A Bradford garden centre has recruited a project manager to lead the expansion plans for its popular Food Hall. Former Nestlé Senior Commercial Manager, Sarah Dwyer will work with the team at Tong Garden Centre to deliver a new Food Hall experience at the Tong Lane site that will create at least 10 new jobs.

Ms. Dwyer's remit is to evaluate the current operation, identify the opportunities and to lead the delivery of the project plan that will increase the food hall area by 90%. During the course of the six month project, she will be working on branding, sourcing (with particular emphasis on local suppliers) ranging and merchandising, along with logistics like shop fitting.

"I have a real love and passion for food, so I'm super excited to be working on this project. I'm most looking forward to working with the team to create a fantastic Food Hall experience here at Tong that will deliver the ambition and to seeing that vision come to life instore," said Ms. Dwyer.

Tong Garden Centre's MD Mark Farnsworth is excited about the contribution that Ms. Dwyer, a former colleague at Nestlé, will make to the new Food Hall experience: "One of the learnings from lockdown is that we can improve our food offering.  

"Sarah spent 20 years at Nestle in a wide range of commercial roles, so we are very fortunate to have such a rounded commercial manager joining our team.

"This initial project is a great way for her to get involved in the business and she has all the skills to help us achieve our goals.  We continue to work on other opportunities and we very much hope that we can offer Sarah an exciting career with us".

When she's not working, Ms. Dwyer enjoys outdoor sports, gardening and cooking and baking for family and friends.

Ms. Dwyer's 20 year career at Nestlé spanned numerous commercial roles across sales, marketing, category management and latterly HR. She also worked as a Business Unit Head running Nestlé's Gifting and Seasonal Confectionery business.

Tong Garden Centre occupies a 17 acre site in Tong village. It is one of Yorkshire's biggest garden centres with 110,000 square feet of retail space and parking for up to 1,000 cars.