Tesco customers across the UK can now enjoy Welsh-made waffle on their coffee break thanks to a new food-to-go listing for Carmarthenshire-based supplier Tregroes Waffles.
Their delicious butter toffee waffles are now available in handy packs of two in the tea and coffee aisle and Food to Go areas as part of a trial at 700 Tesco Superstores and Extra stores across the UK.
The business has been making baked toffee waffles in the Teifi Valley for nearly 40 years and are the only commercial manufacturer of the product in the UK. Its butter toffee waffles are made of thin waffle wafers sandwiched together with a soft butter toffee filling in the centre. They are free from artificial colours and preservatives and are nut and GM free.
The business was started by Kees Huysmans in 1983, after he moved to Wales from the Netherlands. After initially selling his handmade waffles at shows and fairs across Wales – and becoming a fluent Welsh speaker along the way – the bakery moved from his house in Tregroes to a bigger base in Llandysul in 1994.
Since then, the business has expanded its range, and has recently invested in new machinery and an extension to the bakery to meet rising demand for its products. With a loyal local workforce in place, Tregroes Bakery is run as a trust with all employees beneficiaries of the company in order to build a sustainable long-term future.
Nathan Edwards, Tesco’s local buyer for Wales, said he hoped the new smaller format packs in stores would encourage more shoppers to try the quality Welsh product in their coffee breaks.
“We’re delighted to be launching these snack-sized helpings of Tregroes Waffles right across the UK,” he said. “They are delicious – I especially enjoy mine with a cup of coffee in the afternoon – and they have built up a well-deserved following among our customers in Wales. I am sure our customers across the UK will enjoy them in these handy packs as much as I do.”
Kees Huysmans, managing director of Tregroes Waffles, said:
“We are really proud of our waffles, and are delighted to have been given a chance to share them with a wider audience in this new format in Tesco stores across the UK.
“We’d like to thank all of our loyal customers and employees for making Tregroes Waffles such a local success story, and look forward to developing the business further in the months and years to come.”
Rhys Jones, national account manager for Tesco at Tregroes Waffles, added:
“Getting a new product into a large number of stores is a really difficult task, so it has been an absolute delight working with Nathan and the rest of the team at Tesco.
“Without their support it may never have happened, and we are all really grateful for the help we have received.”
