Sir Terry Leahy and Just Eat’s Chief Operating Officer headline Cultivating Retail Conference

British businessman, Sir Terry Leahy, will top the programme at the Cultivating Retail conference which takes place on 19 November 2019 at East Midlands Conference Centre in Nottingham. The former Chief Executive of Tesco PLC, who has an active interest in the garden industry as a shareholder of Dobbies, will talk about the opportunities and interest around horticulture and draw on his experiences to talk about sustainability and the customer.

HTA Chairman James Barnes comments, “We are delighted that Sir Terry will be joining our Cultivating Retail programme which focusses on sustainability issues facing the garden industry. This provides a unique opportunity for all of us to hear from one of the key business leaders of our time and his thoughts on some of the opportunities within horticulture, supply chains and how issues around sustainability might influence the consumer.”

Sir Terry Leahy, was appointed Chief Executive of Tesco PLC in March 1997 and retired from this position in March 2011. He was instrumental in driving the sustainability agenda at Tesco. He received a Knighthood for services to food retailing in the 2002 New Year’s Honours and in the same year was made a Freeman of the City of Liverpool and is a member of the Liverpool Enterprise Partnership Advisory Board. He has received many accolades as a business leader including Retail Leader of the Year by retail Week (2008), Britain’s Most Admired Leader by Management Today (from 2005 to 2010) and in 2010 he received the Daily Telegraph’s Award for a Decade of Excellence in Business. Sir Terry is now a part-time senior advisor to Clayton Dubilier & Rice, the US private equity firm and holds various Chair and Executive Committee memberships.

Graham Corfield, Chief Operating Officer for Just Eat, joins the high profile line up of speakers at the Cultivating Retail Conference, sponsored by Evergreen Garden Care, which takes place on 19 November 2019 at the East Midlands Conference Centre in Nottingham.

Graham will be talking about the challenges involved in operating Just Eat - the leading global brand hybrid marketplace for online food delivery. This will include how they are working to eliminate single use plastic, running a larger operation with many different ‘suppliers’ and the sustainability of a business both economically and environmentally.

As Chief Operating Officer at Just Eat, Graham is responsible for the commercial performance of Just Eat markets, overseeing and coordinating trading and new business globally. Graham joined the business in 2011 as UK Finance Director, taking on the role of UK Managing Director in 2013. He was promoted to Chief Operating Officer in June 2019. As UK Managing Director, Graham oversaw countless success stories for the business, evolving the brand and championing their restaurant partners to drive their success and was instrumental in helping scale Just Eat UK into its market leading position.

HTA President Boyd Douglas-Davies comments, “We are delighted that Graham is joining the Cultivating Retail line up. It is always invaluable to hear from businesses outside of our own industry. Whilst they may operate on a larger scale and with different products many of the challenges they experience with regard to sustainability and supply chains are similar to those experienced in the garden industry. There are always great takeaways from sessions like this – excuse the pun!”

With the theme of Creating a sustainable future for the garden industry visit www.hta.org.uk/cultivatingretail for further programme information and to book your place at Cultivating Retail.

Cultivating Retail – for a sustainable future

Creating a sustainable future for the garden industry is the key theme behind this year’s Cultivating Retail event which takes place on Tuesday 19 November 2019 at the East Midlands Conference Centre in Nottingham. This year’s conference and dinner will be hosted by journalist and broadcaster Daisy McAndrew with Eddie ‘the Eagle’ Edwards providing the after-dinner entertainment.

The event, sponsored by Evergreen Garden Care and jointly hosted by the Horticultural Trades Association (HTA) and Garden Industry Manufacturers Association (GIMA), brings together retailers, suppliers and growers to provide a mix of strategic and inspirational content. The programme will include the latest consumer attitudes and thoughts on what sustainability means for the garden industry including key topics such as biosecurity, growing media, plastics, labour/skills, water and pesticides.

HTA Vice-President and Cultivating Retail Steering Group member Boyd Douglas-Davies comments, “This year’s Cultivating Retail conference focuses on the sustainability of the industry in the widest sense. By bringing together the supply chain this event gives us a fantastic opportunity to look at what actions we need to be taking now to ensure that we have a robust, viable and relevant industry fit for the future. You really can’t afford to miss this one!”

Host Daisy McAndrew was the Special Correspondent for ITV News, having previously served as Economics Editor and Chief Political Correspondent. Formerly Andrew Neil’s co-host on The Daily Politics, Daisy has also presented Heaven & Earth and reported on Westminster for BBC Breakfast. She now co-hosts the mid-morning show on Talkradio discussing the latest headlines and opinions.

Dr David Bek, a Reader in Sustainable Economics from Coventry University, will focus on what sustainability means for the garden industry. Dr Bek has extensive experience in undertaking research into sustainability within horticultural supply chains, especially cut flowers. He is especially interested in developing an evidence base to demonstrate how innovations within sustainability practice can lead to improvements in businesses’ resilience, productivity and profitability.

Guy Topping, Managing Director of the Barton Grange Group will be telling the story of their Flower Bowl Entertainment Centre. Complete with its undulating design and grass roof Guy will talk through the development from the birth of this new recreational concept to the challenges of delivery and lessons learnt from a sustainability perspective.

The networking opportunities continue into the evening with the business dinner. This year the after-dinner speaker has been confirmed as Eddie 'The Eagle' Edwards. With little skill for his sport, Olympic skier Eddie 'the Eagle' Edwards won the hearts and minds of the public with his heroic failures, and he remains one of the best loved athletes today; in fact, his life has been depicted in the biographical film Eddie the Eagle (2016), and he has also appeared as the coach on Channel 4 programme 'The Jump'.

The Cultivating Retail Steering Group, responsible for shaping the event, consists of the following industry representatives: Mark Butler (Vitax), Boyd Douglas-Davies (Hillview Group), Neil Grant (Ferndale Garden Centre), Caroline Owen (Scotsdales Garden Centre), Richard Pyrah (Ames) supported by HTA’s Director of Membership Martin Simmons, GIMA Director Vicky Nuttall and the HTA events team.

Cultivating Retail takes place at the East Midlands Conference Centre set within the beautifully landscaped parkland of Nottingham University’s campus. This purpose built venue, complete with auditorium, is adjacent to the Orchard Hotel. Built in 2012 this eco-friendly hotel has been awarded a BREEAM rating of excellent and using the latest technology to reduce carbon emissions benefits from plenty of daylight.

Look out for further news on a keynote speaker in due course. For further information and to book your place please visit www.hta.org.uk/cultivatingretail or email events@hta.org.uk.

For information about sponsorship opportunities at the event please contact Tim Bell, HTA Commercial Manager on 07808 775177 or email tim.bell@hta.org.uk or Vicky Nuttall, GIMA Director on 07766 135060 or vicky.nuttall@gima.org.uk

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GTN October 2019 Issue. To view a digital version click here