Cuisine de France, recognised as leading specialists in retail Bakery are delighted to congratulate Bal Aulakh’ and his Select & Save retail convenience store for winning the 2013 Asian Trader Best Bakery Retailer of the year award 20th November.
The family run store, based in Shirley, Solihull, well known for its enthusiastic owners, staff and exceptional customer service have a range of concepts on offer, including a post office, a fine wine range, fresh fruit and veg section and a fresh bakery food to-go counter.
Bal worked in partnership with Cuisine de France during the major refit and launch plan. Bal described support from Cuisine as, “invaluable, Cuisine provided a real understanding of the market demographics in the Shirley area which guided the range development, merchandising and ultimately our food to go offer”.
With 60% of consumers now interested in freshly baked products (Mintel 2013), Bal’s fruitful partnership with Cuisine capitalised on this growing demand by launching a new in-store bakery section.
Thereby innovating and differentiating the store in the ever-more competitive independent retail market, not to mention satisfying the increasing consumer demand for ‘food to go.’ Bal said the key to his bakery section was ‘keeping it fresh’.
Working in partnership with Steve Mayes (TSE) at Cuisine, Bal was able to develop a morning, lunchtime and evening bakery range, selected from Cuisine’s finest bakery range, destined to satisfy the local community of Shirley.
Not only is his innovation to be applauded in addition to the values Select & Save embodies. Bal has shown a passion for people, quality, customers, and service—the same values that Cuisine de France upholds.
This foundation has allowed for a series of advancements: In-store training, bespoke offers and promotions, analysis of sales, strategic moves based on analysis.
The store is an exceptional example of how to do convenience retail at the highest level and continues to serve the people of Shirley with passion.
