Catering departments serve up good sales for May

Our Barometer of Trade (BoT) results for May have revealed that our member garden centres saw catering sales rise.

Compared to the same time last year (2014) sales in catering departments were up 14.46%.

It’s great news that catering sales were on the up during May. Garden centres have so much more to offer than just plants these days and people often make a family day out of visiting their local centre as there’s something for everyone.

Has your inspector called yet?

MEMBER garden centres who have not yet had their annual inspections will receive a visit soon (up to and including June 19, 2015).

Since March member garden centres have been assessed across all departments and awarded an overall score. Those who have not yet had their visits will do so very soon.

The inspectors are reporting back so far that they are delighted with what they are seeing and that standards are especially good this year, particularly at the top end.

We are urging all garden centres yet to be visited to be prepared for their inspection. Inspectors drop in unannounced and you can’t put them off and ask them to come back another day. Inspections cannot be delayed or deferred because of any ongoing display or building work – customers see this when they visit! Garden centres will not lose marks because of such activities provided they are carried out safely and disruption is minimised with the customer in mind.

The venue for our 50th anniversary year conference is revealed

We’re thrilled to announce that our grand golden jubilee year conference will be held at The Grand Hotel in Brighton from January 24 until 27, 2016.

Next year is an extra special one for us. 2016 will see the association celebrate our 50th anniversary so the annual dinner in particular will be a very special event.

As well as the celebrations the conference will be the usual mix of top quality speakers, analysis of inspections and garden centre best practice and announcements of competition and awards. We will be announcing more details shortly and information on how to book in due course via our website www.gca.org.uk.


The schedule for the golden jubilee conference will be as follows:

Sunday – Greenfingers Challenge Cup

Monday – inspection and competition round ups plus keynote speakers – based around operational issues. An evening dinner themed, networking event for garden centres and associate members.

Tuesday – a day of strategy with keynote speakers on subjects such as the economy, challenges facing business and direction of future market trends with an emphasis on maintaining and enhancing profitability. In the afternoon there will be the supplier exhibition. In the evening we will host our Annual Gala Dinner and awards presentation, plus a special celebration of our 50th anniversary.