Justin Godfrey of Thomas Ridley Foodservice won the Lifetime Achievement award at the Bury Free Press West Suffolk Business Awards 2023
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00:00 (upbeat music)
00:03 - Joining me now is Justin Godfrey
00:04 from Thomas Ridley Food Service,
00:06 winner of the Janik Lifetime Achievement Award.
00:10 Congratulations, how does it feel
00:12 to win such a prestigious award?
00:14 - Well, slightly humbling really actually,
00:16 'cause I feel like I still have a lifetime ahead of me.
00:19 So I've been nominated for this
00:22 by all of the colleagues at Ridley's,
00:26 without me knowing actually.
00:27 I think my parents were involved,
00:28 they knew and I got told a few weeks prior to this
00:32 to keep the date free.
00:33 So I had no knowledge until about three weeks ago
00:35 and yes, fantastic.
00:37 - So you weren't suspicious,
00:38 they said, "Keep the date free,
00:40 "we can't tell you why, but you weren't suspicious."
00:43 - No, no, no, no, 'cause my wife was in on it.
00:45 So just a normal keep Friday free
00:48 because we're going out and I didn't ask why.
00:51 So here we are.
00:52 So no, fantastic, very humbling, thank you.
00:54 - And how does it feel to have played a part
00:56 in your family's long running history with the business?
01:00 - Well, it's been fantastic adventure.
01:02 So the door was open to get in there and create a business
01:06 and we've had a great team behind us
01:08 and we took it up to about 300 people.
01:11 And in all honesty, it's been a very exciting journey
01:16 and it's grown beyond all recognition really.
01:21 And I think that's obviously, well, I don't think,
01:23 I know that's down to the people that are
01:25 within the business, of course,
01:26 'cause the business is people
01:28 and there's about 300 of them and they're all fantastic.
01:31 - And over that lifetime, your proudest achievement,
01:33 what would you say that is?
01:34 - Oh gosh, I think in, really to be honest,
01:37 while I've been running the business,
01:39 you don't really ever look back at achievements
01:42 'cause you're probably looking ahead
01:43 at what you'd like to do next.
01:46 So I'll let you know about that
01:48 when I finally stop achieving.
01:51 - And what do you think your great, great, great,
01:55 great, great grandfather would say about the business
02:00 if he was around today, would he recognize it?
02:02 - Well, I think, yeah,
02:03 and I think I'm a sixth generation grocer.
02:06 So would he recognize it?
02:07 Yeah, because back then they had horses and carts
02:12 and no refrigeration and people bought their food daily
02:16 because they didn't have any storage at home
02:19 and quite often the other half didn't work
02:22 so they went shopping daily.
02:24 So it's changed a lot, yes, unbelievably.
02:27 - And what have you made about tonight's event?
02:29 Well, I mean, it ended brilliantly, obviously,
02:31 but what have you made of tonight's event?
02:33 - Yes, great evening.
02:34 I've been once before a few years ago.
02:36 It's a lot of fun, it's great to see.
02:38 It was great to promote all the local businesses, really.
02:41 So coming along to something like this,
02:43 you realize how many people there are in the area
02:46 making things happen and lots of exciting brands
02:49 and lots of exciting young people who've got energy
02:52 and enthusiasm wanting to smash it up
02:56 and make some progress, really.
02:58 - Congratulations to you, well done.
03:00 - Thank you very much, thanks.
03:02 (upbeat music)
03:04 (upbeat music)