A LEADING food distribution company has slashed prices by up to 50 per cent to help Welsh hotels, restaurants and pubs struggling to combat soaring costs.

Gwynedd-based Harlech Foodservice have launched its new “Trust Our Prices” campaign, with 321 popular lines having its prices cut.

A further 57 have had its prices frozen until January 1 for customers across North Wales and the North West.

They include more than 30 per cent off the price of eggs, 26 per cent off baked beans and tomato paste, 20 per cent off butter, 14 per cent off paper napkins, and 50 per cent off Bisto gravy.

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Harlech head of sales, Chris Gregson, has overseen the reductions.

He said: “We review our prices weekly against some of the biggest wholesalers in the UK, saving our customers time as we’ve carried out the price comparison for them.

“Our list prices were already very competitive but we appreciate that our customers have found it difficult to plan with confidence when faced with a raft of cost increases, so we have listened to them and taken the decision to lock in the prices of many of our biggest selling lines for three months.

“This gives our customers across Wales and into the North West and the Midlands the chance to plan in the knowledge that our food prices will not be going up until January at the earliest.

“They will be staying put or being cut if the prices we pay fall – that will give our customers some certainty in an increasingly uncertain world.

“This is something that is available to all our customers and couples perfectly with our fantastic service which allows customers to order online up to 10pm at night and get up to 6 days delivery each week.”

Harlech introduced six-day delivery last year to enable customers to be more flexible so that, if fine weather brought a surge in trade, then businesses could swiftly re-stock ready for the next day.

It will also make it easier for those businesses to plan for the busy Christmas period with the certainty that their costs will remain stable and they will be able to maximise profits.

Chris added: “It means they can plan their menus in the knowledge that they will be paying the same amount – or less – for the same products in December as they are now.

“They know what their margins are and they will be the same at Christmas as they are now and if we see the cost of items reduce dramatically then we will move our prices down to pass that onto our customers.

“As a matter of course we review our competitors’ pricing every week and that enables us to always have a competitive list price - and we check those prices so our customers don’t have to.

“We want them to be able to trust our prices and us.”

Harlech Foodservice has established bases at Criccieth, in Gwynedd, and in Chester, and this year opened a third in Merthyr Tydfil to supply its increasing market across South Wales.

Between the three locations, the company employs more than 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 Wales, Shropshire, the Midlands and the North West.