A CATERING company from Wrexham is pledging its support to small businesses that are struggling in light of the coronavirus pandemic.

The COVID-19 outbreak has led to many people self-isolating in their homes, placing increasing pressure on local businesses who are losing customers and income.

But a ‘meals on wheels’ service that delivers hot, home-cooked food to over 55s across Flintshire and Wrexham is at the opposite end of the spectrum.

Dragon Dinners, which began delivering in January, is attempting to cope with a growing demand for its services from the rising number of people who are staying at home.

However, Jodie Murphy and Nicola Charles-Paget - the two women who run the catering company – have pledged to buy a £10 gift voucher from local companies each week as part of their ‘Small Business Buddies’ scheme.

Those vouchers will then be given to one Dragon Dinners customer each week following a random draw for them to use in the small business “in better times.”

Jodie Murphy, from Wrexham, said: “We operate a meals on wheels service that has been going for about six weeks now where we deliver hot meals to over 55 year olds.

“We’ve seen a huge increase in the demand for our food deliveries recently, but we are aware that other catering companies, pubs and small businesses are not doing as well.

“So, we have asked people to tag and comment the names of small businesses that people are familiar with and want to support on our Facebook page.

“We will then have a weekly draw where we choose one of these businesses to purchase a £10 voucher from before we do a similar draw with the names of our customers every Friday.

“That customer will then receive the voucher to spend at the store when we get back into better times.

“This will give local small businesses some income, and also hopefully brighten the day of some of our customers who are currently self-isolating.

“We will continue to do this whilst its financially viable and would encourage others to do the same if they are able to.

“Business is going well for us at the minute, so we wanted to show our support to the local, hard-working people who are facing difficult times.”

Dragon Dinners are now making contactless deliveries as part of their service to help contain the spread of COVID-19.

The two women who run the catering company make food deliveries between 12 and 2pm every day after shopping for ingredients and preparing the food themselves.