Back to Business with Barclays Bank

We at Simply Nectar and What On Earth were very privileged to have two of the biggest names at Barclays Bank working with us for the day recently. Not only did it give us an excuse to dress up all smart, the day also gave us the opportunity to show the gentlemen around our premises, give them an insight into the daily goings on at the Simply Nectar/What On Earth HQ and also pick their business focused brains.  We tried to get them to give us some pocket money for penny sweets too but sadly we couldn't get any money out of them ;-)

We were joined by Chris Head and Peter Simon – two of Barclays’ big bosses. They spent the day working with us in aid of the bank’s ‘Back to Business’ scheme, which gives bankers the opportunity to spend time working for their customers. This experience allows Barclays to gain insight into their customers’ worlds and gives them a clearer understanding of how they can support their customers. The scheme followed the creation of Barclays Business, which launched in early 2010. The bank had a vision to become the ‘Go-To’ business bank by collectively and continuously making its customers’ lives easier. They decided that this meant they needed to get into the minds and lives of the customers; they needed to think boldly and be unique so that their customers wouldn’t want to go elsewhere, hence the invention of Back to Business.

We were chosen as a business to work with because our company offers a completely different environment to what both Chris and Peter are used to. We’d also like to think that they chose us because we are prize customers!  We were able to provide Chris and Peter with a whole new working experience – the complete opposite of their usual day to day office based roles. One of their most exciting tasks was to get into the kitchen and make some of What On Earth's renowned organic pizzas. Sadly we didn’t get to taste the fruits of their labour but they seemed to be doing a pretty good job and they certainly looked the part…they were set up with hair nets, white coats and everything!

Our head chef, Sergei, giving the guys a thumbs up

Not only could they see what it’s like to be a What On Earth chef they also got to check out other products, joined us in the board room for various meetings and they even got treated to lunch at Villandry – one of our biggest customers. In return they offered us some sound advice and opinions.  We just need to put it all into action now!

We want to take this opportunity to thank Chris, Peter and of course Barclays as a whole for giving us a very useful, insightful and enjoyable day. THANKS GUYS. 

Simply Barclays.

Simply Nectar