Harlech Foodservice new appointments, from left, Shane Parker, Morgan Jones, Tomos Owen and Jason Martin.
A man who joined a leading Welsh food supplier as a teenaged van driver’s assistant has been promoted to warehouse manager.
Morgan Jones was a 16-year-old schoolboy looking for a summer job when he joined Harlech Foodservice.
Ten years later he is one of four new promotions announced by Harlech at their headquarters at Llanystwmdwy, near Criccieth.
The other promotions are drivers Tomos Owen and Jason Martin, and Shane Parker, who joins the business support team from telesales.
Morgan, who has bought a home in Nefyn, said:
“The company have been fantastic and have really given me the chance to progress and build a career with them. I started part-time while I was still in school, helping drivers load and unload and then came back from university and started full-time as a van driver before the company put me through my HGV Class One and I worked as a driver through Covid.
“Then I was made Transport Supervisor and then Transport Planning Manager and now I’ve moved out of transport and into the warehouse.”
Morgan Jones, new Warehouse Manager at fast-growing Harlech Foodservice ten years after joining them as a part-time schoolboy van driver’s assistant. Picture by Mandy Jones Photography.
Jason, from Trefor, worked in the company’s butchery department for ten years before moving into the warehouse and retraining as a driver and has just gained his HGV Class Two.
He said:
“I just wanted to progress and do driver training and it’s worked out very well for me. It’s been a real bonus being given the chance.”
Tomos, 26, from Nefyn, originally trained as a chef and he said:
“I worked locally but was looking for a change of career and I joined Harlech in February and re-trained.
“I’ve passed my HGV Class One and have started driving and am really enjoying it – the hours are a lot more social than as a chef and it’s a good job for getting out and about.”
Shane, 42, from Llanystwmdwy, began in telesales in November. He
said:
“I enjoyed that and now I’m moving up to work in IT in the business support team, looking after the website and tracking trends and patterns in sales.”
Harlech Foodservice new appointments, from left, Jason Martin, Shane Parker, Morgan Jones and Tomos Owen.
Harlech Head of Operations Ian Evans said:
“As we have grown we have realised we needed these kinds of IT skills and support right across the range of the company’s activities.
“These four new appointments are another good example of how the company promotes from within and how there are opportunities to develop new skills and build careers here with Harlech and that is so important in an area like this.”
Harlech Foodservice, which was founded in 1973, now operates from bases at Criccieth, in Gwynedd, Merthyr Tydfil, Carmarthen and Chester.
Between the four locations, the company is increasing employment to 250 staff and running a growing fleet of vehicles to deliver up to 5,000 product lines to cafés, restaurants, pubs and public sector customers across the whole of Wales, Shropshire, the Midlands and the North West.
