Sales assistant wins top award

Umina sales assistant Krystal Mowday has been selected as one of the baking industry's leading sales staff members in a competition conducted by a bakery business chain.

Krystal, 21, employee of Bakers Delight Umina Beach, was nominated for the Gillespie Award by bakery operator Joseph Mondal for her exceptional achievements in the baking industry.

She has been recognised as one of only 44 staff selected from the over 15,000 employees across more than 650 bakeries in the Bakers Delight franchise across Australia and New Zealand.

The award aims to foster career development of ambitious and high achieving Bakers Delight bakers and sales staff like Krystal by "recognising, inspiring and promoting the art and science of baking, and excellence in customer service".

"I get a real buzz from working in a fast-paced environment where there are pressures to meet customer demand day after day, and it is an absolute honour to win the Gillespie Award," said Krystal.

"I plan to use my win to learn as much as I can to further develop my customer service skills and further my career at Bakers Delight.

"Who knows, I may even operate my own bakery one day," she said.

Bakery operator Joseph Mondal explained: "Bakers Delight facilitates training and career development by encouraging outstanding achievers to demonstrate their skills to the network - the Gillespie Awards provides a means to do just that.

"The determination Krystal has shown to achieve such breadth and quality of knowledge has motivated others in my team, contributing to the success of my business.

"With the Gillespie Award under her sales cap, I am confident Krystal has the talent to achieve great things in her sales career," Joseph said.

Krystal's outstanding efforts will be rewarded with an all expenses paid trip to a Gillespie Award winners' conference in February; an intensive program of professional development, motivational speakers, team building, advanced customer service and baking training and presentation skills.

The program, available only to Gillespie Award winners, aims to further enhance her skills and help Krystal continue on track to achieve her career goals at Bakers Delight.

Online submission, 11 Feb 2010 Phillipa Elder, Bakers Delight