The Old Barn Coffee Shop has been named a winner in the Flavours of Herriot Country Awards 2019, scooping the Customer Service Team of the Year accolade.
The announcement came during the awards ceremony on December 2nd, and our coffee shop team including supervisor Claire Batson were in attendance to hear the fantastic news.
Speaking afterwards, Claire said: “We had an amazing time at the Herriot Awards ceremony and were thrilled to win the Customer Service Team of the Year award. I’m so proud of our fantastic team at the Old Barn, and am delighted that the judges have recognised their hard work and commitment to giving our customers a warm welcome and a great experience.”
The café, located at the entrance to York House Holiday Park, was a finalist in an amazing three categories: Tearoom of the Year, Customer Service Team of the Year, and Baked Product of the Year for our best-selling lemon drizzle cake and lemon and blueberry scones. Competition was strong across all awards and, despite missing out in the other categories, the team were delighted to win the Customer Service award.
Judges who had visited the café as ‘mystery shoppers’ earlier in the year praised the warm welcome from staff, saying:
“We received a really pleasant greeting on arrival, the four staff were all smiley and engaging and all in uniform. We ordered delicious lemon drizzle and Malteser tiffin to share and a really nice touch was when the waitress noticed she offered us an extra plate. The coffee was excellent and the décor is clean and bright. Great for a visit even if you are not staying at the York House Holiday Park.”
Claire spoke to Radio York on the morning of the awards ceremony about her delight at The Old Barn being shortlisted in three categories, and her hopes that they would win. She was then interviewed by them again the following morning, expressing her delight at winning the award.
The Flavours of Herriot Country Awards are one of the most highly recognised and respected food and drink awards in Yorkshire and celebrate the best in food and drink throughout ‘Herriot Country’ – an area stretching across Hambleton and Richmondshire. Entries are judged by an independent team of highly experienced and respected food and drink experts.
Phil Brierley, director of YHL Parks which owns the coffee shop, said: “I’m really chuffed for all the team at the Old Barn. This award means so much to everyone. Claire leads with real passion, and this enthusiasm filters through to the rest of the team and the customers!
“What has been particularly pleasing for me is how we have been able to integrate the very, very young (13 is our youngest!) and the older end (70) into a really strong customer focused team. We have acted on customer feedback from past years and used this to improve our service and welcome, and I am delighted to see this has paid dividends.”