Carpe Diem

Speciality Bites with

Paul Hargreaves

Chief executive of Cotswold Fayre

• Becoming a B Corp
• Top trend predictions for Christmas 2021
• Self-sacrifice: The importance of building a leadership legacy centred on others
• Undercover Boss
• Can/should bosses really be close friends with their staff?

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.  We simply can’t pass this opportunity by.  We must be more aggressive in our marketing.  The supermarkets don’t hold back and neither should we!  We don’t have the marketing budgets that they do, but we do have the opportunity.  Carpe Diem! Seize the day!

I am sure that you can come up with some witty publicity that emphasizes the provenance of your products and questions the morals and sourcing policies of the supermarkets.  Put adverts in the local papers, signs up in your shops, tweet, facebook and anything else you can do.  At a question and answer session at the FARMA conference, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall suggested hiring a pantomime horse costume and sending your children down to the local supermarket to hand out leaflets promoting your independent shop.  What a great idea.  Don’t just laugh about it – do it! Ok – they may get arrested, but that will just create more positive publicity for you!

Sorry if I am coming over a little preachy, but there is an opportunity to kick the supermarkets where it hurts, and we must do it.  The very expression “food chain” is an anathema - the whole idea of a convoluted and tortuous path that a food product follows when it is processed is actually horrible when you think about it.  Knowing where your products come from is hardly much to ask!

Have a good week – and watch your footfall increase as you market smartly.  Carpe Diem