ARTA Awards Successfully Underway

The ARTA programme is proud to announce that it is well on its way to finding Britain’s greatest curry house. The response from the public has been overwhelming, with nominations for over 2600 businesses throughout the UK. Launched in 2017, the ARTA programme is notable by being guided by public vote; capturing voter opinions, scores, and taking them into account when assessing winning restaurants. In addition, the programme also promotes extensive outreach through a number of events which includes: regional cookoffs at 16 locations throughout the UK and a final gala dinner event where the ‘champion of champions’ trophy will be awarded amongst other accolades.

ARTA was founded during a period of uncertainty for restaurateurs, who are operating in a rapidly changing marketplace. Online ordering companies such as Deliveroo, Nifty Nosh, or Uber Eats bring massive change to the market and can make it difficult for new, smaller businesses to distinguish themselves, or older companies to step into the digital marketplace and enjoy success. ARTA was founded with an emphasis on ‘giving back’ to this community, choosing to base its cookoff events at academic institutions to maximise outreach to the next generation of chefs. The programme has also made a commitment to full transparency and ensuring that the voter’s voice is not contravened in any way.

The programme is actively underway, with the ARTA website still accepting public votes. Once the scores are tallied, 30 businesses from each region will then make it through to a series of regional cookoff events. These are made up from 16 regions from across England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland with each competition held at key academic institutions. This is where the final servings will be assessed by our team of local judges who will find the best-of-the-best by using publicly available assessment criteria alongside the voters’ original comments.

ARTA has been able to successfully accomplish this to date by securing support from ChefOnline – a company that specifically works alongside the individuals that ARTA celebrates and supports. With their guidance, the team has been incredibly effective at targeting the festival to maximise benefit to competitors and help identify areas of interest to the community as a whole. In addition, our ambassadors have worked tirelessly due to their passion for the cultural significance of curry; some of which include broadcaster Samantha Simmonds, former cricketer Devon Malcom, and more.

ARTA founder Mohammed Munim said:

“I’m incredibly excited about the programme as we enter this period of key activity. I know I’m not alone in the team in seeing this as a chance to celebrate some of Britain’s unsung heroes, celebrate new cooks, and let established companies show that they still know how its done. And with our focus on ‘giving back’, the programme is poised to help individuals learn more about the industry and help support those in the sector.

With the programme gearing up, events will continue over the immediate period. Public voting closes on 17th June 2018 with votes to be tallied and the winners announced at a date to be confirmed. Our next announcement will be the regional shortlist that will confirm which of the 30 restaurants voted for in each region have a chance to compete. And once the judging is complete, our gala dinner event will see the winner crowned and include entertainment from Bollywood’s Alka Yagnik, where one final competitor will be awarded our ‘champion of champions’ trophy as designed by Thomas Lyte.

We can’t wait to see what the next few weeks bring and hope you can join us on our journey.”

To contact our team directly, email: info@artauk.com or contact us by phone on 0330 380 1000