Our 85-year-old customer Audrey Bond has helped bakers at our Barking store perfect their Tiger Bread recipe – and now they've renamed the loaf in her honour.
A few weeks ago we shared the story of the friendship Audrey struck up with our bakery colleague Gary Gordon when they bonded over a shared love of baking.
It got such a great response from Facebook fans the Barking team are now proud to call her favourite product Audrey's Tiger Bread – as well as asking her to taste and 'Audrey approve' all the cakes and bread they bake in the store.
Our bakery colleague Gary has struck up a great friendship with 85-year-old customer Audrey, a keen baker herself who...
Posted by Asda on Sunday, 6 August 2017
Keen home baker Audrey said she had "so much fun" when colleagues invited her in to the store to see the range launch.
Audrey, who's been married to her husband Fred for 64 years and has a son Graham and two grandchildren, is a regular visitor to the store. Gary calls her his 'grandma' as he never had the chance to meet his own grandparents.
Audrey spotted that some of the bread would occasionally come out of the ovens shaped more like a big kidney bean, while some loaves could have a parting in the middle.
She passed on a few tips to Gary and the Barking bakery team and says their loaves are now “as good as they possibly can be” after they followed her advice.
Audrey said: "It was really nice to go in and see the bread being named after me. I couldn't stop laughing when they showed me – the whole thing has been so much fun! I told my son Graham about it, who's in Cyprus, and he's been laughing too; he thinks it's great.
"Now, when I go into the store, all the colleagues know me, not just the bakery team. They say hello and ask me how I am, it's lovely. I've had lots of people come up to me in Asda and say 'I saw you online'! It really makes my day."
Audrey's become great friends with Gary and often brings in her home-baked goodies for him and the team. Gary's favourite is her banana and walnut cake, which he says is “just the best”.
Gary said: "When she turns up I stop what I’m doing and give her my full attention – she’s wonderful. She’ll always comment on whether our products are good or bad. I listen to my customers and want the best for them so the feedback is great."
Audrey's now given a big thumbs up to all the cakes and bread made in the store, so to thank her for her help and recognise the great response from customers to her story, Gary and the team are now marking all the bread and cakes they bake in the store with 'Audrey approved' stickers.
