A leading food wholesaler has bolstered its reputation as an equal opportunities employer with three key appointments going to women.
Harlech Foodservice’s announcement comes just weeks after it announced that its new Head of Purchasing, a senior management position, would be Josie Swift, who is based at its Chester office.
The three new promotions are at the business headquarters in Llanystwmdwy, near Criccieth, Laura Holland as Customer Experience Manager, Alana Pritchard Business Support Manager, and Ursula Scurrah-Price Business Development Manager for Health Care & Education.
Laura, who lives in Mynytho, near Abersoch, is originally from Stockport and worked in men’s fashion and in marketing after achieving a degree in Surface Pattern at Huddersfield University.
She joined Harlech in 2019, just before the pandemic hit, has worked in a number of roles and said: “The only thing I haven’t done is drive a forklift truck but it means I do know how the business runs.
“I do like it here although working through the pandemic was difficult, especially for our customers because it all went very quiet.
“My degree has turned out to be really useful with a lot of variety and I learned a lot about business and marketing which has proved valuable.
“Living here is wonderful and most of my family are now here including my brother who runs a pub in Abersoch and is one of our customers.
“It’s a lovely part of he world and it’s good that I can progress my career here at Harlech and my experience in different parts of the business is important in helping our customers.”
Alana Pritchard is the new Business Support Manager who analyses a whole range of data from across the company to support the various departments.
She began in telesales in 2017 and became a key account advisor, then a purchasing assistant before becoming a purchasing analyst and now in her new role, offering detailed analysis of how the whole company works.
She said: “It’s all very different and I enjoy it a lot because there’s always something new every day and it’s always interesting – data analysis is a vital tool for business now.
“It’s good to be able to progress – I’ve just bought a house in Clynnogfawr and it’s great to have the opportunity to build a career here.”
While Laura and Alana will be based at Llanystwmdwy, Ursula will have a roving role across North Wales as a Business Development Manager.
Ursula, from Tremadog and now living in Trefor, joined the company on telesales in 2016 and worked there until the pandemic hit and she was furloughed.
On her return she worked in customer support, dealing with schools and care homes and she is now on the road as a Business Development Manager which takes her across North Wales.
She said: “I like the fact that it’s different every day. I’m very much a people person and I enjoy getting to meet and talk to so many different people, often people I’ve spoken to on the phone for the last seven years but never met so that will be good.
“Getting this role also shows that I’ve progressed in the company and I feel I’ve broken the mould in what was a male-dominated area.”
Harlech Foodservice Managing Director David Cattrall said: “These appointments show that as a company we are an equal opportunities employer which rewards ability.
“Quite simply here at Harlech if you’re good enough it doesn’t matter if your male or female and increasingly young women are taking on different roles across the company at all levels and doing them very well.
“It is important too that people who join Harlech Foodservice know that there is a career pathway within the company that can enable them to progress on merit and that’s important in a largely rural area like this.”
Harlech Foodservices 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 up to 5,000 product lines to cafés, restaurants, pubs and public sector customers across North and Mid-Wales, Shropshire, the Midlands and the North West.
For more on Harlech Foodservices go to https://www.harlech.co.uk/
