Every day bring with it new challenges. With any new restaurant the bills looming over your head are always a worry and staying on top of them juggling the many different costs is always difficult. In this new landscape the worry of equipment suddenly breaking down or not making enough money to cover the bills in a week has increased 10 fold. We are lucky enough to have a landlord who is assisting us as best they can through this time, but the ongoing costs of running a restaurant including everything from rubbish removal to electricity do not stop. The last few days have been filled with constant calls to various companies asking to suspend our services and minimise our overheads without sacrificing our food safety or quality, something that has always been important to us but is now so much more important to the customer.
Every day I wake up to another email reminder of a new bill that needs paying or an old one that is coming up to its due date, making it harder and harder to maintain a positive outlook. In the past this was never a worry, as I always said to my staff as long as each month is better than the last then we have nothing to worry about. March will be close to our worst month ever, and I fear things will only continue to decline. Our many different avenues that we are taking the restaurant down to make money are still being set up, and how well they will work is still unknown at this time. I am happy to say at least that after hours of work our online ordering system is almost ready to go, sure there will be a few kinks to iron out when we release it tomorrow, but that is the reality of doing this for yourself when you cannot afford to bring in a professional.
In addition to the hours of work put into launching our new systems it is the day to day running of the restaurant that is taking its toll. Without the customers to make every day different and their uncanny ability to turn a bad day into a good one with a simple smile or kind word it is much harder to find motivation to justify staying open. The things that keep me going at the moment are the small level of support we have received, the knowledge that I would not only be letting myself down but also my staff, and most importantly the drive to finish what I started months ago and fulfill the vision that I have always had for this restaurant.
Again I sincerely hope that once we do release our many new ideas at least some people will show their support for the restaurant and what we wish to create with it and that within a couple of weeks I can afford to save a few of the staffs jobs, or if we do go into full lockdown that I can at least save the two who i have left.
As a usually very closed off person I find writing in this blog a tedious task, but will make sure i continue for the sake of the restaurant and staff and my promise that I will do everything within my power to keep us running. Hopefully some people find the 3 minutes a day of reading will at least help keep them entertained while they are locked at home.
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