Spring Has Sprung!

28 March 2011, 17:29 pm
Speciality Bites by Paul Hargreaves

What a fantastic week!

The sun came out last weekend and, as always, every independent retailer we talked to reported being a lot busier – and the knock-on effect goes up the ‘food chain’ to the producers. Particularly up this week are sales of drinks and snacks, helped, of course, by spring promotions on by some producers.

Spring Tips

I would imagine it’s not too late to get some spring/Easter lines in if you feel you haven’t got enough. We have set our deadline for the end of next week, and I am sure products are also still available through other channels. Mother’s Day is April 3rd this year – the traditional dish is roast lamb, so make sure you are stocked up on mint sauce, mint jelly and lamb marinades and glazes.

IFE 2011

We have continued to receive good feedback about IFE from everyone who exhibited there. In fact everyone I have talked to within the last week has been very positive about the whole event – apart from the plethora of time-wasters on the last day! Certainly a good launch pad for the rest of the year.

Social Media

Encouragingly, it seems that social media is finally catching on in our sector as the vital marketing tool it is – and of course it will become even larger in the future. If you are a supplier to this sector I am warning you now that many of your customers are ahead of you already. I got a tweet this morning from a new farm shop opening later this week.

This follows an e-mail from one of our suppliers earlier in the week that said “What’s Linkedin?”, and another who asked the week before, “What’s this tweeting all about?” Three potential new customers visited me at our stand last week, purely through having made contact via social media. There will be much more from me on this over the next few months.

Meanwhile, follow me on Twitter @Paul_Hargreaves or Cotswold Fayre @cotswoldfayre. Also, start using LinkedIN to build your personal profile within the sector. Don’t be left behind!

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