Stewarts Garden Centres has appointed Robert Meaney as catering manager.  With decades of experience within catering operations for national companies and more recently with Marwell Wildlife, Mr Meaney has started to meet with regular customers to gather menu suggestions.

“The feedback shows great enthusiasm for more freshly made and prepared food from local producers and to move away from the centre’s tradition of microwaveable dishes,” said Mr Meaney. “Stewarts other centres are praised for their home grown and often home reared produce from their own farm so we will be able to cater for the tastier menu requested.”

Stewarts retail and marketing director Terry Head said that they will eventually provide a “sustainable and environmental balance decent food selection”.

The passion for horticulture has been in the Stewarts family for eight generations; the business can be traced back to 1742.  Stewarts created the earliest dedicated garden centre opened in Ferndown, Dorset  in 1955 before their first out of town centre at Christchurch opened in 1961.

There will be additional job opportunities to boost the current team of 42 at the Abbey Garden Centre over the next 12 months.