Restaurant boss hails freedom but ‘post-covid challenges lie ahead’
THERE was a mixture of delight and trepidation for Carol Wright as the go-ahead was given for Scotland to move towards so-called “freedom” on Monday, when most remaining Covid restrictions will be lifted.
As co-owner of Glasgow’s The Ubiquitous Chip, along with two other west end favourites – Stravaigin and the Hanoi Bike Shop – she is looking forward to being able to operate the venues with fewer restrictions, but says they still have challenges to face.
Ms Wright and her husband Colin Clydesdale, whose father Ronnie opened the Chip in 1971, have been through the most tumultuous period in the 50-year history of the restaurant, and have negotiated their way through the pandemic in a hospitality sector which has been massively impacted.
The past 16 months, with closures, reopenings and restrictions, has had a knock-on effect on their ability to recruit staff.
However, they have been lucky to find three rising female stars – Jen Hinds, Sarah Hay and Rebecca Ward – who have taken on chef de partie roles in the Ashton Lane venue.
Ms Wright said: “It will be great to welcome people back to our restaurant with fewer restrictions in place, but it won’t be without its issues.
“We have had to close our three venues for a couple of days in the past week due to staff shortages, and we are having to monitor what we are doing and when we are open.
“It is a bit of a double-edged sword. It is great that we are nearly getting back to normal but staff shortages were something we were seeing due to Brexit, and then Covid hit. There is a lack of people coming into the hospitality. Some European staff had left and with universities hit by Covid, we hadn’t had the same access to students to work through the summer, for example.
“Chefs were never 10 a penny before Covid, but this has just made it even harder.
“However, we have been able to recruit three female chefs in the Ubiquitous Chip kitchen, which is brilliant. I would like to see more women working in hospitality kitchens. I worked in the
Stravaigin kitchen for a year with another female and Colin, and I think it brings something different – calmer, dare I say it.”
Ms Wright says Covid has given the industry an opportunity to look at itself and what it can offer.
She added: “I think there are things we need to reassess in hospitality.
“Intense, noisy kitchens with long hours could be changing. There are opportunities for females to learn and develop, and kitchens are a great place to learn. “I think it needs to be viewed as a serious profession where you can progress. Our current head chef, Doug Lindsay, joined us at Stravaigin on a gap year as a kitchen porter and has worked his way up.”
Even at Level Zero, social distancing is in place and bar service is seated, so the longawaited freedom day will make it slightly easier to operate, but as it moves forward the restaurant group has adapted.
During periods of lockdown, staff became inventive and needed to find
creative outlets. The team at Stravaigin foraged locally and found an abundance of wild garlic which has been put to good use in recipes which have appeared on the menu in Gibson Street.
“We couldn’t have got through this without the staff and how well they have adapted,” added Ms Wright. “I think they felt locked up for a while when staff decided to forage and found wild garlic which has been put into kimchi, pesto and used in recipes on the menu.
“We also sat down and tried to work out where we wanted to position ourselves, and sustainability is very important. We have always been about using local produce and the provenance of our food.
“Our staff and our customers ask about where things have come from.
“However, we also looked at recycling, what products we used in cleaning, do we have paper menus?
“Would we go back to that when people can access it on their phone and you have to question whether there is even a need for a paper pad for orders when it can be done digitally.
“There is also the question of reducing food waste, and our staff have been great at making suggestions on that. I think these are all issues which might have been two to three years ahead of us, but because of Covid they have arisen much sooner.”
Earlier this year, the Ubiquitous Chip had been hoping to mark its 50th anniversary with an event, but with a degree of uncertainty about what restrictions could be reintroduced in the months ahead, Ms Wright says it is difficult to plan.
“Who would have thought we would have reached August without marking our 50th, but there is still a long way to go so maybe we will celebrate our 51st anniversary instead,” she added.