A few weeks back, I was incredibly lucky to go and spend a day up at Asda House, Head Office, up in Leeds, thanks to . I had been invited along with Him Up North, Mummy’s Busy World, A Mother’s Ramblings and And 1 More Means four… and 1 More. Was lovely to meet them again (from Cybermummy) or meet them for the first time!
We learnt a hell of a lot about Asda’s history from Owen and Mike who knew more than anything about Asda (seriously. Cut them and they bleed green and white), as well as having the chance to speak to Paul in the “World Food” section (who REALLY knew his stuff, and was very impressive considering we caught him completely off guard) and also Richard in the “Free From” section (who was also really impressive; took loads of notes while Pippa gave an impressive list of requests, and then he gave her a bag full of “Free From” foods for her to take away and sample.
I loved how they all had so much information to give; so much to know about how they try to keep their costs down, how they interacted with their consumers; incidentally, Asda are looking for more bloggers to blog and support their Baby Club.
One of the awesome moments of the day was to be a judge and taste-tester for some customer inspired sausages. There had been a competition where consumers were invited to submit flavours of sausages they had made up. 5 different customer-invented sausages with major prizes for the winner, including their sausage available to buy in store in the next few months. And it was rather cool to go to Asda kitchens (in the MIDDLE of an office, very goldfish bowl-like, but brilliant all the same) and, um, sample some meat.
We met the team in charge of…you know what? I met the guys in charge of meat. Cooking it, testing it, making sure it met standards. These are my new friends.
Now, annoyingly, I can’t find my notes from the day that tell me who people are, so I’m going to momentarily bombard you with pictures of food.
Anyway!! We tasted the sausages and there were some really random flavours (Venison and black cherry, Chilli Con Carne {yes, in a sausage, which absolutely rocked and should most definitely win} and oddly enough one with liquorice in it which did NOT go down well with me), then had a little time to natter amongst ourselves.
(Patience…it’s rather large…)
The very lovely ladies Amy, Maria and Jo talked about baby goods,
And then fabulous Garry had his starring moment, even though he doesn’t like things pointed at him. *snigger*
Huge superstore chain Walmart actually own Asda, and over in America they have something called Walmart Moms, which is roughly the similar sort of idea Asda are hoping to produce over here in the UK. One of these US moms is Jen Fowler and she was around to skype us and listen to our questions; very useful to get the info first hand, as it were.
Sadly the Asda nearest me is so tiny there’s no way I could complete even half a week’s shop in there; but having seen how things could benefit us immensely, D and I are looking for another one nearby. On the whole, a great day, and I’m intrigued to see what we can do to work with Asda. DOn’t forget, if you’re interested in blogging for them, go and have a look at Your Asda and read up on the new Asda Baby Club.
LOL, what a great post and a great day too. I'm gonna have to get some "front of camera" styling going on though. Sheesh. With you on the chilli sausages. If they don't win I'm defecting to Sainsbury's. Sainsburys! Do you hear, Asda!!??
Class post, honey.
I wish we had a local Asda too – we do have quite a big one, but it's a little bit of a trek. My sister swears by them, and when I first moved to Brum I did too – the veg always seemed really nice and fresh, and they were always cheaper.
Big sis lives near a huge one in LIverpool, and I always take a trip to stock up on George clothes (currently wearing my newly acquired trousers as we speak!). And don't get me started on tiger bread… yum!
(And after saying all this, I still do my shopping at Ocado. I'm a sucker for the brand. Maybe I should give Asda online shopping a go and see how it pans out, price wise…)
I tried to make them tell me the secret of Tiger bread, but they wouldn't… Love you Asda.
I still dream about seeing the hot sausage machine.
The bogs love Tigger bread as they call it!
lol i love the paused image of me very flattering
it was a fab day and great seeing you all xxx
*sigh* oh you do take fantastic food pictures….
…oh? There was writing as well?!
Great post and love the pictures. How do you get them to display in the grid format like that?
Am dying to know what the customer-suggested sausage flavours are. Do they get seriously weird, like the crisp flavours people suggest whenever crisp companies run a competition?
Wow, Garry you are looking really uncomfortable there! LOL…great day. really, and so happy you and Pippa are the more techy ones. I have some pics on my phone, but the memories., oh they will last a life time! haha..
How did I miss this sausage-based post? I was working like a fiend last week last week and it must have come by when I blinked. Nice pork photos, I must say.