GCA column: Star quality

The Garden Centre Association (GCA) has run a Rising Stars programme for our garden centre-based employees for the last 13 years. This was initially aimed at developing the skills of younger members of staff, but it has been amended to include anyone new to the industry. We are certainly lucky that our industry attracts high-quality people who are looking for second careers in a very pleasant and worthwhile industry.

The GCA recognised the increasing significance of the food offering in our garden centres and added a Catering Rising Stars programme into this portfolio. Unfortunately, this fell away during Covid, but I am very pleased to report that it has been resurrected this year. It is once again available for garden centre restaurants to put forward members of staff to take part in the programme at no cost to the delegates.

We were delighted when Costas Constantinou from Kosko offered to take on the mentoring of this scheme. He has worked with several market-leading companies to create a bespoke training programme that will provide both unique insights and industry-leading specialist training for the delegates on this course.

The programme will start – how else? – with a coffee and a visit to Beanworks. Delegates will experience first-hand premium coffee roasting, followed by a masterclass in barista training and development. The latter will include hands-on guidance using the latest manual, semi-automatic and fully-automatic coffee machines. This is a unique opportunity to see the latest technology in operation and to experience one of the most highly-regarded barista training programmes in the UK.

The delegates will then have an incredible opportunity to spend a day at the world’s largest foodservice supplier, Brakes. Delegates will have unprecedented market insight specifically tailored to garden centre hospitality. The day will include a workshop on how to control food costs and production, menu development and product ranges, including new product development and elevating traditional meals.

The third meeting will be at the home of the world’s most popular combination oven manufacturer, Rational. Development chefs will present a masterclass in combination oven cooking, using the Rational’s full functionality to reduce wastage and control production.

There will then be days on understanding the most modern ordering and electronic point-of-sale equipment with Corby and Fellas, working with equipment from Unox and planning a kitchen redevelopment or upgrade with Gratte Brothers. Costas will lead a session on how to run a profitable hospitality category in a garden centre, while Mel Evans from Insight6 will talk about that most important ingredient – customer service.

If this sounds of interest and you would like to know more, please do contact me at [email protected].

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