This summer The Greatest Awards are going ON TOUR to create more opportunities to reward the excellence of garden centre teams across more areas of garden centre businesses.

Catering, Planteria, Outdoor Leisure and Garden Care sales teams get their own date at The Greatest Awards ON TOUR for 2015 with presentations to the winners at The HTA Catering Conference, The National Plant Show, The GIMA’s and HTA Futures with other dates and venues to be added.

All you have to do to make sure your team is considered amongst The Greatest in their particular area is read through the categories for each Greatest Awards ON TOUR event below and them e-mail: thegreatestawards@tgcmc.co.uk, with details as to why they should be considered for one of The Greatest Awards 2015.

As usual The Greatest Awards team of experts will be out and about meeting nominated teams, gathering information and taking photos of their work so that the Gold, Silver and Bronze Greatest Awards winners can be chosen.

Plus your team have the chance to become The Greatest Garden Centre Team of 2015 by involving your customers in the public voting later this summer.  The Greatest Garden Centre Teams, small, medium and large will be the teams that have the best relationships with their customers and generate the most votes (taking size of centre into account) and in the event of a tie, the centre with the most complimentary comments form their customers.  To take part in the public vote please e-mail trevor.pfeiffer@tgcmc.co.uk or call The Greatest Awards on 01733 775700 to request an in store voting pack.

As this issue of GTN Xtra goes to press the expert judges are already planning their travels to meet garden centre catering teams next week in advance of The HTA Catering Conference.  Make sure your Planteria, Outdoor Leisure, Garden Care and Garden Centre teams are nominated for visits later in June, July and August.

The Greatest Awards would like to thank sponsors, Elho, National Garden Gift Vouchers, MorePeople and The HTA plus the event organisers at The HTA Catering Conference, National Plant Show, GIMA Awards and HTA Futures for agreeing to be presentation venues for The Greatest Awards ON TOUR 2015.  The date and venue for The Greatest Outdoor Leisure Awards will be announced in a future issue of GTN Xtra.

Sponsorship opportunities are available for product and service suppliers seeking to gain the highest possible exposure between now and November this year.  Please contact mandy.atkin@tgcmc.co.uk for details.

The Greatest Catering Awards Categories for 2015

• The Greatest Afternoon Tea Experience 2015
• The Greatest Chef Team of the Year
• The Greatest Front of House Team of the Year
• The Greatest Catering Supplier of the Year
• The Greatest Garden Centre Catering Team of the Year, sponsored by National Garden Gift Vouchers

The Greatest Plant Sales Awards Categories

• The Greatest Linked Sales Team of the Year
• The Greatest Pot and Plant Sales Team – Top of the Pots - sponsored by Elho
• The Greatest Plant Advice Team, including planteria signage and information
• The Greatest Plant Supplier of the Year
• The Greatest Plant Sales Team of the Year, sponsored by The HTA

The Greatest Outdoor Leisure Awards Categories

• The Greatest BBQ Sales Team of the Year
• The Greatest Garden Decoration and Lighting Sales Team of the Year
• The Greatest Inspiration for New Gardeners Team – Love The Plot You’ve Got Award
• The Greatest Outdoor Leisure Supplier of the Year
• The Greatest Outdoor Leisure Sales Team of the Year

The Greatest Garden Centre Team Awards Categories

• The Greatest Garden Care Retail Team of the Year
• The Greatest Garden Centre Customer Service Team of the Year
• The Greatest Garden Centre Training Team or Initiative of the Year, sponsored by MorePeople
• The Greatest Garden Centre Merchandising Team of the Year
• The Greatest Gardening Supplier of the Year
• The Greatest Garden Centre of the Year (Public Vote), sponsored by National Garden Gift Vouchers