Members of the Garden Centre Association will hear from industry experts during a catering webinar taking place this month.

Chris Brown (above) from leading UK catering consultancy, Turpin Smale, and Penny Cook from Penny Cook Recruitment will be speaking to GCA members during the online event on July 20.

Iain Wylie, GCA Chief Executive, says: “We’re thrilled to have Chris and Penny joining us for our catering webinar to speak to our members.

“We’ll start with a discussion about the changes our garden centre owners have faced since Covid. Will Blake, Managing Director at St Peters Garden Centre, will talk about the successes and challenges at his garden centre, followed by Tammy Woodhouse, Managing Director of Millbrook Garden Centre and also our current Garden Centre Association Chairman, who will talk about why Millbrook’s Gravesend site stuck to counter service and what the results of this have been.

“Chris will then talk about the wider market and give his perspective on what is happening out there. We’re really interested to hear from Chris as he is well respected within the industry and will certainly give our members some key points to think about.”

The webinar will also include discussions on recruitment, retention and motivation of staff.

Iain adds: “Getting and retaining staff are hot topics for most industries at the moment, including hospitality, and it will be great to hear from Penny Cook, who will be giving us her market view of the recruitment challenges we face.

“We will then ask our members what they have implemented in their businesses to drive back footfall and talk about trading in an inflationary environment, managing margin, staff costs, efficiency with labour and energy costs.

“Our members should have already received an invitation to join the webinar, however, if not, they can get in touch with us via info@gca.org.uk to receive a link.”