The Foodservice Packaging Association (FPA) today announced that renowned comedian and actor Tom Allen will be hosting the 2025 FPA Awards – the association’s annual event designed to celebrate excellence and innovation in foodservice packaging.

FPA executive chair Mark Byrne says: “The FPA Awards have become a highlight of the foodservice packaging sector and each year we aim to exceed expectations. Securing such a high-profile performer – who as well as presenting the Awards will also be treating guests to a 15-minute cabaret – is another step towards this”.

 A regular to our TV screens – currently as the face of the Postcode Lottery adverts, host of The Apprentice, You’re Fired, and co-host of Cooking with the Stars – Tom’s razor-sharp wit and hilarious storytelling ensure his tours sell out almost immediately. The 2025 Awards will provide FPA members and their guests with a rare opportunity to see Tom live.

The 2025 Exhibition and Awards will take place on Thursday 13 March at The Grand Hotel, Brighton. The following Award categories are now open to entries from FPA member companies:

• Product Innovation Award, (front and back of house), sponsored by Bidfood.
• Environment Sustainability Award, sponsored by Huhtamaki.
• Corporate Social Responsibility Award, sponsored by Essity.
• Foodservice Caterer Operator Award, sponsored by NCCO.
• Design Team Award, sponsored by Coveris.
• Marketing Campaign Award, sponsored by Amipak.

The criteria for each Award and online entry forms can be accessed via this link. The closing date for entries is 17 January 2025.

Mark Byrne concludes: “It’s always impressive so see such high levels of packaging design and innovation and we look forward to another bumper year of Award entries. And huge thanks as always to our Award sponsors, and our event sponsor Packaging Innovations, without whom we wouldn’t be able to put on such a prestigious event for our members”.

  Ends

Notes to editors

Images of Tom Allen and/or Mark Byrne available on request from Louise Holmes, FPA Media & Communications: 07909 728069 or email louise@foodservicepackaging.org.uk

 

About Tom Allen https://tomindeed.com/

Tom Allen has cemented himself as a household name and star on both stage and screen. He’s the hilarious host of The Apprentice: You’re Fired, he co-hosts Cooking with the Stars alongside Emma Willis and is also a regular on Bake Off: An Extra Slice.

 

Other television appearances for Tom include Live at the Apollo, A League of Their Own, Hypothetical, 8 Out of 10 Cats, Cats Does Countdown, Would I Lie to You, The Last Leg, QI, The Jonathan Ross Show, The Royal Variety Performance, Never Mind the Buzzcocks, Celebrity Gogglebox, Wheel of Fortune, The Piano and much more.

Tom can be heard on BBC Radio 3 and BBC Sounds as the host of Monsters of Music, in which he explores the scandalous lives of classical music’s legends, as well as shows Tom Allen Is Actually Not Very Nice, Just a Minute, The News Quiz, and Loose Ends. Tom also co-hosts the hit podcast Like Minded Friends alongside his comedy peer Suzi Ruffell. 

 

If he wasn’t busy enough, 2020 saw the release of Tom’s critically acclaimed Sunday Times bestseller memoir, No Shame, and last year Tom’s subsequent memoir, Too Much, followed and was described by the Guardian as ‘heartfelt, vulnerable and touchingly sincere’. Both are available in hardback and audiobook.

 

Tom’s sold-out Completely tour of 2023 and 2024 was extended multiple times, selling over a hundred and fifty thousand tickets, including two nights at the Eventim Apollo, which was filmed and broadcast on ITV.

 

About the Foodservice Packaging Association (FPA) https://foodservicepackaging.org.uk  

The Foodservice Packaging Association (FPA) is a leading trade body, representing organisations associated with the foodservice packaging industry. Its membership includes both large global companies and smaller businesses – offering a broad range of foodservice products and services – together with organisations responsible for the waste collection, processing and recycling of foodservice packaging.  

  

The FPA’s mission is to showcase innovation and provide a unified voice to advance and promote the foodservice packaging industry through advocacy and education. The annual FPA Exhibition and Awards celebrate members’ achievements and innovations; FPA Environment Seminars bring together high-level speakers from governments, industry and academia – allowing members to engage directly with policy makers and thought leaders; and the FPA’s weekly Digest disseminates complex issues, translating them into plain English to keep members informed of recent and upcoming legislation; environmental and sustainable issues; and the views and activities of relevant NGOs and other sector bodies.  

 

The FPA upholds the interests of its members when meeting with UK government, the devolved administrations, NGOs and other trade associations. Its executives sit on a number of steering groups, including: the DRS industry working group; the HMRC industry working group for the plastics tax; and the steering group for overall Defra reforms.  

  

The FPA is committed to promoting sustainable practices and responsible stewardship of the environment. All FPA members undertake to comply with the FPA Code of Practice, confirming that their organisations operate to the highest standards.  

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