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Our team at Friends House won an award for their response during the Covid-19 pandemic. They received the Best Client Support During Covid-19 award at the London Venue and Catering Awards 2021! It’s a great achievement for the team, whose entry was assessed by a panel of judges from the event industry.

Showing resilience during a difficult year

The team at Friends House has shown great resilience while faced by a series of closures and reopening due to lockdown and restrictions. They have successfully adapted to new ways of working. They also made the venue safe and welcoming again for customers.

Paul Henderson-Grey, CEO of Quiet Company: “We’re so glad to have won the award for Best Client Support During Covid-19. Last year was really challenging for everyone, but our team went the extra mile to support our customers in so many ways. So, I personally want to take this opportunity to thank them for everything they did and continue to do for our customers.”

Adapting customer service, servicing clients safely

The Friends House took the following actions to make sure clients were well informed and met safely:

• The team launched a series of update videos. Watch our CEO Paul’s video about our covid-safety guidelines back in August 2020.
• They delivered a safe and great event experience to clients. They asked some of them to give feedback on their meetings and events. Anu Chandy from University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust: “Our event was organised extremely well and ample measures were taken to make sure that all delegates felt safe and welcome. The rooms were set out with plenty of space for social distancing and hand sanitiser stations were readily available. The staff were on hand to assist with anything and the day ran very smoothly. Looking forward to hosting many more events here in the future.”
• After the first lockdown, the team launched a COVID-19 resource centre on the Friends House website, compiling all their safety information in one place.
• At the end of 2020, they launched the Peace of Mind Promise offer. This offer gave the opportunity to customers to either cancel or postpone their event for FREE.

What the panel of judges said

Here are a few comments from the judges:

“Impressive commitment to clear core values, staff welfare and sustainability – to the benefit of clients.”

“Innovative, sustainable solutions to pandemic challenges like maintaining social distancing and creative catering.”

“Training offered to staff encouraged empathy – fully supported and retained staff during the pandemic.”

“The online covid resource centre is great and the staff training sessions are a great idea to help staff stay on top of requirements and support clients.”

These great comments just show that by being faithful to our Quaker values and Quaker business ethos, we are able to achieve a lot and be an example for others too. The 3Ps – people, planet, profit – is definitely the way forward.

Saying thank you!

Thank you to the Friends House team for their amazing work and dedication. And thank you to our customers for their trust and support.

Matt Baker, Clerk to the Board of Directors: “On behalf of the board, I want to say a massive “well done” to everyone who had a hand in winning this award. Our staff worked hard to do right by our customers when we had to close, and to help them return to Friends House safely and confidently as we emerged from lockdown. We knew that by sticking to our principles we would achieve the best outcome for all, and to see this recognised at the London Venue & Catering Awards is heartening.”