Nope, I'm not talking about viral infection - I'm talking about a brilliant recovery from a customer service cock up.
I was beside myself with joy when I read a tweet that Bristol Beer Factory had started up a retail online shop. They'd done so quite a lot later than other Bristol breweries we love and we'd been missing their beers since we've been unable to travel to our flat in Bristol.
By the time I got to the online shop they were already out of stock of a couple of our favourites but I ordered a couple of cases of bottles and inwardly squealed with excitement.
I got the confirmation that the order had been prepared...and then a few days of silence.
On Monday I messaged them just to ask for an ETA and swiftly got an honest and apologetic email back telling me they'd made a mistake and hadn't disptached our order. They promised a gift by way of apology, and a promise for delivery today.
Our parcel has been delivered - including a box of a whole host of goodies including some bottles of the beers I missed out on and a lovely hand-written note.
Now, I've been a fan of this brewery since they were...well, a brewery. The first place I met a couple of my Bristol photography buddies was in a BBF establishment.
Me and the Best Beer Buddy did quite a lot of our initial bonding at one of their pubs and we bought a flat around the corner from the place as our Bristol home and it's still the first place we go when we arrive on the train. (bloody hell, do we miss the pub!)
When an organisation starts a new service in circumstances like this, there are going to be cock-ups. But the key thing is how you recover from the cock-up, and BBF knocked the ball out of park on this one.
So the next time you go to Bristol, make sure you drop into one of their establishments, or drink one of their beers in one of the city's superb pubs (their pump clips are really easy to identify from the outside of a pub). Their beer deserves your attention and their staff know how to do the job right.
Thank you Team BBF - we do miss you!
Wednesday, 20 May 2020
Wednesday, 6 May 2020
When is the Right Time
We're enjoying our beer home deliveries from breweries we know well and love - and occasional new finds. But it's really not the same.
We miss cask beer. Only the natural light carbonation of well conditioned cask ale - it's a texture like no other.
Whilst we might not generally miss company per se...the light interaction with bar staff and other customers, with the occasional longer conversation adds value to the experience of drinking beer that pulling a nice can from the fridge, and sharing it on the sofa doesn't quite replicate.
Don't get me wrong, we're incredibly lucky to have our health, our home and the ability get lovely beer delivered to our door - and we know it...but we really miss the pub.
We've actually been working pretty hard of late, putting together a project to make 3D printed face visors for frontline workers. This uses our skills extremely well and we really enjoy it. The fact that it's so appreciated and that not everyone can do this makes us happy to be running it even as we tell ourselves that it's "not like a real job" and that for harshness it's not a patch on the frontline workers our shields are being given to.
But I know that, after a "shift on the farm", what we'd really like is to stroll home via a good pub and relax over that first couple of mouthfuls of lovely, perfect cask beer.
I'm fearful for the industry. The small brewers who have turned their hands to canning, bottling and delivery are reacting well but I can't imagine it's easy.
Publicans, on the other hand, have fewer opportunities to hunker down and keep going.
The question is, with all the talk of gentle release of the lockdown, just when will the right time be to allow pubs to open again? And how many good pubs will have been lost in the meantime?
We miss cask beer. Only the natural light carbonation of well conditioned cask ale - it's a texture like no other.
Whilst we might not generally miss company per se...the light interaction with bar staff and other customers, with the occasional longer conversation adds value to the experience of drinking beer that pulling a nice can from the fridge, and sharing it on the sofa doesn't quite replicate.
Don't get me wrong, we're incredibly lucky to have our health, our home and the ability get lovely beer delivered to our door - and we know it...but we really miss the pub.
We've actually been working pretty hard of late, putting together a project to make 3D printed face visors for frontline workers. This uses our skills extremely well and we really enjoy it. The fact that it's so appreciated and that not everyone can do this makes us happy to be running it even as we tell ourselves that it's "not like a real job" and that for harshness it's not a patch on the frontline workers our shields are being given to.
But I know that, after a "shift on the farm", what we'd really like is to stroll home via a good pub and relax over that first couple of mouthfuls of lovely, perfect cask beer.
I'm fearful for the industry. The small brewers who have turned their hands to canning, bottling and delivery are reacting well but I can't imagine it's easy.
Publicans, on the other hand, have fewer opportunities to hunker down and keep going.
The question is, with all the talk of gentle release of the lockdown, just when will the right time be to allow pubs to open again? And how many good pubs will have been lost in the meantime?
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