Harlech Foodservice has reported a 1,100% increase in festive pre-orders as it prepares for the Christmas trading period, a figure the Welsh foodservice distributor disclosed at its Christmas roadshow held for 40 staff and 28 producers.

The company's festive brochure for the season carries 420 products, including 78 new lines. That ratio — roughly one in six brochure items new to the range — signals a deliberate refresh of the seasonal assortment rather than a rollover of last year's list. For a regional foodservice distributor, the breadth of the festive range is the primary lever for capturing Christmas spend from pubs, restaurants and hospitality operators, the channel where seasonal margins are typically strongest.

The pre-order growth follows a 25% turnover increase previously reported by the business, suggesting momentum that extends beyond the seasonal spike. The 1,100% figure covers festive pre-orders specifically, and Harlech has not disclosed the absolute order values behind the percentage, so the base effect remains unknown — a caveat worth holding against any headline multiple of this size.

The roadshow itself was built around a structured format: suppliers took part in speed-dating style sessions, with Harlech staff given eight minutes per supplier to taste products and discuss festive offers. Suppliers presenting at the event all feature in the Christmas brochure, and attendees included colleagues from the company's sales, supply chain, commercial and marketing teams.

Commercial manager Chris Gregson said the roadshow and the brochure launch were key elements of the firm's preparations for the festive season, which he called a crucial time for the food and drink sector.

"All the suppliers here feature in our Christmas brochure and we have colleagues from Harlech's sales, supply chain, commercial and marketing teams attending to taste, feel and ask questions about the suppliers' products," Gregson said.

"The Christmas Roadshow is all about our suppliers educating and energising our sales team so they can go out there and confidently inform and sell to our customers from our Christmas brochure. We're very grateful to all the suppliers for attending the Christmas Roadshow and highlighting the products we are selling in the brochure and informing and educating our staff so well, they've been brilliant," he added.

The model is straightforward channel economics. A distributor's sales force converts supplier product knowledge into order volume, and early pre-orders give the supply chain team visibility into demand before the peak weeks. Pulling supply chain staff into the same tasting sessions as sales suggests Harlech is aligning procurement and inbound planning with the commercial push — the point where festive programmes either hold margin through the peak or scramble on availability and substitutions.

Getting pre-orders committed early also shifts inventory risk. The 1,100% increase in festive pre-orders indicates customers are locking in Christmas lines well ahead of the season, which supports buying accuracy and reduces the chance of end-of-season markdowns on short-dated festive stock — the classic margin drag in foodservice Christmas trading.

For the 28 producers exhibiting, inclusion in the brochure and direct access to the distributor's selling teams is a channel position that smaller suppliers rarely secure. Eight minutes per supplier across a 40-strong internal audience compresses the pitch, but it puts product in front of the people who write the orders.

Harlech has not broken out which categories drove the pre-order surge or how the 78 new lines performed against carried-over products. The test of the season will come in execution: whether the early order book converts into delivered volume at the margins implied by the brochure programme, and whether the supplier-facing format earns a repeat slot in next year's calendar.