Bakers Delight

Bakers Delight rose to the occasion recently winning the prestigious Lend Lease Customer Service Award. From a field of over Australia's top retailers, Bakers Delight proved that excellence in customer service is an integral part of their business success.

Bakers Delight is no stranger to the awards process, taking out the Lend Lease Retailer of the Year Award in 1999, as well as topping the list in a national Roy Morgan Survey earlier this year on customer service.
"This is, of course, the first step to building a successful career in retail. Our aim is to generate 75% of our lessee and fully funded franchisees internally by providing a career path that will equip them with the tools to become the future of Bakers Delight in Australia."

The award included a plaque as well as a $5,000 cash prize which Mr Load said would be spent promoting Bakers Delight in the 12 Lend Lease centers where stores are located.

The Customer Service Award is a new Lead Lease initiative and was presented by Retail CEO, Ron Levin, at the Uluru retail Forum last week, Bakers Delight Managing Director, Braeden Lord accepted the award. We are particularly pleased to win as Bakers Delight's vision is to set new standards in customer service and become the benchmark, to which other retailers aspire, " Mr Lord said.

The award was judged on a set of customer service criteria and included the following:

• Service culture of the retailer

• Customer service initiatives and programs

• Customer service training

• Customer service impact on the performance of the business

Mr Lord also highlighted the importance of customer service on a broader scale.

"One of the most valuable things we can give our staff is the training and skills to delight customers," he said.
Newlyweds Ross and Georgina Currant received an unexpected wedding gift soon after their honeymoon in November 1999. They were asked if they would like to lease Bakers Delight Richmond Market Place in NSW. Since then they have groan the business by over 15%.

Ross, who had been working for bakers Delight for almost five years, saw it as a `once in a lifetime opportunity, so in February he and Georgina took on a business lease as a part of Bakers Delight's Bakery Development Group.

The Currants both come from baking backgrounds in Tasmania, so moving to Bakers Delight was not a career shift. However Ross says Bakers Delight was more up to date the other bakeries he had worked in. " It's was like coming from pre-historic to modern times, he says.

The Currants plan for the business to continue growing, and hope to be able to purchase a Full Franchise within a couple of years. At some time in the future they plan to step back so they can start a family. Then down the track there is always is the opportunity to take on a second Bakers Delight Franchise.