Room for Growth

Speciality Bites with

Paul Hargreaves

Chief executive of Cotswold Fayre

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I thought it may be interesting to look at where the speciality food sector may go within the next few years. Clearly this is important as we plan our businesses and ensure we are looking in the right areas for growth. The first piece of good news is that we are in a growth business

One only needs to look at the Speciality Food Show at Olympia – 13 years ago when we exhibited at the first show, I drove my car into Olympia and parked next to the stand, one of only 40-50 in the middle of the hall. The only problem came when driving out of the hall, as I used a little too much acceleration and several carpet tiles were seen flying around in my rear view mirror.

In those days speciality food was restricted to delicatessens and relatively few farm shops. Now it is to be found in supermarkets, many more delicatessens and farm shops, garden centres, purpose-built food halls, garden centres, markets, butchers and more recently convenience stores and village shops. These last two have shown particular growth over the last two years. As supermarkets move onto the high street with their smaller format, convenience stores need a point of difference and trading up their product range is one answer to their dilemma.

There has been much talk of the demise of the high street over the last few years from Mary Portas et al, and there is no doubting this has impacted our market. Farm shops and garden centres form a higher percentage of our turnover than they did 5 years ago, and within speciality food these are our equivalents of the out-of-town mall. However, my dream is that food comes back with a vengeance to the high street. Is this possible? Online shopping is set to grow and dominate the way that consumers buy or download products such as books, films, toys… This will grow into most other consumer goods including clothes, jewellery and many more. I wonder whether our new high streets will become ‘body shops’ – full of places that do things to your body such as dentists, hair-dressers, chiropodists and osteopaths, and retailers that help you put food into your body like cheesemongers, fishmongers, high street farm shops and delicatessens. You may say, “Paul, these days have gone, we will never see all those independent food retailers again.” In response I would say, “Look at the busy farmers markets in many towns throughout the UK, and all these shops there in the form of market stalls.”

There is an increasing demand for quality food and a developing disillusionment with the big business mentality of the supermarkets. I may be dreaming, but UK food consumers are becoming a more discerning bunch, and as the economy continues to improve they will spend more money on food. Combine this with the continuing rise in fuel costs, which is sure to encourage consumers to shop locally. Where is local to most consumers? Their high street, which for over 80% of the population is within walking distance. Could the high street be set for a revival driven by speciality food? Let me know @paul_hargreaves