Bodnant Welsh Food Centre 'lost its way' admits boss determined to bring it 'back to its roots'

The boss of Bodnant Welsh Food said the centre had “lost its way” but was now intent on getting it back to its roots.

After launching nearly five years ago the centre enjoyed more than two years of success as visitors poured in.

But general manager Sandra Derbyshire said they stopped listening as they suffered from issues like staff friction and high worker turnover, a loss of focus on Welsh produce and the mislabelling incident that damaged the centre’s reputation .

She said there had also been too many changes, leaving customers “confused”.

Now though Sandra, who has been at the centre for 12 months, said they have been taking the site back to its original principles.

This meant listening to what customers wanted, less tinkering and returning to its core focus on Welsh produce.

‘Still has support of the family’

She added that while the venture was not yet making a profit it continued to have the full support of the Bodnant estate ‘family’ and was here for the long term.

She said: “It is taking the heart of Bodnant back to its roots as a food centre that is predominantly Welsh.”

Sandra started at the end of April last year as a consultant to oversee the shop and tearoom after 30 years working for Sainsbury’s, B&Q and Asda.

When operations director Conrad Jones left in July she took over as manager.

Talking about the issues, she said: “The centre was successful to start but every business hits its pinnacle and then there is a plateau. There was also too much change going on.

“It would try something, if it wasn’t working, then perhaps instead of working on it harder they would change it.

“When you are dealing with the general public they like to have consistency and reliability.

“They like to know what they are coming to, that is where the business lost its way.”

‘It is a food centre for Wales’

She added: “I was brought in to re-establish the value of what Bodnant is about, supporting Welsh producers. It is about having as many of those food lines as we can, it is a food centre for Wales.”

One incident that damaged the centre’s reputation was the mislabelling error last year.

The centre was forced to apologise to a customer after the “Welsh” gammon she bought turned out to be from Belgium.

Sandra said: “The meat incident had its impact but it has led to us building a relationship with trading standards and the team at Conwy council. They have been here to support us, help us train people up.

“These things do happen but it is how you build up relationships with agencies and change so that it does not happen again.”

Despite the issues and “rumours” about its future she insisted the centre had never been under threat.

She said: “There is one thing with Bodnant Welsh Food, we are supported by the family (Bodnant estate owners Michael and Caroline McLaren).

Areas of the business are making money

“We are still a young business, four years old, trying to find our place. While we have turned a curve of getting towards hitting profits, we have not got there yet but we are very much supported by the family.

“I know the amount of rumours that take place, we are just like any other business trying to establish itself, get its core values and the consistency and stability. We are very fortunate to have that family support.”

She said areas of the business were now making money.

Dairy has been exceptional but there is a cost

She added: “It is then how you turn around the ones that aren’t and potentially taking away the net profit of those that are. With some it is about establishing the brand and the market place.

“The dairy operation has created five cheeses, a butter, ice cream and has won taste awards. They have done exceptionally well but there is a cost.

“The dairy is still evolving and we are moving into bigger contracts, having to make investment in new equipment.

“The dairy is one of those areas that is starting to do well. As a business it is pulling revenue from the rest of the business but the potential is now starting to come through. It is now the dairy’s turn to start bringing the bottom line in and we are looking forward to that.”

Another area not yet bringing in the profits is the Hayloft restaurant.

“We have changed the offer, we have confused people, we had not got it right,” said Sandra.

“It was about us losing our way in what we were all about. We are a restaurant set in the heart of North Wales, in farming country.”

She says they took the restaurant to a fine dining level where there was not that demand.

She added: “Again, it was confusing people. We need to settle down and be consistent and reliable.

Targeting growing visitor numbers

“We are engaging with the local community again and saying ‘yes, we have got it wrong’ and perhaps haven’t listened as well as what we should of but we are listening now.”

On the shop, she said: “It lost its way, became more about filling the farm shop with product that they believed would sell.

“Myself and Richie, our retail manager, are taking it back to rebuild those relationships with producers and encourage more to come to us.”

She said visitor numbers had been between 250,000 and 280,000 a year and they now aim to reach the upper figure and beyond annually.

There is now a core base of staff of just under 60 which increases up to around 75 during the peak season.

Sandra added: “Having core people brings stability and we are now more of a team.

“I can’t speak for what has happened in the past but for me personally it is about wanting to bring people in and give them stability and training so they stay with us. We need to get the people side right.”

They are also looking to give people more reason to come to Bodnant for a couple of hours rather than a quick drop-in. This has seen them hold craft fairs, farmers markets and also put on entertainment for the family.

Sandra believes they are starting to get the offer right. “We are confident about the future. We are here for the long term.”