NOMINATIONS NOW CLOSED
Nominations are open between 12th April and 24th May 2023, 3pm. If your restaurant matches the criteria set out below, you should invite your customers to nominate you here
On this page you’ll also find business cards to print, QR codes, and digital buttons to direct your diners to nominate you. Please note we no longer accept postal nominations.
Eligibility
Please ensure your restaurant meets the following criteria before proceeding:
- Independently run; owned by the chef or a hands-on proprietor
- Offers regularly changing, seasonal menus at affordable prices
- Demonstrates strong relationships with local suppliers
- Rooted in the local community
- Offers at least two dinner services a week
- Gives customers a genuine, warm welcome
Consider whether you would genuinely call your restaurant a ‘neighbourhood’ or ‘local’ restaurant.
Note that previous winners of The Good Food Guide’s Best Local Restaurant Awards will not be eligible to enter the competition. Restaurants currently featured in The Good Food Guide are welcome to participate.
Judging
When nominations close on Wednesday 24th May, a shortlist of restaurants from each region will be drawn up based on public nominations and adherence to the above criteria.
The Good Food Guide’s editors will then request details from shortlisted restaurants, including but not limited to menus, images, supplier information and chef bios. Failure to provide this information by the given deadline will be taken as a decision by the restaurant to opt out of the judging process.
Shortlisted finalists will be visited anonymously by a Good Food Guide inspector. An overall winner will be selected by editors of The Good Food Guide in consultation with our inspectors. The decision of the editors will be final.
Visual assets
We encourage you to direct diners towards the nomination form online and in your restaurant.
Click the link at the bottom of this page to download all visual assets, including print-ready business card artwork. You can also use the QR code on receipts or other printed materials.
For digital channels, you can download a button which should link to: www.thegoodfoodguide.co.uk/local and social media assets.
FAQs
Q: Can you provide more details on printing business cards?
Restaurants should have business cards professionally printed in the correct size (84x55mm or 87x98 mm for the folded version). We recommend printing a sufficient number to leave with your customers’ bills over the six weeks in which nominations are open (12th April – 24th May 2023). Any printed materials are at the restaurant’s expense.
Q: How can customers nominate from our website or via our social media channels?
We recommend adding the digital button to your website with a link to the nominations page: www.thegoodfoodguide.co.uk/local. This button can also be used on your social channels, although you are welcome to use your own imagery too.
Q: Can restaurants publicise The Good Food Guide’s Best Local Restaurant Awards?
Yes. We encourage you to advertise your participation in the awards as widely as possible. We recommend using email marketing, social media, your website and printed business cards to prompt nominations.
Restaurants can promote the fact that The Good Food Guide will enter participating customers into a prize draw to win a £250 voucher or one of five annual memberships to The Good Food Guide Club. Furthermore, the best nomination received during the competition will be offered the opportunity to undertake a guest inspection for The Good Food Guide. We do not recommend that restaurants run their own competitions or prize draws in relation to the awards.
Q: How many nominations do you receive?
In previous years we have received up to 30,000 nominations. We do not disclose how many nominations each restaurant receives.
Q: How are nominations verified?
Nominations are carefully audited by The Good Food Guide team before being passed to the editors for consideration. Incomplete submissions and invalid names will be removed and multiple nominations for the same restaurant from the same individual will not be valid.
Q: If I get nominations for the Best Local Restaurant Awards, will I be included in The Good Food Guide?
Not necessarily. Participation in the Best Local Restaurant Awards does not guarantee inclusion in the Guide. However, the overall winner must be of Good Food Guide standard and therefore will subsequently be included in the Guide if not already featured.
For any queries that have not been answered on this page, you can contact us at editors@thegoodfoodguide.co.uk. We will endeavour to answer your query as quickly as possible.
