Hi, I’m Serena Fordham, and this blog post is an extension of my Amazon Bestselling Book “ProspHER(ish): The diary of a fcuked up female-founder” written to help women succeed in their businesses and careers – while ultimately achieving their dreams and fullest potential.
During the summer of 2025 I went on holiday with my family to York, and on our way to our vacation home there we spotted a quaint-looking garden centre and cafe.
That evening I decided to research this charming establishment online with the view to visit for a coffee and cake on our way back from one of our outings later in the week.
However, as much as the place looked idyllic from the road, the inside told a different story. It wasn’t the decor or contents that was a big problem, but the owner’s attitude and behaviour.
Shocking reviews
The online reviews were shocking. Countless one star write ups about how the owner and staff were rude, obnoxious and “crazy” – and over one main issue:
Toilets.
Let me explain. Reading through the various reviews, it seemed that the lady who ran the joint was angry about people visiting the garden centre just to use the toilets, without purchasing anything.
Potential customers felt unwelcome, stalked and patronised when inside because they had used the toilets before browsing or stopping in the cafe. So much so that they instantly left, or in some cases were asked to leave by the staff.
What made the negativity online even worse was that the owner replied to many of the comments in an extremely abrupt and defensive manner, which only added to the already bad reputation.
Owner outrage
Her comments made it clear that she was outraged that passers by (who had often been travelling some distance due to its location) often “used the toilet for free” and “had no intention of making a purchase”.
There were even extremely derogatory comments made by her about personal attributes of the potential customers, including petty name calling and fingerpointing.
Based on this, there was no way I was going to take my family into this environment. And I’m sure many other readers would have felt the same.
Later, I pondered about this. It was bugging me that using the toilets was actually a huge opportunity for this owner to get potential customers through the door.
Rather than victimising anyone that dared to run in and use the lav first, the owner could have used this as an advantage to attract punters in and make some serious cash.
A missed opportunity
With my business head on, I made some notes there and then:
- “Stop here to relieve and refuel – use our loo then stop for a cuppa and cake in our cafe” sign outside
- Put a “Spend a Penny” donation box outside the loo, encouraging non-paying people to donate to keep the toilets clean
- Put up signs inside saying “Our toilets aren’t the only great things we have here…why not spend some time browsing our shelves, or stop for a bite to eat, to enjoy everything else we have to offer?”
- Offer some sort of rewards programme for purchases, that includes a toilet pass for a customer’s first purchase!
Rather than making potential customers feel awkward, these ideas would help to highlight that it’s quite rude to just use this beautiful shop and eatery as a public toilet, and would also encourage people to buy something in a fun and “tongue in cheek” kind of way.
Golden ticket
The toilet is actually the golden ticket for the owner to make some serious cash. But instead she is gatekeeping it and as a result scaring people away.
Should I send the owner these recommendations? Contact me to let me know what you think.
#entrepreneurship #founder #business #opportunity #sales #reputation #education #empowerment #success #mindset #brand
