Gwynedd food partnership members have heard how leading restaurant chain Dylan’s spent £1.3 million with local artisan producers last year.

Dylan’s, which has restaurants in Menai Bridge, Criccieth, Llandudno and Conwy, specialises in locally produced food and is looking for more suppliers closer to home.

David Retallick, Dylan’s Marketing, Media and Community Relations Manager, issued the appeal at a Gwynedd Food Partnership event - organised as part of the Anglesey and Gwynedd Food Partnerships, run by Menter Môn - at the Criccieth restaurant.

David Wylie, Food Lead at Menter Môn said: “Events like this provide a great opportunity for networking so that local companies can work together for mutual benefit, creating employment and boosting the county’s economy.”

Over 50 people attended and there were stands by local food businesses.

Mr Retallick added: “When we’re looking for suppliers we start on our doorstep and work outwards because we want to be as close to home as possible and then it’s about that supplier and if they can meet demand.

“Even if they can’t we’ve developed ways of getting their food onto our menus by doing specials – we might not be able to do it long term but we can try it out and then look at price and logistics.

“We know it can be a challenge for small producers who may see us as a big operator which we really are not.

“They worry about us being too demanding but for me if they can start small then let’s build on that because we can start by putting something on a special for three or four days over a weekend.

“We do like to hear from local small suppliers because we are always looking for something new that’s made in Wales.”

David added: “It’s a win-win for us putting something closer to home on the menu so a lot of the time we are thinking about finding local suppliers.

“We serve 400,000 customers a year so there’s a lot going on and the money they spend is spent in Wales and on local food producers.

“The sea food we serve comes straight to us from the boat and from our point of view that’s really important.

“We won’t compete on price but we’re happy to compete with other businesses on provenance and the experience we create in our restaurants.

For more information go to https://www.mentermon.com/en/