traditional artisan products

Established in 1993, Dina Foods is a privately owned company of three brothers who are steeped in the traditions of authentic food production from the Mediterranean. Suheil Hadded is the managing director, while his two brothers, Samir and Fadi, are responsible for distribution and production respectively.

Sales director Vincent Decamps explained, “Dina manufactures flat breads, handmade savouries and Baklawa from three factories in north-west London operating to BRC and EFSIS Grade ‘A’ certifications. The idea of the company is to create handcrafted artisan products using traditional Mediterranean recipes and methods of baking. In some cases we have twisted the recipes slightly to make them a little more European.”

When the company was started its customers were mainly from the ethnic communities, but as time as gone on the boundaries have been pushed back. This has enabled the company to gain a much wider customer-base while still retaining its ethnic customers. Authentic speciality flat breads and pocket breads are baked in genuine stone bake ovens. The unique Village Lavash is a handmade flat bread baked on a traditional dome oven, and is the ideal, lower calorie, yeast-free bread. The handmade savouries include Falafel, the popular Fatayer and goat cheese with balsamic vinegar and onion Sambousic. Premium Mediterranean confectionery includes Baklawa and Mamoul. All are handmade to an ancient recipe, giving unique and delightful tastes, like no other.

Vincent says, “We are now supplying restaurants and into multiples. We believe that we produce the best bread on the UK market. We tend to work in the background, tailoring our products to suit individual companies. For example, we supply a major pub chain. This began by our invitation to them to come and see us and resulted in our offering them a bread solution to suit different meals. We are now supplying their well-known branded restaurants with different products, including Meze Meze, an assortment of Lebanese savoury products that can be accompanies with Lebanese reduced fat Homous and Babaghanouj as a starter or as a main meal. We are talking to a leading retailer and currently co-produce for a key manufacturer. We also provide every single Pitta Bread for one of the UK’s most successful multiple retailers, and also Baklawa. Since we started dealing with this particular retailer, the orders have risen from eight pallets per week to two full trucks per week in less than two years.”

The company now employs around 150 people and turnover has risen from £5.2 million to £7 million last year, and is predicted to be £9-10 million this year. Vincent says, “It has been a long hard road and we could have ended up going the same way as everyone else, but we stuck with our original aim and now it is paying off.”

For further information please telephone 0208 621 5511 or visit www.dinafoods.com.