MAGAZINE
After aeons of us following the age-old tradition of welcoming in the summer by complaining about the bad weather, it turns out you can actually have too much of a good thing. While most of us enjoy some summer sunshine, with four separate temperature records having been broken, it has officially been ‘a bit much’. And, as the headline ‘Heatwaves ruined 40% of our peppers, says grower’ appearing on the BBC News homepage at the time of typing neatly illustrates, it’s not just us poor humans who have been feeling the heat.
The silver lining, however, is that the sector has managed to find ways to make hay regardless. The Garden Centre Association’s latest figures (see News, page 6) report that sales are still up by 10.66% when compared to this time last year. And the even better news is that food very much led from the front, with the strongest performing category being, somewhat unsurprisingly, furniture and barbecues, which rose by 27.76%, while food hall and farm shop and catering increased by 7.52% and 6.86%, respectively.
For those who want to give their outlet an even bigger boost, our Garden Centre Catering Awards are still open for entry – just about! There are four categories to submit in – free of charge – though be warned, the deadline is 25th September.
The value of winning certainly isn’t lost on Monkton Elm Garden Centre, who we speak to in this issue’s Awards interview (page 14). On winning the Independent Award last year, Wendy Tyzack tells us: “It's definitely important to the team, and I think any great recognition is important. We've already entered your Afternoon Tea category for this year.”
If you would like to do similar, please go to gardencentrecateringawards.co.uk now. Good luck to everyone who enters – the winners will be announced in our next issue!
