Peter Burks back at the GCA – Interview with the new CEO

Full steam ahead

Within just a few weeks of becoming the Garden Centre Association’s Chief Executive, GTN talks to Peter Burks about his ambitions and plans for the association and its members.

With horticulture in his family’s background, a degree in horticulture and more than 40 years working in garden centres, Peter Burks has the perfect experience from buying, supplying and growing, to take the helm of the GCA. He also knows the association well from being a member of its executive committee in the early 2000s and its chairman from 2013-2014.

Peter’s first involvement was through his parents who produced organic field grown vegetables and moved into protected crops such as tomatoes and cucumbers. From here the shift to growing ornamentals was relatively ..within the GCA you are seamles After s. a degree gained part of an organisation which is from the University of willing to share information and Bath, Peter worked with various growers in the UK share what they know and Holland, and other companies in the industry. In his garden centre career he has manged Sanders Garden World in Somerset; been a Regional Manager of The Garden Centre Group (formerly and latterly Wyevale Garden Centres); been General Manager Trelawney Garden Leisure in Cornwall and Somerset and Manager of Fermoy’s Garden Centre, Devon, when it first became part of the Blue Diamond Group.

Moving forwards

Although it’s still very early days, Peter has already earmarked some improvements, and communication is high on the list. There are several strands to this including carrying out more personal visits to members from the GCA management and upping the relationship within the industry. “Within the organisation it’s also important to communicate what the GCA is doing with the rest of the industry. We need to improve with our liaison with the HTA and other organisations as we have the retail viewpoint to put forward,” he says.

Then there is being better at telling retailers about the benefits of being part of the GCA which will hopefully lead to recruiting more centres. “Having 200 GCA members is good but there’s an awful lot of other garden centres, around 2000, that aren’t members.” Another strand is talking to consumers and telling them what to expect of a garden centre that is part of the association. “We like to think within the GCA that our members are amongst the best garden centres in the industry,” says Peter, adding that consumers need to be able to identify a GCA member and understand why it’s a good idea to choose to visit a GCA garden centre. The inspections are a good case in point. To be able to retain membership, each centre must reach the high standards which are inspected yearly. “Otherwise they are out,” says Peter.

Benefits of membership

Peter has no doubt in his mind that one of the greatest advantages of being a GCA member is being part of an organisation where you can get support. “If you have a problem or new idea, there’s somebody you can talk to who would certainly give you advice. Even if it’s a day-today sort of thing you can pick up the phone.”

Peter Burks, the new CEO of the GCA.

Houseplants could be an area which will attract younger people into the industry.

For independents particularly there is a great deal to be gained from GCA information about how members are doing. “You can see when it’s been a bad week in the north and a good week in the south because being within the GCA you are part of an organisation which is willing to share information and share what they know.”

This camaraderie is really important, believes Peter. Even groups can reap benefits. “If they’re very successful they may think ‘why do we need to be involved with anything else?’ If times are supposed to be getting harder that’s the time when being involved in an organization gives you that extra bit of strength.”

Inspections and staff recruitment

To enable GCA inspections to move with the times, Peter is also going to review the process. One reason for this is the rise in the popularity of food halls and catering. “Before Christmas, the trade in restaurants was off the scale compared to what it usually is. People, if they’re going out, seem willing to spend money on food. By the time we get round to the peak gardening season will customers still be happy to spend money on gardening or will things like food take more of a precedence? So will we need to give a higher priority to food and catering?” questions Peter.

Another area being given more weight is sustainability and for

From Peter’s garden centre days. the first time, the GCA will present a sustainability and environmental champion award at their conference in January 2023.

Peter will also be looking at ways for smaller business to join the GCA. Currently centres need a 50% or more score from the inspection audit to become a full member but if they don’t have certain categories because of space, they can’t reach that figure.

Another angle could be working with smaller sites to help them improve by getting ideas and support by visiting similar centres across the UK.

This leads Peter on to talk about recruitment which has been particularly difficult for garden centres, especially for their restaurants and coffee shops. But he says the benefits of working in garden centre catering compared to other hospitality settings is the favourable daytime only working hours. If this, and data to show the strength and financial value of garden centre catering, was communicated it might help in recruiting more hospitality staff.

Also, the continued problem of attracting younger people into the industry remains. “We have an opportunity at the moment through houseplants which is a growing category, much of which is driven by younger people buying them.”

On top of these, Peter is also looking at the training offered by the GCA to make sure its modules develop in line with the evolution of the garden centre industry. “We need to make sure we can offer the legal training modules such as environmental health in restaurants, so our members don’t need to go elsewhere for their training needs.” He also says the GCA Grow horticultural modules are entry level at the moment so moving these on to become more challenging is essential.

Peter’s last message focuses on the future of garden centre retailing. “If you’re good at what you’re doing, there’s definitely a future. The skill is always being engaged with your local community. This is the same for any business, whether you’re a butcher or a garden centre, if you’re engaged with your local community, then you are going to be perfectly okay and should do well.