Like many businesses, we have a tagline at Chocolate Fayre. It’s painted on our wall behind the shop counter. It appears in our adverts and on our website, and social media, and it’s what we try and do every day. It came about several years ago almost by accident. There were no focus groups or PowerPoint presentations, no data analysis of customer behaviours or market trends, no think tanks or online meetings, none of the impersonal tools of business-theory used by many of the big chains to produce such things in a meaningless, tick box way.
We simply said what we do in 4 words:
Chocolate is the last word here on purpose, because it’s merely the attraction, the glittery visual centrepiece which entices people across our threshold. Firstly are the Happiness and the Spreading parts. These are the important words. Why? Because we are in the Looking After People Business. Not in a medical way, you understand, but in a neighbourly, community, caring way. We like to try and make each person who comes into Chocolate Fayre for whatever reason feel welcome, feel valued, feel relaxed, feel comfortable, and feel at home.
Sounds simple, right? Well, in the modern world, this idea of valuing the people who you come across in work and life seems to have taken a bit of a back seat, sadly, where you so often feel like an inconvenience, where you are constantly thanked for your patience by an automated voice recording, merely a number on a shareholders report.
We see it as so important to look after our people, no matter who they are. We try to give everyone a friendly welcome, a cheery goodbye, ask after our regular customers, find out a little about those visiting from elsewhere; represent our business, our town, our Dale in a positive light with pride. We allow time to slow down for a moment or two, and simply enjoy everyone’s company without making them feel rushed. Our team members must get a huge amount of credit for this. They are the ones who see our customers the most, and they are the ones who provide much of this happiness and caring attitude.
Horsemarket Now and Then
While the chocolate obviously helps, I’d like to think that simply treating people with respect, kindness, understanding and consideration is one of the key reasons why Chocolate Fayre has not only survived, but thrived on the Barney high street for almost 4 decades. I hope we can help make your day, put a smile on your face, and maybe help put smiles on the faces of others through your chocolate gifts, by Spreading Happiness with Chocolate.