Befriending customers at Crewroom’s Pop-Up store in the Putney Exchange shopping centre will be a piece of cake for our latest recruit, retail assistant Jacqui Beer – she used to work in her sister’s cake shop and also ran an ice-cream van.
“I spent a few Christmases helping out at ‘Lindsey's Cake and Dessert Shop’ in Devon. I’d serve up cheesecakes (my favourite), muffins, chocolate fudge cakes, flapjacks and caramel shortbread,” says Jacqui, who admits to a sweet tooth herself.
“I also used to work in an ice-cream van in the summer, along the North Devon coast. They wouldn’t let me drive the van, just serve in it, because I drove too fast.”
Now Jacqui, 30, who is passionate about involving members of the community in sport and has a string of academic and professional qualifications linked to sport, is delighted to have started work at Crewroom.
Currently studying for a PhD in Sports Participation, she used to work for British Rowing as a Project Officer and was also involved at the London 2012 Games when she worked in the spectator experience tent at Dorney Lake, where members of the public could get a taste for the sport by having a go on rowing machines.
Jacqui is also a keen sports enthusiast; she has played netball for 14 years, raced alongside 118 gig rowing boats at the World Pilot Gig Rowing Championships off the Isles of Scilly, and has rowed and coached at Thames Rowing Club. Her idea of happy days is walking around in her lycra and wellies after a race.
“When people come in to the shop they chat to us about their different activities and it's nice to find out what they're doing, and we also spot regular customers coming in now. When we tell our customers the Crewroom story, they're impressed, and they seem to like the fact the business is local to them.
“The reason I wanted to work for Crewroom, and why being at the Pop-up is great, is because I have been involved in sport for so many years, and it's nice to have that continuing link,” adds Jacqui.