The festive spirit has hit Kafoodle HQ and we are all getting into the joy of Christmas. We can't believe how quickly this year has flown by, so we thought we would take a moment to have a look back at some of our personal highlights of the last twelve months! One of the major changes at Kafoodle this year is our change of office! We were really sad to leave our first home at Goswell Road and all our wonderful friends and supporters at Loveurope. Moving into our current location at Finsbury Square however, has been a great step of progress for us; the building is a fresh, modern collaborative space, with a lot more room to accommodate our growing team. And, speaking of growing teams, this year has seen the Kafoodle family double in size! With new members joining us in many different positions during this year, we now have a great bank of staff to help manage our performance to the best of our abilities.January saw the on-boarding of our first contract catering client: Harbour & Jones. The desire to socialise healthier options to client's and their staff is such an important requirement these days, our ability to provide this information in 'real time' has, by all accounts, opened up the floodgates for us to work extensively in this space.We have been lucky enough to be involved in some really enjoyable events and exhibitions during 2016, such as the Casual Dining Show and awards dinner back in February where we were the proud sponsors of the sustainability category. We had a really great time over the two days we were there and met some fantastic people, the response we had was so positive that we are exhibiting again in the new year! Come see us at stand U420!This year has also seen some wonderful press coverage of Kafoodle, and we feel really honoured to have been featured in some great magazines, articles, and online resources. Highlights of these have included (and are in no way limited to) a wonderful feature in Prima magazine at the start of year, where our founder Kim discussed what 'the new face of Granny' really was. Kim gave a great insight into her own experience as a 'modern' grandmother who balances the requirements of work and family life. The interview has lead to her being known as the 'tech savvy granny' to friends and family!A great review of the launch of our new branch of Kafoodle: Kafoodle Kare, was featured in the Hospital Food and Service Magazine in August. The feature gave a great introduction to the aspirations and development of Kafoodle Kare, and we were so proud to be featured in such an important and esteemed publication. Kafoodle Kare itself has been a definite highlight of 2016 and there are still many more great things to come in 2017! Working alongside Innovate UK-a government based company who support and collaborate with businesses in the science and technology sectors-we have really made a great start to what we believe is such an important cause. After being awarded a match funding of a staggering £200k for this development, which aims to revolutionise the management of a patient's diet in the social care setting, we are really confident that Kafoodle Kare is going to help make the changes that we believe it can.As well as coverage in these magazines, we have also made several appearances on the radio, with stations such as SOHO and Share. These opportunities were a really fun way to connect with others about the importance of allergen compliance, as well as Kafoodle's own mission for safe eating. Kim had the opportunity to once again engage with celebrated chef Aldo Zilli about the importance of maintaining allergen awareness whilst cooking in the commercial kitchen. Lots of fun was had at the interview! 2016 has also been a year of celebration as we have been lucky enough to be nominated for some wonderful awards and luckier still to win some! November has been particularly fruitful for this as we saw our founder Tarryn take first place at The Pitch 2016, and Kafoodle winning first place in the Technology category of the Product Excellence Awards 2016. These awards are really great achievements for us and we had such a lovely time at both of the events.With 2017 just on the horizon, we have some exciting plans ahead of us. We start the year with a bang, as our Scotland pre-launch of Kafoodle takes place in January in Edinburgh, with our formal industry launch in Glasgow in May. This is such an exciting time for us, and we can only hope that Kafoodle does as well as it has in England. Following this early launch in Scotland, we are endeavouring to bravely cross the pond and enter the US market in the second half of the year - so do watch this space!Following our launch, we are really pleased to be sponsoring the 'Restaurant Newcomer' category at Catering Scotland's CIS awards in May. After attending this year's event, we know only too well the level of excellence involved in these awards, and with such a wide range of categories the event truly celebrates all areas of the sector. The award is a great celebration of innovation and growth within businesses; attributes that we strive for ourselves at Kafoodle! We wish all the nominees the best of luck! There are also plans in the pipeline to bring out a new and improved version of the Kafoodle App during the first quarter of the year which aims to provide a better user experience all round. This is followed by further plans to expand and move our data support team to a new location in the middle of the year. The location has not been confirmed yet, but will probably be around the Yorkshire area- again, watch this space!
As you can probably see, 2017 looks to be just as busy as our 2016 has been! We have had a wonderful year and would like to thank everyone who has taken part in it!
We wish you all a healthy, happy Christmas and a wonderful new year!
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