'Few people' redeem bakery's pay-it-forward tokens

A baffled bakery owner has said she has lots of free food up for grabs via a "pay-it-forward" scheme but hardly any takers.

Becky's Bakery in Blackburn was inspired to introduce the giveaway after the family of a regular customer, who died, gave staff £100 to thank those who had been kind to him with free food.

After that money ran out, owner Becky Hobkirk said she wanted to extend it to all customers, who can now pay extra to post a token to a board which can be redeemed at the counter.

However, she said she had "tried all sorts - social media and posters - yet we still have unclaimed food".

On BBC Radio Lancashire, Becky said: "One man even rang and said could he come in and take something for a homeless person but he never came in."

"Anyone can come and take something off the board - I don't know why some people don't."

Previously they picked a customer a day to receive a free item, from a bacon sandwich to a cake.

Becky's mum, Nicky, who also works at the shop, said the family of a regular customer called Fred, who did not live locally, wanted to thank people for the way they had supported him,

"They left £100 behind the counter and said, anybody, like the carer who looked after him, if they come in, we want to give food back to them," she said.

"So, we did that on behalf of Fred and it worked really well. Everyone loved it.

"Anyone who'd come in, we'd say, oh, you remember Fred? Yeah, this is on Fred. And that's when Becky said, 'you know what? We could set this to another level and why don't we do that for everybody?'"

That is why she thought of doing the pay-it-forward scheme.

But despite marketing the duo said they were surprised by how few people were taking up the offer.

Becky said: "We're just always looking to give back to the community and our customers that we have coming in.

"If it wasn't for them we wouldn't be here."

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