National wholesaler JJ Food Service has been named Technology Supplier of the Year at the Grocer Gold Awards, which took place on Tuesday 14th June at The Guildhall in London.

The Technology Award acknowledged the launch of JJ’s smart ordering customer app, driver app and website. Chief Operating Officer at JJ Food Service, Mushtaque Ahmed, (pictured) said, "The way people shop has changed forever. Our customers want the ultimate in convenience and we’ve responded by giving them the tools they need to shop anywhere, anytime, quickly and on the go.”

Chief Executive Officer at JJ Food Service, Mustafa Kiamil, said: "We are delighted to win this award and would like to thank our customers, suppliers and staff for their continued support and loyalty.”

Launched last year, JJ’s customer app and website employ machine-learning technology to make suggestions based on previous shopping habits, resulting in a quicker, easier and more efficient shop. A new driver app was also launched which has increased productivity by 5%.

As a result of these developments, online orders have grown from 50% to 63%. JJ Food Service was previously awarded the Microsoft Big Data & Insights Award at the Convergence 2015 EMEA conference.

The Grocer Gold Awards was launched 13 years ago to recognise and reward the highest standards of service in the grocery retail and wholesale sectors.