Waitrose and the Heston Black Forest Buche

Azari

paddyrg wrote: »

There seems to be a lot of inverted snobbery on here - Waitrose is another supermarket, selling supermarket stuff, but their differentiator isn't the race to be the cheapest, but to be somewhere you can get quality stuff in a more relaxed manner. Aisles are typically wider, no loops of Christmas carols on the PA, seemingly fewer toddlers running rampant. A bit more expensive, but if you can afford it, and that's what you value, then why not? Like first class train travel, if you can afford it and prefer a quiet spacious journey with fewer kids, why not?

The Waitrose I used had narrow aisles that were usually blocked by staff filling shelves. And very long checkout queues.

I know why queues are a bit slower sometimes in Waitrose - it's because the checkout staff will wait for one customer to leave before serving another, and will be generally courteous to each one. I noticed an old boy customer who took a little while to put his shopping away, and exchanged pleasantries with a cashier, bit of a queue behind him (that he was unaware of). The cashier explained that her manager encourages them to be polite in such cases as "remember, you may be the only conversation that customer will have that day" - totally melted my heart that that level of care and courtesy was local policy (is it national policy too?). I will pay a few pence more for that, and happily.

That happens at Tesco, too.

Last week I had to wait a couple of minutes after the last customer had been served as they chatted away whilst she spent a minute carefully putting her change and receipt in her purse, then rearranging it, then deciding which bag to place the purse in, then changing her mind, followed by a minute of general chat.

Mildly annoying but I thought, as above, it may be the only conversation she has in a day and two minutes won't kill me.

QuackQuack_2

My little trek yesterday taught me one thing about Waitrose. It's consistently not very good - but I guess some people value consistency.

To suggest the isles were wider and the staff more patient is more than a bit of a fallacy. I've visited a ton of supermarkets - I'm very fortunate to be surrounded by them - and it totally stood out for all the wrong reasons. It was the epitome of everything bad in a supermarket. You can look at it any which way you like but it comes down to crabby slow staff, isles full of carp, mediocre quality, poor stock levels and hideous, slow moving queues.

In fact it reminded me of the 1970's 'Wavy Line' type of places, often with decor to match.

But there was Christmas spirit to be had - one customer arguing with the woman on the bakery counter over the 'use by' date on a father Christmas cake. What stood out was the assistant arguing back! "No Madam, the 27th of December is perfectly reasonable for a festive cake." I've not laughed so much since Tesco and the 'Have this cheerful looking soul instead' line...... If people are seriously going to Waitrose for the 'experience' then I think the demographic has to be 'easily pleased, easily fleeced'.

However, back to 'that' cake - finally a response from Waitrose which is the usual flowery faux bull you would expect, and not a sniff of 'copy and paste' to it.....

The Black Forest Buche is one of a number of Heston products that have been specially created for Waitrose in collaboration with Heston to delight our customers. The Buche is a very complex product and by its nature extremely difficult to produce......

Really, but he makes it look so easy on the TV adverts! Perhaps I should contact the ASA?

.......But this is what makes it special. It is not a mass produced dessert. At £12.99 it is the highest priced frozen dessert we have launched. It has proved very popular with our customers and demand has been high. We can only sell these products on a first come first served basis and they cannot be reserved. This product is not available to purchase online.

This is the bit that gets me.....:

Please can I advise that you call ahead before making a special visit to the branch to ensure that there is sufficient stock and to avoid an unnecessary journey.

So you can't reserve it, but you can call ahead to see if we have any and then try to get there before the sell out?! I can hear it now "We had a couple when you called, but they are gone." Mind you, if I got there within an hour there is a good chance that there would be someone waiting in the queue to be served who had one in a basket/trolley that I could steal!

Seriously, how helpful is that? Is it the kind of quality service you'd expect from someone like Waitrose, and is this what makes shopping with them special???!!!! :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

Come to think of it - I'm going off the thought of this tatty overpriced cake now anyway! I think I'll pop to Heston Blumenthal's 'Fat Duck' for lunch instead. That way I should get to feel as sick as I do at Waitrose.......

jamespir

do they not showw you how to make it on the advert

QuackQuack_2

jamespir wrote: »

do they not showw you how to make it on the advert

Yes, but my girlfriend got in a mood and smashed my telly up..... Can I borrow your laptop?

All joking aside, yes they do - but like the lady from Waitrose [STRIKE]copies and pastes from previous complaints[/STRIKE] says, It's a very complicated product to make!

European_Citizen

I wonder if we would have had such discussion if the said dessert was at Tesco, not at Waitrose. Some comments sound as if those making them want to convince themselves they are smarter because they don't waste money at Waitrose. Such comments are just as bad as those made by people who believe that shopping at Waitrose makes them superior human beings.
I found the CS suggestion to call in advance and check stock availability perfectly sensible. What kind of answer would have satisfied you, OP?

QuackQuack_2

European_Citizen wrote: »

I wonder if we would have had such discussion if the said dessert was at Tesco, not at Waitrose.

Oh hell yeah. I'm not shopist. I'll take on any store that sucks, or does sucky things. See my other posts for further details!!!

This week, however, Waitrose is right in there at number one. I'm starting to think that the only thing at Waitrose that would not suck would be their own brand vaccum cleaner. :rotfl:

In their defence, I did enjoy the nostalgia of visiting Waitrose. It was nice to see the 70's so vividly again.

NBLondon

paddyrg wrote: »

There seems to be a lot of inverted snobbery on here - Waitrose is another supermarket, selling supermarket stuff, but their differentiator isn't the race to be the cheapest, but to be somewhere you can get quality stuff in a more relaxed manner. Aisles are typically wider, no loops of Christmas carols on the PA, seemingly fewer toddlers running rampant. A bit more expensive, but if you can afford it, and that's what you value, then why not?

Obviously it works - like fluffnutter sez - they're still in business. I'll go in now and then in search of a treat - a more interesting range of wines & spirits than the big names for example. If there's one or two everyday things I also need then I'll suffer the slightly higher price rather than make two trips. I might find a fantastic special offer but there's no counting on it. I don't think I'd ever do a full shop there.

Maybe there are some who go there out of snobbery. It's their money... Possibly these are the people that the exclusive and rare Heston B stuff is aimed at. There are some who go out of habit to both JohnLewis and Waitrose because their parents did - then were amazed when the credit crunch drove them to Aldi or Lidl and discovered sometimes better stuff at a third the price.

pimento

Forget Heston. Make Jamie Oliver's Ice Cream Bombe, it's dead easy and stonkingly good.

http://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/pastry-cake/winter-pudding-bombe

snowleopard61

My former next-door neighbour made my children fall about laughing and gave us one of those sayings that has passed into the family mythology by saying that she liked Waitrose 'because the customers were polite and said sorry when they bumped into you with their trollies'. (She was very far from affluent.)

At the moment our only truly local (i.e. walkable) mainstream supermarkets are Waitrose and the Co-op, which is often, surprisingly, more expensive still. For everyday I use a combination of Aldi, which I pass most days, greengrocers and bits from Asda or Sainsbury's if I have to be in the vicinity anyway. If I need anything at all unusual Waitrose is generally the only option, so I quite enjoy the rare opportunity - it's quite nice to be given time to put your shopping away rather than have it virtually thrown off the end as they do in Aldi - but don't buy much else there if I can help it.

Enfieldian

Azari wrote: »

Mildly annoying but I thought, as above, it may be the only conversation she has in a day and two minutes won't kill me.

Might kill her though, if I am in the queue behind her......