24/07/2026
Catering accounts for 17% of annual garden centre turnover. (HTA News 2026)
For a lot of garden centres, the café stopped being a nice-to-have a while ago. It's become a meaningful part of the business, and summer is when it really picks up. Longer days, school holidays, and families making a day of it. The café is as busy as the shop floor, and both need to run without a hitch, at the same time.
But most EPOS systems were built with retail in mind, not retail and hospitality. So the café gets bolted on as an afterthought, and it shows, especially when summer footfall is at its peak.
We've written about what an EPOS system built for garden centres needs to handle in summer (and every other season). Because being ready for one of your busiest seasons means having everything - retail, café, stock, staff - working together.
Take a look at the article here: https://shorturl.at/z9PRB