Dylan's Restaurants

BACKGROUND

Dylan's Restaurants, located in North Wales, are passionate about local produce and Welsh food.

Dylan's success story started on Anglesey when David Evans and Robin Hodgson opened their first seafood and pizza restaurant in Menai Bridge in 2012 with a team of 12 kitchen and front-of-house staff. It proved an instant hit and this was followed by restaurants in Criccieth in 2015 and then Llandudno in 2017.

The business also has a head office and central production kitchen in Llangefni on Anglesey where it is rapidly expanding its range of retail food products now being sold in speciality food stores across the UK. They currently employ close to 200 staff.

The company's underlying vision is to help create a strong sense of identity and place through food for North Wales with a strong focus on locally and sustainably caught seafood sourced directly from local fishermen.

SUPPORT RECEIVED FROM FOOD TECHNOLOGY CENTRE

The Food Technology Centre has been supporting Dylan's since 2015 and is still ongoing today. Dylan's was looking to venture into new markets with the development of ambient chilled versions of their restaurant quality sauces.

They were able to use the development facilities to receive support on - nutritional values and advice on HACCPs; initial shelf life testing and analysis; advice on the best way of preserving the sauces in jars/bottles and the legalities of labelling needed to be able to sell the products.

In 2019, Dylan's also received mentoring to attain SALSA accreditation.

BENEFITS OF THE SUPPORT

The support and advice received from the Food Technology Centre has been hugely valuable to the company especially as they have been able to extend their range of sauces. They have also been able to expand the business into retail, selling their sauces to independent retailers and wholesalers and working with Diverse Fine Foods, Springvale and Blas Ar Fwyd. As well as having listings with Marks & Spencer and Ocado.

Amanda Rankenhohn, Dylan's Restaurant commented,

We have received fantastic support from the Food Technology Centre from the start. The knowledge and experience of the Centre's team has been key in guiding our chefs to ensure accurate testing and evaluation of the safety of the products, not only from a food safety aspect but also in ensuring the quality integrity of the brand.

The mentoring we received in order to gain SALSA accreditation was second to none, and we are still receiving continued support from them. They have advised and assisted throughout, answering questions and queries no matter how small.

They have huge knowledge of the food industry and we are able to call on their expertise at any time.