The Pizza, Pasta & Italian Food Association (PAPA) is the only formal trade body in the UK representing the broad pizza, pasta and Italian food and drink industry.
Simply put, we help our members to do better business, whether it be in challenging legislation on their behalf, helping them to understand the impact of changing markets and legislation on their business or in bringing our members together to network and learn.
Management & structure
The Association is a non-commercial and non-financial body run for the benefit of members by a commercially responsible Secretariat.
Under this structure, the Association itself has no financial liabilities or responsibilities, so members cannot be held liable for the finances of the commercial aspects of the association. All the commercial activities of the Association are run by J & M Group Ltd., a wholly commercial organization which takes total responsibility for the management and financial administration of the Association and its affairs.
Committed to helping you build a better business
There has always been something special about the Italian family approach, and we look to embody this with our membership.
Our goal at PAPA is to help you, our members, whenever you need it, whether that is to provide specialist advice to help you to solve a particular problem or simply to know where you should go to buy equipment or ingredients. So you always know you have someone to turn to when you need help and advice.
But our support goes much further than simply being there. We're doing all we can to boost the profile of and the opportunity in the pizza, pasta and Italian food market, giving our members – whether they are manufacturers, suppliers or restaurateurs – the best platform we can from which to trade. We're well practiced at this - our position at the heart of the industry dates back to 1977.
We are here for you when you need help and advice
Whether it is help with dealing with an environmental health issue, a legal problem concerning an employee or simply some advice on where to source a particular ingredient – we are there for you. In addition to general information about the market and industry, we also have our own in-house technical department which can provide advice across a broad range of food handling and safety issues.
In addition to our own Advice Line, all our full members also have access to a free legal help-line staffed by legal experts who can help you deal with legal issues, whether they are personal or to do with your business. So, whether you have an employee or a contractual problem or a particularly difficult complaint to deal with, you always have someone to turn to for helpful advice.
Endorsing and promoting your business
Whether you are a restaurateur, manufacturer or supplier, one of the aims of PAPA is to help all its members grow their businesses profitably by co-ordinating a range of support activities that will help them.
All manufacturing and supplier members are fully listed and promoted in Pizza Pasta & Italian Food magazine, while member restaurants and delivery units are the focus of local publicity generated by the Association and receive the back-up of promotions from time-to-time as well as the support of the PAPA telephone hotline.
As a member of PAPA you can use our branding, subject to the usual T's and C's of course! We can make this even easier for you by providing you with a window sticker and membership certificate.
Recognising excellence and celebrating what makes our sector great
A core part of our role is to celebrate all that is great about our industry, and give our members the chance to shine. You might want to do this through entering our annual Awards, while the Pizza, Pasta and Italian Food Magazine, affiliated to but independent of PAPA, is always keen to capture the latest initaitives and innovations from our members.
Keeping you informed
Whether it is knowing about changes in legislation so that you can stay within the law or keeping abreast of new ideas and trends, our goal is to keep you up to speed with the issues that matter. As a member of PAPA you will receive an annual subscription to Pizza Pasta & Italian Food magazine as well as regular updates on issues that could affect your business, ranging from legislation to market intelligence.