Simmons Bakers

This is for anyone who believes in the treatment of people of all backgrounds with dignity. On Thursday 17th of March 2022 my sister and I were discriminated against by the manager Lauren, at this Cheshunt Old Pond branch.

This was after one of her staff gave myself a pork sausage roll instead of a mushroom roll. When at the beginning, when we entered the shop we had specified our dietary requirements and were very clear about this as It’s against our religious and cultural background.

They gave us a pork sausage roll, it wasn’t until I bit into the pastry as we were driving off, that I realised that it wasn’t mushroom. I felt sick to the stomach, I was distressed and my sister suggested I should go back to tell the staff what had happened.

When I went back to the shop the young girl that had originally served us was the only one who seemed to be concerned. The other staff member was incredibly dismissive and rude. I didn’t want to get the young girl in trouble with her the manager, so I took the replacement (mushroom roll) and came back to the car.

When I returned to the car, my sister asked what happened, I explained to her that the staff didn’t seem to care. So she convinced me that we should go back and see how they can resolve this. Once we got into the shop we explained in a calm manner the situation to one of the staff. Then all of a sudden the manager, Lauren came from the back end of the shop telling us to that we’re being aggressive, pointing fingers and we need to stop talking loud in front of customers. As if we were not paying customers ourselves.

The manager Lauren escalated the situation. Saying again that we are pointing fingers and being aggressive and she’s not going to do anything unless my sister keeps quiet.

I tried to address the fact that the manager Lauren was being micro aggressive, also how racist her behaviour was. Lauren then decided she was going to call the police on my sister and I for calling her a racist, which she did. She tried to kick us out of the shop like we hadn’t paid for our food. But my sister waited in the shop, whilst she was waiting for the police all the staff were dismissive and attempting to intimidate her. I was so distressed I decided to go to the car and wait there.

Addressing Black women as aggressive is typical of a racist trope/vicious stereotype of painting Black women as the angry Black Woman.

Lauren didn’t care to solve this situation all she wanted to do was to escalated it and silence us. She didn’t care to understand the severity of what happened.

Lauren’s discriminating behaviour was traumatic for my sister and I, all we wanted was to be treated with dignity like any other customer but instead we had the police called on us like we had committed a criminal offence.

I wouldn’t advice anyone to engage with establishment for their discriminatory practices.

We ordered 44 hot sausage and bacon sandwiches and collected them today. The manager was absolutely lovely to deal with and accommodated several changes to this large order with no bother at all; she even offered to carry the food out to the car. The food was delicious and a great way to celebrate the end of term with our staff. Thank you so much for the friendly and efficient service and the tasty lunch.

We needed a fuel top up after some football in the park. Cappuccino and a freshly made bacon sandwich for me. Apple smoothie and a bacon sandwich for the boy. Simmons is lovely.

I had a lovely service from Sam. Very polite, cheerful and attentive. Thanks Sam 🎄

Great food just a shame is quite expensive, staff very polite and helpful

Love the guys that work in this Simmons, just so helpful and friendly.
There is a new guy who has started there called Sam, such a pleasure to see him in the morning. A real asset to the company.

Was served by Sam he was lovely, very accommodating and the food was great!

Great shop, Amazing staff especially Sam and Lisa extremely polite helpful and friendly. (Recommended)