Hospitality workers miss craft, community
MARKET Kitchen owner Alison Lambert was relieved to have the chance to get back into her George St premises on Thursday as she prepared the store to open under Alert Level 3.
‘‘It’s really messy to be honest. There’s quite a lot to do. I’m starting from scratch completely. I’m just going to play it day by day, week by week.’’
The store would offer contactless payments for takeaway coffees and basics such as scones.
‘‘I’m going to do little lunch boxes that are easy to prepare but really nutritious,’’ she said.
‘‘Also, I’ll be doing takeaway precooked homemade evening meals. Trying anything actually, who knows? You just don’t know, but you’ve got to do it.’’
There would be a table blocking the front door so there was no contact with customers.
‘‘It’s really crazy because our industry’s about contact. It’s a whole different ball game actually. But that’s what we’re about, got to adjust.’’
She said being in lockdown meant a certain emptiness for people involved in hospitality.
‘‘When you’re not doing what you love, which is cooking and serving customers, because we have so many regulars you really feel like a big piece of you is missing.’’
Seeing staff — who were like family to her — would also be a great relief.
‘‘You work with them dayin, dayout under all sorts of crazy pressure and it’s just going to be nice to feel like the business is coming alive again.’’
She said the wage subsidy had been a lifesaver — but there were still costs.
‘‘We’ve still got electricity to pay, all those things . . . eftpos, you still have all these things people still want money for.
‘‘It’s been really, really stressful. For a few weeks you could pretend it wasn’t happening.’’