Garden Centre Catering Awards winner profile
With Garden Centre Catering Group of the Year, British Garden Centres.
Brothers Charles and Robert Stubbs shared a passion for gardening and business at a young age, founding British Garden Centres back in 1987 while they were still at school. The restaurant followed in its footsteps and quickly became a staple of each centre in the portfolio. Despite having gone through various rebrands and relaunches over the years, they have remained true to being a warm and welcoming environment, offering everything from cakes to carveries.
The business operates 60 garden centre restaurants, each dedicated to the local area. Every September they support the Macmillan Coffee Morning; at the start of each March it’s the Greenfingers and Garden Re-Leaf Day initiatives.
With the business having been founded in Lincolnshire, British Garden Centres is fond of using local suppliers in its restaurants. Since partnering with Stokes Coffee of Lincoln, the two companies have grown together and they now supply all 60 restaurants, having taken their business nationwide.
The restaurant has its own section on the company website, with all bookable events sitting on the events page and being visible to all. This includes all the Christmas offerings and the year-round afternoon tea offer. The full menu is also available, along with information about all restaurant activities, such as specials.
In spring 2023, British Garden Centres launched a new menu with a fresh design, look and feel to replicate the wider business’s rebrand. Along with this came brand-new menu items which soon became beloved by customers. Since then, each March the business reevaluates its offerings and updates them for the year, adding new items and recipes. Some of the most popular dishes include the carvery, chicken tikka salad and full English breakfast.
Over the year, more than 3.85m hot drinks were sold across the group, which is in excess of 270,000 a day, alongside over 890,000 slices of cake. Additionally, over 439,000 scones were hand-made and sold in-store, as well as 1.2m slices of bread and 235,000 fried breakfasts. These impressive figures were pivotal in British Garden Centres’ award win.
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