The summer holidays can be a fun time for families to spend some time together, but they can also be rather costly affair for many. And many families might have found this year a bit more of a struggle, due to the rising cost of living.
Luckily, quite a few retailers and supermarkets have come to parents rescue with a range of exclusive offers that let their little ones eat for £1 or less. One such place is the family-friendly Farmhouse Inns, which currently operates a range of branches across Scotland, including Aberdeen, Perth and Kinross, Lanarkshire and Edinburgh.
The pub was said to be offering a voucher that let kids eat a breakfast, a junior carvery, or any kids' meal for £1. For every adult ordering a meal, two children can eat for the offer price.
To take advantage of the affordable deal, all families had to do was visit the website and sign up for the voucher. Sounds simple, right? Well, according to one mum, it was certainly a lot easier said than done, after she took her kids to her local Famhouse Inn in Astley, Manchester and found that it was not as straightforward as she hoped.
Emma Gill from The Manchester Evening News says this of her "embarrassing experience" at her local Applewood Farm branch in Astley...
Arriving at Applewood Farm just before 10.30am on Tuesday morning, we were among a handful of customers at the venue so I was served pretty quick.
However when I asked for two children's breakfasts I was told in no uncertain terms, 'we don't do children's breakfasts, we just have the one adult size'.
Pointing out the information on my voucher - "This voucher entitles you to a small breakfast, any kids' meal or Junior Carvery from the Kids' Menu for £1 each on the purchase of an adult breakfast, main meal or carvery", the response was the same - 'yes, I don't know why they've put that as it's supposed to just be main meals'.
Now the shy and retiring customer may well have slipped away quietly at this point, or coughed up for three standard ones, but I wouldn't be doing that on principle. Plus, we've been promoting the offer to parents in our Manchester Family articles, so I certainly wasn't going to let it slide, especially when sausages were at stake!
The server spoke to a colleague and agreed to put the breakfasts through the till, but he seemed less than happy at doing so.
The receipt clearly states 'kid breakfast' £1, so I'm not quite sure where the problem stemmed from. As we headed over to the food counter - where you pick your own items from the buffet - his colleague already had my plates ready, one large plate for me and two smaller plates for the children. .
While the adults is all you can eat, I was informed the children could 'only go up once'. Now, I don't know about your kids, but when it comes to breakfast, mine aren't in the habit of going for seconds.
They only like half of what's offered in a cooked breakfast anyway, so the warning was rather unnecessary. Overall it wasn't the most pleasurable experience and I found it all a bit embarrassing to say the least.
It can often feel awkward presenting a voucher in the first place, faffing around with your phone to make sure you've got the right one and hoping the staff member knows how to apply it.
But to be told the offer isn't right - when clearly the evidence suggests otherwise - and to be told the children can only eat once, was all just a bit much.
The saving grace was that the breakfasts themselves were actually really good. There's everything you'd expect for a full English, including bacon, sausages, eggs, beans and mushrooms. The toast was a little hard, but that's unavoidable when it's left under heat and I'd rather that than have to face one of those conveyor belt toasters of doom.
Even my daughter's disappointment over the absence of hash browns was short lived as a fresh batch was delivered right on cue.
Obviously we still said 'thanks' and got a cheery goodbye as we left, but there's nothing like being made out as though you're trying to pull a fast one, to leave you with a slightly bitter taste.
A spokesperson for Applewood Farm said: “We apologise for the confusion experienced, the team member who served you was confused about the offer but is fully aware of it now. Our adult breakfasts are ‘all you can eat’, but our kids breakfast isn’t, which is why this was pointed out. We hope you all enjoyed your meals and hope to see you again soon.”
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