Bideford tourist attraction strives for excellence

THE BIG Sheep at Bideford has been chosen to be one of the first tourism businesses in the South West to pioneer the Business Excellence Model. Promoted and funded by the South West Rural Development Agency and organised through the Tourism Skills Networ

THE BIG Sheep at Bideford has been chosen to be one of the first tourism businesses in the South West to pioneer the Business Excellence Model.

Promoted and funded by the South West Rural Development Agency and organised through the Tourism Skills Network ,it aims to help some of the leading tourism businesses to even greater levels of performance.

This European wide standard is the most widely used Excellence model and is recognised as one of the highest challenges in business.

"The BIG Sheep has been an "Investor in People" award winning business for the past 12 years," said Rick Turner owner of The BIG Sheep, "and having just had our fifth successful assessment, I was looking for a new challenge for me and the superb team who run The BIG Sheep.

"We aim to be the leader in our field, the first to use technology to improve the customer experience and run a continuous improvement programs with training and development for the team and with new attractions."

The BIG Sheep celebrated 22 years in business this year and continues to grow and develop despite the recession. The business is one of those selected by Business Link to provide development advice and it was through this that the opportunity to be a part of the Business Excellence program was found.