Cafe owner on the level about Covid
In March, Milk Crate faced its toughest challenge – Wellington’s first positive case of Covid-19 had visited and the popular cafe was forced to close its doors.
Eight months later co-owner Morgan West recalls how he initially felt ‘‘shock, then disbelief’’ after Australian dance teacher Andre Reynaud learnt he had tested positive while having breakfast with his son at the cafe.
‘‘Our contact with Wellington Public Health was awesome ... and they gave us good instructions,’’ he said.
‘‘It became about trying to communicate with our customers about what had happened and what we were going to do.’’
West and his team knew where Reynaud and his son had sat and who had been in contact with them.
At that point in the pandemic there was not a strict guideline of what to do, ‘‘so we were told to thoroughly sanitise everything’’.
‘‘It was about completely wiping down all the surfaces. [The cleaning] took an afternoon and evening but we were closed for a whole week anyway, so we had lots of time to get it sorted,’’ he said.
But Milk Crate’s Covid troubles were not over. The day the cafe reopened, March 23, coincided with Prime Minister
Jacinda Ardern’s announcement that the country would move into alert level 3 and later 4.
‘‘We were open for about half a day and then we closed again,’’ West said.
When the country returned to level 3, Milk Crate offered online orders and takeaways through a window. ‘‘It was lovely,’’ West said. And the process of cleaning, closing and reopening became easier over time.
‘‘Once we got to level 2 and we were able to have people back in this space, it started to feel a bit more normal again.’’
Customers were more comfortable with the routines and precautions. ‘‘We knew what was expected of us and what we needed to do to keep people safe.’’
Milk Crate can now operate efficiently at all alert levels.
‘‘It basically gave us the template for how to communicate
when something goes wrong,’’ West said. ‘‘We have to be ready to go to level 2 or 3 at any point. We know we can do that and we know what works for us.’’
Milk Crate was now just as busy as it was in pre-Covid times.
The cafe was one of three Wellington eateries to undergo deepcleaning after a positive Covid-19 case. The others were The Ramen Shop, on August 5, and Little Penang, on November 12.