Harlech teams up with haulier to open Shropshire depot

Welsh food distribution company Harlech Foodservice is to open a new Shropshire depot as it plans its expansion into England’s West Midlands.

A meeting between the firm’s managing director David Cattrall and his counterpart Matthew Farrall at north Wales-based haulier Farrall’s Group led to a deal which will see Harlech operate in an area of Farrall’s new site in Telford, Shropshire.

Ian Evans, Harlech’s head of operations, said: “At that meeting, David mentioned that we were looking for a new base in that area and it turned out that Farrall’s had just opened a new site in Telford and there was spare capacity.

“They’ve agreed that we can use the site as a base to work from and initially we will employ five drivers there along with another driver here in Criccieth.”

Evans feels that both businesses have ambitions to grow in the same areas and share the same values, including transitioning towards net zero, “so it makes sense to work together”.

Initially Harlech will be basing five lorries at the Telford base but is looking towards having a greater presence there in future.

Farrall said: “This is a relatively new area for us but we see its potential and there is spare capacity on the site which we’re happy to partner with Harlech.

“We believe in forging partnerships with other businesses to the benefit of both and that is the case here – we are both in the distribution business but not in competition so this makes sense.”

The Telford opening is part of Harlech’s £6m plan to create 150 new jobs and has been fired by the company’s growth over the past three years, which has seen sales increase from £32m to a record £50m and profits of more than £2m.

The Criccieth-headquartered business’s expansion programme so far has involved opening two new sites in south Wales in the past 12 months – in Merthyr Tydfil last year and Carmarthen earlier this year – where 15 sales staff and drivers have already been recruited, plus the acquisition of rival Celtic Foodservices, based in Pembroke Dock in Pembrokeshire.