Harlech Foodservice has sent supplies worth up to £60,000 to food banks over the past fortnight, with ten of the company’s fleet of delivery vans now being used to keep food banks stocked up.
The latest drops to food banks across North Wales and in Cheshire and Shropshire include 180 boxes of bread, over 10,000 eggs, 79 trays of yoghurts and 98 catering-size cooking sauces as well as bread roll and sponge cake mix.
Harlech’s digital project manager Ceri Brown works with the team to coordinate the supply chain and she said: “Lockdowns have of course resulted in excess stock with last minute government decisions resulting in additional wasted stock bought in to satisfy school contracts.
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“We had to be prepared for the new school term in January but of course when schools were closed we were left with a huge amount of food which we needed to use. We are working closely with some incredible organisations to help people hit hardest by the pandemic and we wanted to share it out across our area of operation. As the lockdowns continue, it’s a real struggle for our purchasing team managing stock levels, ensuring we have enough stock to meet demand for those customers that are open, but not over buying,” she added.
Among those they supply is the Telford Food Share Project in Shropshire where project founder Lea Beven said: “We’re really grateful to Harlech who make such a huge contribution to our efforts. We are subsidising between 100 and 200 families a day. Not all of them are in absolute crisis but many are struggling and would not be able to make ends meet without us.
Harlech Foodservice has been in business since 1972 and now has bases at Criccieth, in Gwynedd, and Chester and between the two locations, the company employs around 200 staff and runs a fleet of vehicles to deliver more than 10,000 product lines.
They recently clinched a contract to supply Denbighshire schools with a million meals a year to add to their existing contracts with Gwynedd and Conwy councils and they also supply leading restaurants and takeaways across the region.
