Tributes to ‘Granny Dot’ whose £6k gamble helped build Harlech

Tributes have been paid to a great-grandmother whose generosity helped launch Harlech Foodservice.

Dorothy Edwards (pictured), affectionately known as ‘Granny Dot’, who has died aged 102, played a pivotal role in the creation of Harlech Foodservice after backing her family with a crucial loan more than 50 years ago.

In 1972, Dorothy and her husband Harry loaned £6,000 – the equivalent of £100,000 today – enabling their daughter Gill and son-in-law Colin Foskett to buy a frozen food shop and wholesale business in Harlech.

That bold move laid the foundation for the successful, family-run business that now employs 300 staff and supplies pubs, restaurants, schools and hospitals across Wales, the North West, Shropshire and the Midlands.

With a turnover of about £70 million, Harlech Foodservice has enjoyed rapid expansion in recent years and has added new hubs in Carmarthen, Caerphilly and Telford to its long-established centres in Criccieth and Chester.

Her grandchildren Jonathan, Andrew and Laura are in director roles at the company and members of the third generation also work at the firm.

Paying tribute, her family described Dorothy as “one of a kind” who lived a “long and beautiful life”.

Grandson Andrew, the company’s joint chairman, said: “That loan in 1972 was life-changing. It is fair to say without my grandmother, Harlech Foodservice would simply not exist. The circumstances were there, the opportunity came along and the rest is history.

“Dorothy and Harry must have raised the £6,000 from money from their family business, Harry Edwards & Sons funeral directors.

“They would visit the business quite often – it wouldn’t be unusual for staff to see them at the business. Dorothy would still follow Harlech on their Facebook page in her later years; she took an ongoing interest in it.

“She was over the moon about the success of the business and that the family still owns the business and we still run the business.