Tributes have been paid to a great-grandmother whose generosity helped launch a Welsh food wholesale company.
Dorothy Edwards, 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 laid the foundation for the family run business that now employs 300 staff and supplies pubs, restaurants, schools and hospitals across Wales, the North West, Shropshire and the Midlands.
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 Cricieth and Chester.
Paying tribute, her family described Dorothy as “one of a kind” who lived a “long and beautiful life” and leaves behind a lasting legacy through both her family and the business, which was named UK Food Wholesaler of the Year in 2025.
With her grandchildren Jonathan, Andrew and Laura in director roles at the company and a third generation also working at the firm, her family said Mrs Edwards was a “truly amazing lady”,
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.”
A celebration of Mrs Edwards’s life takes place on Friday, May 1 at 2.30pm at Telford Crematorium, with all donations to be made to the Midlands Air Ambulance.
