THE company behind Swindon's own Rays Ice Cream celebrated second place for Start-Up Business of the Year category at the Wiltshire Business Awards.

Owner Hadi Brooks established Rays Manufacturing in 2017 when she decided to expand her premium ice cream business by moving the ice cream making from the back of their shop to its own purpose-built kitchen.

She said: "Being a finalist for this and the Outstanding Excellence award was an absolute honour, I was surprised and absolutely thrilled, so coming second in the Start-Up category was the icing on the cake."

As well as serving Rays Ice Cream’s own shops in Old Town, Swindon, Royal Wootton Bassett and their events business, Rays Manufacturing now also sells the ice cream wholesale to other businesses. Customers include local foodie pubs, hotels and dessert shops.

Hadi added: "With the move to the new premises came greater capacity both for making and for storing ice cream. The natural next step seemed to be to approach local quality food businesses to see if they wanted to include us as part of their food offer."

To find out more about Rays Ice Cream, email info@raysicecream.co.uk