Thank you for the incredible response to Contini Cooks. We were only open for two hours and we were delighted with the number of orders we received. Contini Cooks will be back when we are back.
The Prime Ministers instructions to close all restaurants by 9pm on 20th March guided rather than forced our hand to stop our click & collect service.
The health and wellbeing of our team and all our families must take priority.
The Chancellor’s announcement to pay up to 80% of salaries was a lifeline for our industry. While we are awaiting the details it has opened the door to a very different future for our sector.
Fortunately our payroll cut off is the 20th of each month so the outcome for our team and our business was almost the opposite of what it could have been. We have been able to keep all our team on the payroll. Not only is this a cultural benefit for all of us it means commercially we will be able to respond when we are given permission to re open.
The next question for all of us is what will the future look like and how can we plan for this?
How do you solve a problem when you don’t know what the question is?
For now let’s all just keep well and keep safe. Our duty as a community is to stay at home to stop the virus spreading further and faster than the NHS can manage.
Use this time as a gift to reconnect with the people you love, even if it may be only virtual. I’ve never had more than two weeks with my children in the last 16 years! Let’s make happy memories and cherish these moments. Routine is important, health eating, exercise, set a weekly goal, get some fresh air (keeping the two meter rule in mind). Let’s choose, if we can, to come out of this a better person. The couch, the chocolate and the cork should be managed in moderation. Make good choices.
God bless everyone in our NHS and Emergency services. Thank you for working tirelessly to keep us and those we love alive.
Thank you to both our governments in Westminster and Holyrood. You’ve listened. Thank you to all the industry bodies who have been lobbying and championing for our people. This has been a good start to a very uncertain future.
