UPDATE 23rd MARCH
We are currently closed. Thank you to all you beautiful people. We will miss you but we will be back.
We had an incredible response to our click & collect service Contini Cooks. We’re sorry if you weren’t able to order however the Prime Minister’s instructions to close all restaurants by 9pm on 20th March guided rather than forced our hand to stop.
The health and well-being of our team and all our families must take priority.
Over the next weeks while we are in isolation keep well, keep safe and keep active. Set a routine, exercise, read and eat as healthily as you can. We’ll be posting a daily recipe so keep following.
At Casa Contini we’re going to try and limit the couch, the chocolate and the cork for the first few weeks anyway. Wish us luck as we wish you all happiness and peace over this uncertain journey.
Let’s all look forward to seeing each other very soon.
Most importantly thank you to all the incredible people who work in the NHS and our emergency service. You are the best in the world.
Sending a virtual hug to you all.
If you know of anyone locally who may need some help. Food or a chat please get in touch through Our events@contini.com email or continibites on Twitter. We will help any way we can.
events@contini.com will be checked once a week if you need to get in touch. Please note all gift vouchers will be valid for 6 months from the date of reopening.
With all our best wishes from Victor, Carina and all our team
UPDATE 17TH MARCH 2020
We are receiving a lot of phone calls asking if we are still open and until we areforced to stop tradingand told how we will be helped to secure the future of our business, we will remain open.
We have a commitment to keep as many of our team in employment as possible however the dramatic fall in reservations and events leave us with some very hard decisions.
We have reduced the numbers of tables guests can sit at to keep you as safe as we can and have marked these with a little bit of Contini sunshine.
How you can help
Buy a take away coffee or bacon roll from Contini George Street – call ahead 0131 225 1550 option 1 giving us 30 mins notice
Thank you, your support will help us more than we can express at this stage.
Team Contini
Posted 6th March 2020
Dear Lovely friends,
We find ourselves in a challenging and very unexpected and uncertain situation. Who would have thought I’d enjoy talking about Brexit rather than Coronavirus. But we are where we are and, most importantly, we are all in this together. We are all responsible for the health of ourselves, our families and our wider community. To reassure our customers regarding our practices of prevention of CORONAVIRUS we’d like to share this short update to reassure you that we are using all best practice to keep our team and you safe.
Yesterday we had our Visit Scotland Taste Our Best inspection at The Scottish Cafe. We never know when or who will be assessing us. Delighted we passed yet again but the assessor was so impressed with Cari’s update on Coronavirus that we’d shared with the team that he suggested we share with you.
Over the past week we have provided information for our team about the best ways of preventing the spread of Coronavirus. We have made a business commitment to ensure we are doing everything we can to reduce risk whilst continuing to offer excellent service to all our lovely customers. Ensuring you feel relaxed, safe and comfortable in our venues. Life goes on and we’re here to serve you delicious food with a smile a Victor welcome and of course a Carlo cuddle (a virtual hug to thank you for choosing to support an independent family business).
Prevention
Our team have been advised they must wash their hands thoroughly using soap for 20 – 30 seconds then rinse with hot water. We’ve asked the team not to leave the tap running during this period to help save water. We recommend this is done at the start and end of the shift, before and after eating and regularly throughout the day, ideally every 45-60 minutes, in addition when handling money, cards or serving/clearing tables.
We have alcohol sanitisers, (we have ordered more with an estimated delivery date of 20 March!) in all our Restaurants for guests to use. These are located at the till points.
All of our kitchens and back of house areas have separate sanitiser dispensers for our team to use alongside soap and water.
Our team follows the NHS guidelines for sneezing into a tissue and then disposing of it immediately, followed by thoroughly washing their hands however NHS guidance is that if you do not have a tissue available use your sleeve as a barrier and wash your hands.
We are taking extra measures with cleaning and our team is ensuring tables, Tills, PDQ machines, computers, phones and all handles in the buildings are sanitised regularly with antibacterial wipes. Normally we would not use these but in the circumstances we feel it is an acceptable environmental choice.
We will no longer use linen napkins due to the contamination risk. We are now using paper napkins in all venues until further notice.
We have recommended that the team do not shake hands with customers or other team members however appreciate this may be hard to do. Our preference is for you to offer an Elbow Bump or my personal favourite, a Toe Tap, to show appreciation!
We continue to update communications on our internal training portal and have posters in all our restaurants with visuals and websites references for more information of preventing the spread of this virus.
We will continue to update the information we are sharing with our team, offering advice for travel plans, and the latest updates from the Foreign Office.
We have advised our team that should they experience any symptoms they must self-isolate and not return to work until signed well enough to do so by a Doctor or Healthcare professional.
We are confident we are doing everything we can to help reduce the risk. We take our Health, Safety and Hygiene very seriously and our team has always followed these practices however for this scenario we are being more cautious and more thorough.
You will be pleased to know we are not experiencing any food or drink shortages at this stage. If this changes we will update our menus accordingly.
We need your help too. Any suggestions of how we can support any member of our wider Contini family please share your thoughts with us.
Wishing you and your family and friends all health.
And remember we’re all in this together. Keep smiling. This will pass if we are all attentive and vigilant. Let’s get on with life as best as possible.
Carina
Following our usual quest of being as sustainable as possible – here’s our top tips…
TOP SUSTAINABLE TIP on Water usage
Lather your hands for 20 seconds WITHOUT the taps on whilst singing “BRING ME SUNSHINE”. Promise to make you smile!
TOP BEAUTY TIP on Moisturising
As a cook who already washes her hands many many times a day can I share Aveeno. It’s an oat based moisturiser available on the high street that really works for me. In all our restrooms we have Scottish Soap Co Sea Buckthorn moisturiser too.
