South West food & drink champions announced

The overall winners of this year’s Taste of the West Awards were announced this week at a prestigious ceremony held in The Great Hall at Exeter University. Read more - open to all

Sika Venison Joint The Gamekeeper's Larder Reserve Supreme Champion Product 2022

Delishops continues to facilitate the growth of the independent food & drink sector

Delishops and Speciality & Fine Food Fair continues to facilitate the growth of the independent food & drink sector. Read more - open to all

Diary

Charnwood Food Safety assist with the safe operation of your restaurants and cafes

Providing food safely is paramount to the successful operation of a restaurant or cafe. At Charnwood Food Safety Limited we can provide a bespoke service to fit your requirements. Read more - open to all

Dobbies to open at 7am for ‘Coffee to Go’

A highlight of the first day of the HTA Catering Conference was Costas Constantinou explaining to Matthew Appleby, how he would improve the Dobbies restaurants. Read more - members only

Costas Constantinou

Plants now take second place to catering

If August is wet plant sales prosper. If it is dry garden furniture sales do well. Last month was different. It was wet and dry in different areas and both categories flourished according to the latest GCA figures. But long term trend shows the proportional fall of traditional gardening. Read more - members only

Paradise Park

Vote now to recognise Gardening’s best buyers

Believing that good buyers have not been given the recognition they deserve, Glee is asking you to nominate people or teams that might qualify as the country’s best buyers for awards being introduced at the show. Read more - members only

GCA names best garden centres for plants and furniture

Sunshine Garden Centre and Van Hage are the best GCA outdoor living retailers.  Cowell’s and Bents are the best for plants. Read more - members only

The-GIMA-Award-for-Best-Garden-Products-Retailer-(Destination-GC)

Notcutts opens phase 2 of Wheatcroft

Notcutts is to open phase 2 of Wheatcroft garden centre. The centrepiece is “The Street Kitchen” themed restaurant where each van cooks a different type of cuisine. See more… Read more - members only

Gorwydd Caerphilly wins Best British Cheese at World Cheese Awards 2021

Gorwydd Caerphilly from Trethowan Brothers in North Somerset has been named Best British Cheese, sponsored by Savencia Fromage & Dairy, at the World Cheese Awards. Read more - open to all

GCA members discuss challenges of re-opening restaurants and cafés

Members of the Garden Centre Association (GCA) recently took part in a virtual forum to discuss the challenges they faced with the re-opening of restaurants and cafés. Read more - open to all

Chris Brown - Turpin Smale Catering Consultants

Catering Design Group provides insight for reopening garden centre catering operations

Aware of the challenges faced by the foodservice sector due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Catering Design Group (CDG), has created ‘Designing Safe Spaces for Catering Environments’, an insight document highlighting the steps garden centres can take to help reopen their cafes and restaurants. Read more - open to all

Bents and Cowells take the top GCA plant awards

Bents and Cowells top the first day’s awards at the 2018 GCA conference. Also prominent were Fairways of Ashbourne, Stratford and Barton Grange Garden Centres. Read more - members only

Ruxley Rose (Destination Garden Centre category) – Bents Garden & Home

Jobs

Trends and insights from the HTA Catering Conference

180 people attended the HTA Catering Conference to hear about eating-out trends such as Kidult and Haute Casual. Read more - members only

Carr Farm opens 300 seat restaurant as part of major expansion

One year into a 3 year expansion project and Carr Farm Garden Centre has opened a restaurant and two new concessions. Read more - members only

New food allergen labelling requirements coming into force

Garden centre catering operations face new food labelling regulations which come into force on December 13. Read more - members only

Looking ahead - It's not all doom and gloom

2013 turned out to be another disappointing year in all three key sectors of the garden retail market – garden plants, garden care and garden leisure – with all three sectors showing a steady decline in the five years to 2013 covered by the Analysis. Read more - members only

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