Our sister title, Kent Life magazine, is calling for nominations in the 2025 Kent Life magazine Food and Drink Awards, in partnership with Financial Advice & Services.
Nominations close on Friday, April 18 – so this is your last chance to make your voice count and help recognise the very best players in Kent’s thriving food and drink scene – those life-enhancing people and places, dishes and drinks that you just can’t get enough of.
The categories open for nominations this year are as follows:
Restaurant of the Year: Whether it’s your friendly local, a fine-dining restaurant, or an in-house hotel restaurant, we want to hear about these special places and why they matter to you.
Chef of the Year: This could include not only chefs working in the Kent-based hospitality sector, but chefs in care homes and schools too.
Pub of the Year: Locals that go the extra mile in offering the warmest of welcomes, a great pint and perhaps great food too.
Cafe/Coffee Shop/Tea Room of the Year: It’s all about the cake (and the atmosphere… and the hot drinks…)!
Outstanding Service of the Year: Great service makes all the difference. If you know somewhere that offers it consistently, always going that extra mile, nominate them today. Seafood Restaurant of the Year: We’ve got great fish on our doorstep, so let’s celebrate those whose menus make the very most of it.
Best Newcomer: Open to any Kent based food-related business or individual who has started a food/drink venture in the last two years. We’re looking for a someone that’s already become a success story or shows the potential to become one.
Fine-Dining Restaurant of the Year: Nominate a Kent place with a truly high-end ambience, offering the finest of food and wine (which is carefully and locally sourced wherever possible), and the exquisite execution both when it comes to the cooking of the food itself, and also its presentation.
Family Restaurant of the Year: If you know somewhere in Kent that can keep all-age visitors happy, nominate them now.
Best Use of Local Produce: Nominate your favourite restaurant, hotel, pub or café that offers really imaginative, delicious dishes made from local, sustainable and traceable ingredients.
Best for Dogs: Is your pooch treated like a VIP here? Let us know!
Bar of the Year: Great atmosphere, cocktails, perhaps live music. Where in Kent is your favourite place for a night out with friends?
Food Brand of the Year: We want to hear about your favourite locally produced foods, made from traceable, ideally locally sourced ingredients.
Local Beverage Brand of the Year: Tell us about the Kent-made drinks, beers, wines and non-alcoholic beverages that you love.
How to nominate:
To nominate places or people in any of the above categories, simply scan the QR code, or head to kentlifemag.co.uk and fill out the online form– remember, you must ensure your nominee is based in Kent if a business, or works in a Kent food business if an individual.
You have until Friday, April 18, to nominate.
A shortlist of finalists based on the highest number of nominations within each category will be drawn up and revealed in the June edition of Kent Life magazine.
There will then be a final reader vote on those shortlisted businesses and individuals with the winners being announced in the September issue of Kent Life magazine.
An accompanying awards event is set to take place too. Remember: your vote could make all the difference!
