Dragon’s Den sisters win New Year’s honours
Lisa Tse, Sweet Mandarin ceo and head chef, and Helen Tse, director, won their awards for services to the food and drinks sector.
Helen described winning the award as a “massive surprise” and thanked the people of Manchester for their support.
‘Send some to the Queen’
“I don't know who put our names forward,” she told the Manchester Evening News. “We did send some to the Queen a while ago and were amazed to get a letter back saying that they were very special. Who knows, maybe that had something to do with it!
“We owe it to the people of Manchester for getting behind our business and supporting us.”
The awards followed the sisters’ highly successful trade visit to China in November with prime minister David Cameron. During the visit the sisters signed an export deal for their three gluten-free, nut-free and dairy-free sauces valued at £6M over the next five years.
Speaking at the time, Helen told FoodManufacture.co.uk that Cameron’s personal intervention had helped them win the deal, which will create at least 15 new jobs.
‘Thank you Mr prime minister’
“It’s amazing: Thank you Mr prime minister,” said Tse. “Mr Cameron supports small- and medium-sized enterprises like us. This trade mission has really shined a spotlight on us.”
After their trade mission in November, the sisters estimated a huge market for their Sweet chilli, Sweet and sour and Barbecue sauces in China, totalling potentially between 600M to 700M people. That compares with a UK population of 77M.
In addition to China, Sweet Mandarin recently signed another deal with the United Arab Emirates, estimated to be worth £500,000 a year.
The Tse sisters from Oldham, Manchester launched their sauce manufacturing business after winning backing from Dragons' Den investors Duncan Bannatyne and Hilary Devey in the BBC2 TV show broadcast in September 2011. They opened their Sweet Mandarin Chinese restaurant about 10 years ago.
Meanwhile, the New Year’s honours list also included Christopher John Corbin, restaurateur, who received an Order of the British Empire (OBE) for services to the hospitality industry and voluntary services through the charity Leuka.
OBEs were also awarded to Lynda Bellingham – the actress who starred in the long-running Oxo TV adverts – and Sarah Beatrice Dunning, chief executive of Tebay Services, for services to the food, drink and hospitality sectors.
Women outnumbered men for the first time in the awards. The New Year’s honours list recognised 611 women compared with 584 men.
Other food-related honours included:
Commander of the Order of the British Empire
- Prof Douglas Bruce Kell, former chief executive Biotech & Biological Sciences Research Council, for services to science and research.
- Prof Marian Ellina Dawkins, Professor, animal behaviour, University of Oxford, for services to animal welfare.
- John David Longden, founder, Pub is The Hub, for voluntary services to UK rural communities.
MBE:
- Marion Regan, farmer, Hugh Lowe Farms, for services to the fruit and vegetable industry.
- John Henry Raymond Hoyles, sugar beet grower and former National Farmers Union sugar chairman, for services to agriculture and to the community in Wisbech, Cambridgeshire.
- Peter John Harold Philpot, farmer, for services to agriculture, the rural economy, education and young people in Essex.
To find out who else won what, read the full New Year's honours list here.
