Speciality Bites from Paul Hargreaves of Cotswold Fayre

I have always thought 4 days is too long for a food show, but the time simply flew by at the NEC last week.  It’s always the sign of a good show when the show finishes for the day and you realise that you haven’t eaten or been to the loo all day and haven’t noticed.  This happened to me on at least two days during the show.  Too much information, probably, but this show was the best we have been to (except Speciality Food Show) for a long time. (more…)

I have just come back from a UKTI trade mission in Mexico – this is the second such trip I have been on – and, as on the previous occasion, I am struck with the potential of UK companies to do business in other countries.  Apart from representing our British food products in other countries these trips always do as much in educating and inspiring me as well as achieving goals for the export side of the company.

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I have just come back from Farm & More Conference, where there were record numbers of delegates and a thriving trade show alongside it. There was a general feeling of buoyancy about last year, despite the recession, which would have been even more optimistic had many of the retail outlets not been hit hard by the snow at the start of January. There were stories of new farm shops that had reached over £1million turnover in their first year and several more established shops now trading at £3-4million. (more…)