Do you remember those Golden Groundforce days?

Alan, Tommy and Charlie would transform gardens and12 million people would watch. Inspired by what they saw, those same people would come in any buy tins of Barleywood blue paint to create “the look” in their gardens.

There was no doubt about it, Groundforce drove Garden Centre Sales. Indeed at Garden Centre Marketing conferences we have said, what we need is another Groundforce.

This week Great British Bake Off attracted a viewing audience of 12 million. Exactly the same as Groundforce did all those years ago.

So the big question for every Garden Centre Catering Manager is - how are you making the most of this massive interest in Home Baking?

Cookware giant Lakeland are offering a Great British Bake Off spatula when customers spend £10 on home baking.

On the official Great British Bake Off website viewers have uploaded 2300 photos of their cakes.

So are you serving Madeira cake this week, or Black Forest Gateaux?

Can customers upload their bakes to your website or face book page.

There is a new mantra for Garden Centre Cafes this week…

With every pie we make

With every cake you take

With every egg we break

With every scone we bake

We’ll be serving you.

Doug Stewart can be contacted at www.waringstewartassociates.co.uk