I have just come back from a weekend away with a friend of mine riding our motorbikes around the mountains and valleys of Mid Wales. Yes you guessed it, I am one of those middle-aged bikers that car drivers are warned about! For those of you who haven’t been to that part of the country it really is very beautiful – well it was on Saturday. (more…)
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Popular Categories
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Be Sensible With Your Pricing
Posted: 29/07/2009 -
Bad Debts
Posted: 21/07/2009
Virtually everyone who has had a meeting with me for the last six months at least has asked the same question: “how is the recession affecting you?” My normal reply is that it doesn’t seem to be affecting us much in terms of turnover (our most recent full month was June, which was 20% up on June 2008 – largely due to the tremendous weather). However, what has had an impact on the company since January this year, in particular, has been bad debts, and customers taking longer to pay. (more…) -
Holiday Season
Posted: 14/07/2009
I can tell from the increasing numbers of end of term concerts, leaver’s parties, prize-givings and sports days that the end of term is upon us, which means that soon a load of 5-16 year olds will be on school holidays. What difference does this make to those of us running businesses and retail outlets?There will be more children trailing around shops with their parents. The children’s sector of the speciality food market is not fully tapped into by many retail outlets. (more…)
Video interview with Paul Hargreaves
In this video interview, Paul Hargreaves gives a brief history of Cotswold Fayre. The company supplies a range of 1500 speciality food and drink products to independent suppliers including farm shops, delis, garden centres and food halls. The company has grown 20-30% each year since it began in 1999. Future plans include opening a Northern warehouse enabling Cotswold Fayre to become a national fine food wholesaler.
Networking
I am writing this week’s blog in a slight alcoholic haze after celebrating my gourmet food company’s 10th birthday yesterday at Henley Regatta together with around 30 of our top customers. It was a fantastic day, roasting hot, most of them had never been to the Regatta before, so it was a real treat. We had farm shops, delicatessens, garden centres and food halls represented and we even watched the odd boat race alongside the Cotswold Fayre magician.
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Independents vs Multiples - Back to the pricing issue!
If you read my piece a few weeks ago, you would have read an article on a prospective new supplier who came to me with ridiculous pricing proposal for a potential range of new products that would have meant that our retail customers could have bought the same products cheaper at Tesco’s and Asda.
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