“Weather”

Fine Food with

Charles Campion

Food writer and critic

• It’s time to go left field rather than safety-first
• “Fashion or for keeps?”
• “New year and new possibilities”
• “What is in a name?”
• “The art of shopping”

September is an agreeable month. There’s often an interlude of decent weather in the US which has become known as an “Indian Summer” (allegedly because the Native Americans needed autumn sunshine to ripen the maize that was their staple diet)

September is also the month to sharpen your sales techniques because that faint drumming of the rails means that Christmas is barrelling towards us and leaping out of the way is not an option. Brexit dominated the spring and it’s exceeding obvious that there isn’t a simple way out of troubled times. But we can take heart from some very British strengths…

Brits are particularly good at coping. Whatever the problems thrown at us, we cope. We’ve coped with a couple of World Wars. We’ve coped with joining the European Community and there’s no reason to suppose that we won’t cope with moving out of it. Look at the positives: when we went in there were casualties, ask the fishing fleet. But in those years as Europeans the public standpoint on food and drink has changed radically. Now UK customers ask about provenance and welfare when buying meat. They buy – and are knowledgeable about – several kinds of cheese; it’s no longer a choice between Mousetrap and Danish Blue. The acclimatization of chilli has warmed dishes up a bit. Coffee has stopped being powdery instant and become fine Arabica ground in your kitchen. Surely it is easier to sell to a customer who is interested?

And then there’s the Meerkat factor – if you are prepared to buy your motor insurance via the comparison website running those ads you will get a Meerkat Doll. Yes, you’re about to part with the best part of £1,000 and this company’s response is to pop a small cuddly toy in the mail. Surely no one changes their insurance provider because they get a free doll modelled on a small South African mongoose? Prime time, and those Meerkats jostle for space on your TV screen while the website they promote is wildly successful. These guys are sophisticated marketeers and wouldn’t punt the grotesque dolls if they weren’t popular. But it’s troubling to see how effective dolls can be in our very sophisticated market place. It goes to show what a perverse and difficult business selling can be. 

When Christmas is upon us it is time to bring out a plan. Even more alluring than a Meerkat is the feeling customers have when they notice that they are getting something for nothing. Those slivers of cheese to taste; a nibble of salami; a pack of biscuits to go with the cheese; a taste of that rather good Burgundy; three for twos….these obvious ploys should not be left to supermarkets. They are old-established techniques and that is because they work. Every good sales person knows the importance of making the customer their friend – establish a good relationship in September and it will still be working for you at Christmas.

September is the right time to broach the subject of Christmas to the customer in a quiet way. Not via Christmas posters months early and Yuletide deals in September, but by making the customers feel that they are part of special relationship. Meanwhile, across the country, otherwise sensible consumers will be asking their small Meerkat doll whether they have the right levels of household insurance. The question is, will they be able to trust any answer they may be getting?