PARTY IS OVER
Catering couple’s new business is shattered as all but two festive bookings are cancelled
A HUSBAND-AND-WIFE catering team have been devastated after seeing almost all their festive bookings cancelled in 48 hours.
Professional chef Nico Ewert gave up his job to launch catering company Culinarians this year with the support of wife Blythe.
After working hard to establish the business during the summer, they were delighted when clients booked them up for the whole of December.
Ready to cook for up to 150 people at a time, Nico even had to hire events staff to help them cope with demand.
They bought a huge quantity of stock, equipment and uniforms to prepare for their first Christmas. But the couple’s hopes crashed when people were advised to cancel Christmas parties this week.
Hoping the profits from Christmas would see them through the quieter months, Blythe claims they will have lost about £25,000 in revenue.
She said: “We’d had steady business through September and October, then we had a flurry of bookings for December.
“We’re a small, new company so we were as
fully booked as we could manage. Nico had done planning and supplier orders where he’d got meat and vegetables.
“We were doing some bigger events so got kitchen fridges and equipment. We even got uniforms made for our shift staff.
“Then last week when it came out that you should not risk a Christmas party,
Nico wasn’t off the phone the whole of the next day.
“We started to hear a few things on the Thursday with people asking what our policy was, then on Friday it was a cascade of cancellations.
“Within 48 hours we had lost all but two very small private events with just one household. Nico had already
bought most of the stock and even with some events had already started cooking for an event on the Sunday with some things already in to chill.”
Like many in the hospitality industry, the couple were left with perishable stock and shift staff who they could no longer offer work.
The family are now having to pay their mortgage out of savings. They have been unable to access any relief funding because the advice on postponing parties and social events is officially guidance, not law.
Blythe added: “We take small deposits from our clients but because this was no one’s fault, we’ve offered to hold them and let clients move the dates. However, that means at some point we’ll have to buy all the stock again so my husband can’t take a salary over winter to pay our bills.”
The cancelled events will leave dozens of other workers out of pocket, too.
Blythe added: “There is a huge ripple effect. It’s not just us, there are the people we’ve hired to work the events. We have to call up and tell them we can’t offer them any shifts.
“Then there’s the make-up artists, the event venues and the equipment hire companies we use for these events.
“Everyone is affected and there’s no support for anyone.
“We feel like the Scottish Government have made this ‘guidance’ then absolved themselves of responsibility.”