Destination growth
Rebecca Waller-Davies investigates how garden centre cafés are bucking the economic trend
The rise of the garden centre café
Pat Adams of the Garden Centre Association said: “When I joined the association around 10 years ago about 25% of the 160 garden centres in the association had cafés or smaller coffee shops. Now all but one of them do.”
The economic boom was no doubt the major catalyst for this as customers found themselves with more disposable income than ever before and businesses ploughed the resulting profits into increasing revenue long term.
One would be forgiven for thinking that, as a non-essential industry, café business suffered in the economic downturn.
Evidence from the Horticultural Trade Association reveals a different story however.
Its 2011 Garden Market Retail Analysis states that the market in 2010 was a healthy and buoyant one for garden centres overall and was worth around £4.6 billion, a figure true for the past five years. From February 2007-February 2008, a period which includes the severe beginnings of the crash, revenue in garden centre cafés rose by 24% compared to the past three years of economic growth. Add to that comments from individual retailers who believe that ‘cafés in garden centres are the way forward’ and one sees an industry thriving in the face of adversity.
So what are retailers getting so right?
High quality fare is at the centre of many cafés’ success. Pat Adams said: “Centres often have their own chefs and prepare fresh food on the premises.”
Local produce is also key as it reduces air miles and helps the local area prosper. Over the past decade customers have become more conscious about where their food originates from. Cafés which acknowledge this benefit from increased footfall and revenue in addition to playing to their natural strengths and supporting other businesses. Norma Moore, General Manager at the family run Monkton Elm Garden & Pet Centre near Taunton said: “It’s important for us to use local produce because we get to know the supplier; we know exactly where all the produce comes from. Customers definitely appreciate that, they want things to come from Somerset, basically. Green miles are also very important.”
Alan Gisbourne, Restaurant Manager of Evesham Garden Centre in Worcestershire, emphasised the benefit to producers. He said: “I think that, being in the industry we’re in, it’s appropriate to support local farmers and producers. Customers definitely appreciate that.” A specific aim for a number of cafés is the provision of excellent coffee. This strategy aids the diversification of customers. Pat Adams commented: “Young people will also visit to get really good coffee; the cafés invest in the latest coffee machines and buy good quality produce.”
HTA 2011 report
The HTA’s 2011 report on garden centre catering may have issued a word of warning to garden centres: “consumers will be comparing their catering to that provided by the best on the high street”, but clearly some cafés do not have to worry. Norma Moore said: “Our aim is to serve really good coffee; we’ve had people saying it’s better than some of the leading high street brands. A lot of what I’ve learned when establishing the Pondside Café has been about coffee beans!”
An essential part of the garden centre
Aside from great quality produce, a commitment to ethical sourcing and turning over a healthy profit in themselves, cafés are fast becoming what Alan Gisbourne termed, ‘an essential part of the garden centre’. All retailers agreed that cafés drive footfall and increase revenue. Notcutts disagreed with the destination theory. Sally Read of Notcutts Marketing Team said: “The cafés drive footfall, they do increase revenue but they are not the focus of our centres, people will invariably be plant shopping and the café will form a part of that visit.”
Ensuring that cafés are a ‘destination’ rather than an incidental stop point for weary families is central to success. If customers treat the garden centre as a leisure activity they will be more inclined to spend longer periods of time at them. This is where cafés come into their own.
Norma Moore said: “Our ideal is for customers to have lunch at our restaurant, then do some shopping and then stop off for afternoon tea at the Pondside Café. We want it to be about chilling out, we don’t want it to be about that tedious kind of shopping.”
This is a great strategy when business is booming in the spring and summer months. Crucially, it continues to work when winter rolls around. Cafés are still able to trade as normal when centre business invariably declines. Pat Adams said: “Many cafés offer Christmas lunches. They’re very in tune with family life throughout the year.”
To maximise this destination appeal, many retailers choose to keep in-café advertising to a minimum.
Sally Read of Notcutts Marketing Team said: “We do advertise our promotions in our cafés but we tend to do that on posters. We consider digital advertising to be intrusive in a café situation; we wouldn’t consider it at the moment.”
Strategy
Norma Moore takes this approach further. She said: “We don’t advertise products in the café, partly because of the intimate setting, partly because it’s a separate venture for us. We realised we had this beautiful location and wanted to make the most of that.”
Rather than viewing their cafés as basic additions to their centres, by making good quality produce and a relaxing atmosphere their top priority, retailers have achieved their aim of complementary but distinct projects which will automatically increase centre revenue due to their original and inventive set up.
GCU AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2011 13
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