In This Issue
Garden centre customers get the 'Love Spring' message
STV first to market with newly approved bait formations for control of mice and rats
Fundraising for Greenfingers exceeds £500,000 in 2017
Orchid drip feeder frenzy hits garden centres
Plant sales rocket ahead
SBM Life Science pre-season sales up by 46% year on year
Bionema launch specialist training courses to boost Biopesticide efficacy
Saddle up for the Garden Re-Leaf Cycle Ride Challenge
Squire's plant show heralds start of gardening season
Highfield Garden World expands its planteria team
Tong Garden Centre raises over £20,000 for local charities
Channa sales ban on hold after an OATA challenge
Haskins Roundstone donates bird boxes to school
Get your own copy of GTN Xtra
Local residents ‘sad’ at proposed closure of Reigate Garden Centre
Red Baron onion sets back on top
Seed sowing gets sales growing
Wild Bird Care sales dominated by Gardman
Malcolm Scott Consultants strengthens team
TV gardener David Domoney to partner with Everest again in 2018
Looking for Christmas Ideas for 2018?
The best of last week's
Kelkay bought by US company for $56million
All hands to the pump at Gardman as backlog gets cleared
QD Group acquires The Barn Garden Centre in Peterborough
Squire's eyes investment opportunties after parting with Windsor centre
Major garden centre projects near completion
Bestsellers Top 50 charts every week
Buy your subscription to GTN Bestsellers
All the latest news from the world of garden centre catering
Whitco CEO Jeff Whitaker passes away after short illness
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Email neil.pope@tgcmc.co.uk, or trevor.pfeiffer@tgcmc.co.uk or call the GTN News team on 01733 775700



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Whitco CEO Jeff Whitaker passes away after short illness
 

Whitco, the catering and bakery equipment company, has announced that its CEO Jeff Whitaker has died after a short illness.

 

Jeff was a man for whom the word hospitality and its industry might have been invented. However, his first experience with catering was just a means to an end. He became a student at Hull Catering College, and later admitted: “I only trained in catering so that I could join the merchant navy and see the world.”

 

His warmth and personality suited the catering industry perfectly. This, combined with vision, charisma, energy, an enormous appetite for hard work and a commitment to taking the long- term view (“Stick at it” was a favourite mantra) laid the foundation for the growth of the company that he founded with his wife Vita in 1995.

 

His leadership and approach to management inspired trust among colleagues, employees, suppliers and customers. At the same time, his innovations fuelled the company’s growth and changed industry practices for the better.

 

He knew how to extend hospitality to others and, not surprisingly, he enjoyed the company of friends, good food and knew his way around a fine wine list. His loyalty to friends and colleagues alike was boundless. This extended to acts of generosity that often went well beyond the call of duty.

 

He is remembered as both a gentle man and a gentleman possessed of a quiet dignity and a winning smile that seemed to enter the room just before he did.

He leaves a legacy of a loving family and a successful business that he built over more than 22 years.

 

A memorial service for Jeff will take place on 22nd March at Oundle School Chapel and after at The Great Hall.

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