A passion for plants, Christmas and catering. These are the three cornerstones of garden centre businesses, according to speakers at The HTA Catering Conference this week and the judging visits for The Greatest Catering Awards.

All of the catering teams nominated in The Greatest Catering Awards exuded so much enthusiasm, love and passion – the judges who met them were bowled over with their pride and amazing teamwork.

At the HTA Catering Conference where The Greatest Catering Awards were announced, key speakers from small and large centres and major groups  emphasised that getting catering right for your target market is the best form of marketing.

As we move into the summer months and the weather warms up, getting the offer right will be even more important to ensure footfall remains as high as possible during the holiday season.  GTN Bestsellers data shows we’ve now passed the peak in terms of volume for the season so it’s downhill from here until September.  Better get those BBQs and salad offers going strong!

GTN Bestsellers Top 50 sales volumes compared to the same week last year...

• Garden Products – up 9%
• Veg-2-Gro Products – up 93%
• Growing Media – up 19%
• All items index – up 14%