Catering and food sales top latest BoT figures

The Garden Centre Association (GCA) has released its June Barometer of Trade figures – and once again catering and food sales finished top. Eight of the recorded 13 categories were up when compared to June 2023, according to data submitted by the body’s garden centre members.

The GCA’s top performing category, catering, was up by 19.18%. This was followed by food hall/farm shop at 15.25%.

'The big winners were restaurants'
Peter Burks, chief executive officer of the GCA, said: “As expected, June’s figures show a fall in sales compared to last year, albeit a very small drop of 0.68%, but the year-to-date is now also negative at -0.76%. However, members I’ve spoken to at our recent area award meeting remain upbeat and proactive, despite unusual weather patterns, and they are buoyed by the categories that are doing well.

“Once again, the big winners were the restaurants and food halls/farm shops, and the biggest faller, excluding the miscellaneous and Christmas categories, was furniture and barbecues at -19.81%. It was good to see our smaller centres performing well and showing an increase of 5.49%, and some centres on an individual basis were up by up to 30%, so it’s definitely not doom and gloom out there.”

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