30 Years of Custom, Gone in a Single Sandwich

“Have you seen LinkedIn?” - the tone this was delivered with told us that this was not good news.

One of our clients had been referenced in a post by a person of quite some influence (4m+ combined followers!). They described how their father, Geoffrey, had decided to no longer use Anne Marie’s Bakery after disliking his most recent purchase. 

30 years of custom, gone in a single sandwich.

This could disappoint some, but to The Social Byrd and Anne Marie’s this was fuel to do better.

We set to work on a solution with Wilson James, owner of the Anne Marie’s Bakery Group, to put this right publicly. Armed with little knowledge other than the customer’s name and the content author’s Instagram handle we put out a public service announcement on Instagram and Facebook for Geoffrey to return to Anne Marie’s.

Everyone can have a bad moment, a bad day, make a bad sandwich. We’re humans after all. But when things don’t go well, we have the opportunity to do better, learn from our mistakes, and make a positive outcome from it.

Anne Marie’s wanted to mark Geoffrey’s 30 years of custom with an even better sandwich, so good in fact that they would name it ‘The Geoffrey’.

A heartfelt ‘mea culpa’ and plea for Geoffrey to ‘come back’ from Wilson was published and soon the hashtag #Geoffreycomeback was trending. 

The response was incredible.

Not only did James Smith (the original author) return to Anne Marie’s to collect ‘The Geoffrey” the next day, he brought with him a case of his Neutonic drinks for the team and a message of good sportsmanship and support. 

#Geoffreycomeback had made James smile and brought forward comments from many people in the community of joy, support, and good humour. A moment of social media positivity - all from a sandwich.

Small businesses need moments of positivity and support as much as they need the opportunity to know when something needs addressing. 

We may only be one sandwich away from losing a customer BUT we might also be one post away from showing just how far we’re willing to go to keep that customer. 

Thanks for being such a good sport James Smith and for showcasing the outcome of Anne Marie’s response to your original post. A great 360 in a single day!