Kip Preidys and partner Giada Betti run Aemilia in Portobello, a successful pasta shop established in 2020.
The pair’s presence in Edinburgh soon prompted invites to the Scottish Italian Food Awards – calls they eagerly answered by entering and buying tickets for the gala dinner, believing the awards represented excellence in Italian food.
However, they say they were left bitterly disappointed, claiming the awards are “pay-to-play” and that only “the biggest companies, the biggest families, and the people with the biggest networks are the ones who ultimately take home the awards”.
Kip recently took to his business’ Instagram page to share a video of him tearing up the invitation and paperwork that had been mailed to him, inviting Aemelia to take part, and throwing them in the bin.
Aemilia is based at 186 Portobello High Street – although is moving to a new location at 242 on that same street. © Kip Preidys
He also included a screenshot from one of his earlier posts, explaining how in their first year of business, they were “encouraged to join in, paid a lot of money, and only later realised it was for nothing. No genuine recognition just another way to profit off small businesses’ reputations and hopes”.
In the accompanying caption, he said: “Another year, another invitation to vote for the fake Italian awards. [It’s] 2026 and it’s honestly horrible to see this happening year after year.
“So many people are encouraged to buy tickets, participate and believe they are becoming part of something that represents excellence in Italian food.
“Only to realise later that the biggest companies, the biggest families and the people with the biggest networks are the ones who ultimately take home the awards.
“I will continue speaking about this because I genuinely believe these awards are unrepresentative of the incredible people who work tirelessly to preserve Italian cuisine, culture and heritage.
“If you are involved in these awards, I honestly think you should ask yourself what kind of image you are helping to create.
“If we are serious about setting boundaries and raising the standards of what true excellence in Italian cuisine looks like, this is not the way to do it.
“Please do your research before entering, spending money or associating your business with something that may not represent the values you believe in.”
Industry support
Aemilia does not appear to be the only business to have had a negative experience with the Scottish Italian Awards though, with a slew of firms – and some of Edinburgh’s most popular eateries – flocking to the comment section in agreement.
Emily and Nathan Wyper of the food blog Inside the Rustic Kitchen said: “Totally agree. We were invited as a finalist when we first moved back from Italy and experienced the same thing.”
Antonio Baiano, owner and chef at Napolè Pizzeria in Corstorphine replied: “Well said, we also participated only once. Basically pay to win, never again.”
Anna Lamacchia, owner of Fresco Trattoria in Bathgate, added: “I did the exact same when we received this today.”
Even Darcie Maher, founder of popular spot Lannan Bakery – which regularly enjoys queues out the door and along the street – also commented: “Couldn’t agree with this more.
“There’s so many of them in the baking industry too. If you have to pay to enter a competition, it’s very unlikely any award given will be credible.
“Very sad to see so many small independent businesses being fleeced.”
Natalie Togher, one of the co-owners of the popular Mimis Bakehouse, said: “So many fake awards just to make money. I think we all learn after paying for it once.”
Joe Sykes, the owner of popular gelateria Joelato, replied: “So many of these awards are total BS.”
Even Joe Hurd, TV chef and a regular feature on BBC’s Saturday Kitchen, replied with a 100% emoji before adding: “That show has raised eyebrows for years.
“Hospitality is packed full of BS awards and it’s damaging the industry and people’s businesses. Keep up the fight.”
Speaking to The Edinburgh Reporter, Aemilia owner Kip Preidys explained: “We first entered the awards in 2021, in our first year of business. I felt as a new business it would be a cool opportunity for us, and would get our name out there.
“However, the more we saw of the awards, and then attending them, we realised that, in terms of the people who were winning, the standards weren’t that great, and their victories seemed more promotional than anything.
“Looking back at some of the previous winners, I felt that the food that they were offering didn’t really look like it was made from scratch – and not up to the standards required to win an award.
“You start to question, how did they win? And then you end up looking a bit bitter. But the more you dig through this and the more you listen, even just to the way the organisers speak, it’s all promotional, they talk about expanding to London and New York, it doesn’t make sense for me.
“They talk a lot about their sponsors, Aperol, Birra Moretti – and it feels like whichever business buys the most Aperol Spritz or Moretti, that’s who wins. This is all speculation of course, but that’s the way that it seemed to me.
“We were competing for best authentic food or something like this. We got ‘reviewers’ who came in and got free food. They were influencers and bloggers who came to ‘review’ our food.
“We made a meal for them free of charge. They wrote about how incredible our stuff was and yet when it came to the awards, we were nowhere near to be seen.
“I made a similar post about the awards last year – something like 50,000 people saw it and I got so many reactions and comments from people agreeing.
“It’s a problem in so many industries, there’s a lot of awards like this. The same organisers of the Italian awards do it for Indian restaurants as well, hotels, and even building societies. You go, you pay, you get a trophy.”
The Scottish Italian Awards have been approached for comment.
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