Speciality Bites from Paul Hargreaves of Cotswold Fayre

Trip to Kenya

Writing this blog as I in in the Kenyan Bush in pitch dark at 7:30 pm certainly wins the “keeping in touch” award! I have no electricity, no running water, but just about have a passable 3G signal. Actually more passable than when at home in Cirencester. I am here at a very quiet Bala making plans for an exciting stage in its development. With the money raised from the ball we have enough to start two if not three significant agricultural projects that will move the centre here from being reliant on western aid to self-sufficiency - we hope! (By the way, it’s quiet because the Kenyan government has decreed the kids can’t live here during school holidays, so they have all gone to live with local families - strange really as this is home for at least 100 off them)

Tomorrow I am off to another farm to nick a few ideas and Thursday interviewing farm managers. I never thought selling food would get me on a mission like this! Communication difficulties (why?) made me wonder whether I was coming into a difficult situation with nothing being done that I had asked to be, but they are all guns blazing here and have enlisted the help of an agricultural consultant - all is starting to happen - very exciting! (more…)

Farm Shop & Deli Show

This is where I am at present, and, whilst this is a relatively small show, it was a busy enough first day, and as the show is positioned alongside the Convenience Show some enquiries for petrol stations who are adding on delicatessens and farm shops to petrol retailing!  Interesting!  I did a talk yesterday on Independents vs Supermarkets: The Future of Retail. The timing for a subject like this couldn’t be better as we are at what, I think, could be a very significant time for independent retailers for two reasons:
1)      Never has the public’s view of the supermarkets been so low – and there is a tremendous opportunity here to stress the quality and provenance of our products which will drive more people through our doors
2)      The supermarkets have pretty much reached saturation with the large stores and now new stores built are simply taking money off each other.  Their next assault is on the High Street – or local shops if you will – and if we are not ready for this we may be in danger. (more…)

Comments on the recent budget

I was asked by a magazine for my comments on the recent budget, so here they are regurgitated for my blog readers. A call to action for governments of any political persuasion as no doubt we will be in the same situation at the start of the next parliament.

My initial thoughts on hearing the headlines from the March 2013 Budget were ones of disappointment. Here was a superb opportunity for the Chancellor to encourage an entrepreneurial culture in the UK through help for SMEs completely spurned. As a small business owner with over 40 employees, I have always resented the tax levied on employers for the “privilege of employing people” - otherwise known as Employee’s National Insurance Contributions. These were increased by 11% by the previous government only a few years ago, and the reduction of £2000 per annum announced in this budget only goes a very small way to clawing some of this money back. For a business of our size this amount of money is completely insignificant, and won’t benefit us to any extent. (more…)

IFE 2013

It only comes round once every two years, but London’s Docklands is the place to be this week for those in the UK food and drink industry. It was only 20 minutes old when the first “how’s the show going for you?” question arose. Does that question deserve an answer. We were twenty minutes into a four day show, and even at the end of four days it is too early to make a judgement! My stock answer is: “Ask me in 6 months’ time!” Is that rude? Probably yes, but please think of something more original to say at a trade show! (I knew I should have written this blog before travelling to London!)

It is a difficult call these days to decide whether trade shows are worth the money - a not an insignificant amount of it. A number of exhibitors today seemed to be asking the same question, despite the show seemingly getting off to quite a good start - although probably not quite as exciting as the Olympic events that were taking place here only 6 months ago. Think about what other marketing activity could be done with the same amount of money, and what you could be doing with 5 days extra working time. (more…)

Farm Shop or Not?

When is a farm shop not a farm shop, that is the question! Probably when it is run by Waitrose, or come to that Dobbies (Tesco’s) or several other large companies. The Waitrose new farm shop is actually built on some of their own farmed land, but I wonder how much of the produce for sale will be from that farm itself. I heard this morning from a customer that they have been ringing the suppliers of the local delis trying to source the same products, presumably to try and knock them out of business.

That will never happen for two main reasons. Firstly: customer loyalty. Supermarkets don’t understand customer loyalty that comes through relationship. Yes they have so-called “loyalty cards”, but as soon as something better comes along from another chain, they will be off. These loyalty cards aren’t really anything to do with true loyalty - they are just money off cards. True loyalty comes through relationship with the shop owner or manager and the impartation of expertise and knowledge that they are able to give. (more…)

Carpe Diem

What a great opportunity the current beef/horsemeat crisis is for independent retailers. Although clearly benefiting those with meat counters, whether you sell meat or not, the anti-supermarket feelings are higher than ever, which has to be of advantage to independent retailers everywhere. I have just come back from the annual FARMA conference, which, this year, was in Harrogate - the centre of the Yorkshire Food Revival. There, farm shops were reporting an uplift in sales and footfall last weekend with more customers wanting to be sure they were buying the meat they wanted to be buying and not wanting to be eating horse!

The supermarkets spend a fortune on marketing, much of it creating an illusion that there is provenance in what they sell and creating this wholesome, cosy image that they are wanting what is best for the consumer. Most of this is complete marketing b*ll*cks. They are really not interested in their consumers at all, simply in making more and more money. (more…)

The strength of feeling

I was fascinated this week to read of a story coming out of Bakewell in Derbyshire, the place that is famous for both Bakewell Tart and Bakewell Pudding. In the onslaught of the multi-nationals on the British High Street, Costa Coffee are trying to set up yet another coffee shop in the town. Around 6,000 people have signed a petition to block the move following a similar pattern in Totnes, Devon, where Costa withdrew after 5,750 signatures were collected against it. In that case the firm said it “recognised the strength of feeling” against brands. At least to the best of my knowledge Costa pay taxes to the UK government, unlike their main competitor - Starbucks!

Anyway, back to Bakewell. It seems that 6,000 people would rather have an empty building on the High Street than a national chain. (The building has been empty for 2 years.) This leads me back to my thoughts a couple of weeks ago about what the High Street will look like in 10 years time - maybe I didn’t take into account the feelings against the plethora of coffee shops. (more…)