The 4^th HTA Catering Conference held in Birmingham this week was the best yet according to many of the attendees.  Delegates found the personal experiences of speakers such as Alan Roper of the Blue Diamond Group and Helen Joyce of Thirsk Garden Centre insightful and interesting. 

One of the most interesting discussion points to re-emerge from the sessions is the age old question should food be covered or uncovered? 

Consultants all rage about cakes and pastries being attractively displayed, piled high on tables within easy reach of customers and indeed is a fashion which started around two years ago.  Time and again however, garden centres say their customers complain about unwrapped and uncovered food. 

The debate is now set to enter a new phase with the High Street trend for ambient temperature sandwiches made with artisan bread.  Apparently sandwiches can be on display, uncovered and not refrigerated for a period of 4 hours in the UK (2 hours in Scotland) which of course does cover the 12.00 till 14.00 traditional lunch time period in a garden centre (57% of garden centre restaurant turnover is taken in this period according to the TGI survey –July2011 to June 2012). 

What will garden centre customers make of this new trend?

Many centres also find it difficult to introduce new recipes and more innovative dishes to their menu’s .  The suggestion is that the over 45’s do not appreciate the new trends but could the answer be as simple as one delegate pointed out, change your methods and recipes at the weekends?  This also rings the changes for catering staff too.

David Denny from the HTA highlighted other interesting facts from the TGI survey which add weight to the case that a change of menu at the weekend could benefit a centre’s turnover.  The under 45 year olds surveyed were not impressed with garden centre restaurants and cafes, the service, the food offer and the  ambience of centre restaurants all scored low. 

As Neville Stein highlighted in his afternoon breakout session of ‘Menu Magic’, the traditional clientele of a garden centre are dying and the audience of delegates were in agreement. 

So how do you attract that younger element in to replace the older one’s?  Could ‘weekend specials’ attract the younger generation? 

Returning to David Denny, with 65% of the adult population visiting garden centres during a year and only 29% visiting specifically for the restaurant, there is plenty of growth possible in garden centre catering operations to attract more diners if they can get it right.