Astrid Ford and her Market Street team recently won The Mudgee Guardians’ Best of the Bunch award and is now in line for the Franchise Council of Australia (FCA) NSW/ACT Regional Awards.

How does the store continue to achieve these heights? By giving back to its customers.

“Our promise is to offer exceptional customer service with each and every visit,” Astrid said.

Muffin Breaks fourth birthday is on Saturday and Astrid has been at the helm since its inception.

“We’ve improved in trying to tailor our food offerings to our customers’ needs,” she said.

“People come to us for a reason. They come because we personalise the service.”

Nicole Burke, who is a senior staff member, has worked at Muffin Break for two years and used to visit the store frequently because of its consistent and quality coffee.

“Now I understand why the coffee is the way it is here,” Nicole said.

“That’s the Muffin Break training.

“Not only has our customer service improved, so has our knowledge of food and how to prepare it to perfection.”

Out of the 49 stores in New South Wales, head office spotlighted Astrid and her Muffin Break staff to go in the running for the FCA NSW/ACT honours. 

It initially started as a nomination before the FCA council picked out its finalists – as it turned out, Astrid made that last cut.

“I’m grateful for the nomination and excited to be a finalist,” Astrid said.

“I didn’t think I’d make it this far but I’m honoured to be in contention for such a great award.”

The Muffin Break franchise in Mudgee is the only hospitality outlet in contention for the award, so even if it doesn’t win, making it this far is an incredible feat.

Astrid will visit Sydney on Friday for the Franchise Council of Australia (FCA) NSW/ACT Regional Awards gala event.

“I’m happy with the achievement regardless of what happens and so is my team.”