‘Nice’ to be back at work
WHEN Julie Feaver headed back to work on Tuesday, it was with a little trepidation.
Under Covid19 Alert Level 3, it was a whole new way of operating her business, Total Food Equipment, and she wondered if there would be any customers.
Those fears were quickly allayed as she acknowledged how nice it was to be back and to have some routine, even if it was through contactless sales and deliveries.
‘‘It’s fine but a shop like ours, and with our loyal customers, people want to get back in here. They really want to get into the store and we want them. It’s really quite lonely and lacking personality without our customers,’’ she said.
‘‘It’s working OK. It’s not ideal but it’s giving us a bit of cashflow to get through this difficult time.’’
In November last year, Mrs Feaver and her husband Kent marked 15 years of owning their business, which they operated from the retail strip in Cumberland St.
The location, at the time, attracted a lot of naysayers ‘‘because it was different’’, but she knew from the beginning that it was the right decision.
The business had never deviated from kitchenware and Mrs Feaver’s own passion was for everything to do with cooking, baking and kitchens.
She believed that had also grown into a passion for many others, particularly during the lockdown, and she hoped people had enjoyed spending more time in the kitchen and realised cooking and baking did not need to be onerous tasks.
Mrs Feaver wanted to see Dunedin thrive again and she urged the public to support local businesses.
‘‘I really don’t want to see anybody fail through this time,’’ she said.
Total Food Equipment had both a retail and a commercial side; the impact of the lockdown on the cafes, restaurants and bars it supplied would likely have a flowon effect.
But people were ‘‘social beasts’’ and she hoped the hospitality sector would come back strongly.
While Level 2 would still not be ‘‘business as usual’’, she was looking forward to feeling vibrancy and fun and sharing the business with people again.
Money was going to be tight for a lot of people and she believed many would go ‘‘back to basics’’ and cook at home.
That would save them money and they might also enjoy it — and be healthier for it, she said.