A Great Summer

09 July 2010, 19:42 pm
Speciality Bites by Paul Hargreaves

What a great summer we've had so far. Although as I write this I hear of heavy rain in the North West

I can’t remember the last time it rained in the South. Great weather for BBQ products and drinks sales - I hope you’re all making the most of it.

It’s always at the hottest time of year that my team are focusing on Christmas. The sales team is out getting orders (100% up on last year so far), which shows a certain degree of optimism about our current economic conditions. The purchasing team is busy liaising with suppliers regarding initial orders and negotiating on some extra warehouse space, hopefully without losing focus on the present.

I must make a confession at this point about my frustration with some customers who refuse to place Christmas orders until September – well after our deadline for ordering from many suppliers – and then complain that they can’t order what they want! Our Christmas catalogue was printed in April; why wait six months before ordering. We aren’t asking for any money up front, just an order. What’s wrong with getting organised, especially when it helps us give you good service?

Talking of heat, what we experience here is nothing compared to New York. I am just back from the Big Apple, where it was touching 100 degrees, even hot for them. They actually had cooling rooms set up for those residents without air-con to go and cool down!

As well as taking my son to experience the delights of that happening city, I was attending the Fancy Food Show, the first one I have been to in New York. A great event and crammed full of interesting artisan food products.

Speciality food is very much alive and kicking over there – in fact I get the impression that the market is far less dominated by the supermarkets, which allows the independent sector to have a bigger voice than in the UK. If only we could get back to that here!

But let’s face it, Tescos et al are here to stay. However, I really feel that despite their ever-increasing profits, the speciality food sector is very buoyant at present – let’s keep pushing on in the face of competition.

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