MasterChef: The Professionals, on BBC1.

“We ask for award submissions that detail a relevant service or project such as a specific case study, the development of a new service for a particular customer, or a more generic example of good practice.

“The ingredients should include examples of innovative ideas, or service enhancements as well as customer and company benefits. And, like the end result of any decent recipe we see on the programmes that Gregg hosts, presentation counts for a lot.”

Now in their 36th year, BIFA’s Freight Service Awards is open to all members of the trade association, which represents UK companies engaged in managing the global movement of freight and international supply chains by all modes of transport.

They are an important part of BIFA’s mission to encourage its members in their pursuit of improved standards and excellence within the logistics and supply chain industry, as well as being a key element in the trade association’s engagement with its members.

Sponsored by a number of blue chip companies, each of the eleven award categories is recognised as very prestigious and winning an award has become more coveted year-on-year.

Coinciding with the announcement of the host, the deadline for entry to the nine business categories has been extended and is now Wednesday, 9, October 2024. Entry forms and guidelines to enter those categories are available to download from the BIFA website – www.bifa.org/awards/how-to-enter

Finalists will be announced towards the end of this year. The winners will be revealed at the BIFA Freight Service Awards 2024 ceremony at The Brewery in central London on Thursday, 16 January 2025, an annual event on the industry’s agenda that’s not to be missed.

Parker added: “Gregg Wallace MBE is a classic example of someone who has built a successful business from scratch and gone on to achieve even more successes. I would hope that any of the winners of our awards would see the same results.

“Nor is he a stranger to logistics, aspects of which he examined in the Supermarket Secrets program, detailing the complexity and innovations of their supply chains”