26th January 2012

Growing appetite for garden centre catering

According to the latest Horticultural Trades Association’s (HTA) ‘KeyPoints’ report, garden centre catering continues to be a fast growing market with a 51% increase in the number of visits to garden centre cafés over the last three years. Garden Centre Catering – Growth and Success, launched this week, shows that catering is becoming an ever more important part of what garden centres do.

The report reveals that half of specialist garden retailers now offer catering, compared with 40% who offered it in 2008 and customers are flocking to them. In 2011 there were around 55 million visits to garden centre cafés, compared with 36 million in 2008.

Average transaction values have remained similar over this period, though the increasing provision of catering combined with more adults visiting garden centres has led to garden centre catering sales roughly doubling since 2006. The report also shows that customers aged under 45 are less delighted with garden centre catering than over 45s, highlighting the need for the sector to continue to improve in order to sustain its current strong performance.

The report is especially useful for anyone looking to assess how their catering is performing against the market as a whole. It is also useful to anyone needing to go to the bank with a business case relating to investments in a catering operation. The report is only available to HTA members and costs £95 plus VAT. Members who order the report before 14 February will also receive a copy of the KeyPoints report for Engaging Younger Gardeners (list price £95) free.

For further information visit the HTA website.