Adapting is the name of the game

Our hospitality businesses have been some of the hardest hit by the social distancing measures put in place to stop the spread of the coronavirus. Pubs and clubs have closed their doors, while restaurants and cafes are reinventing themselves as takeaway and home delivery services.

The team at Orange’s Groundstone Café have come up with a particularly innovative solution to these difficult times — weekly cooking classes streamed into people’s homes.

“I guess like everyone we basically had to hustle and come up with some ideas to try and keep our team employed and keep on going,” said café owner Katie Baddock.

“We came up with the idea so we could still connect with our customers and give them a little bit of an insight into things that they wouldn't ordinarily see, a bit behind the scenes and also still support our suppliers, especially our farmers and our other places like the Essential Ingredient for instance that have closed their doors for general trade but are still doing online sales.”

To take part in the classes, people can purchase a produce box, which include everything you need for the recipe prepared and portions by the Groundstone’s chefs. The classes are then streamed live online allowing participants to follow along and ask questions as they go.

“The produce box will have fresh, local ingredients and all the staple items that are needed for our cooking class, and it will get boxed up and either delivered to the door or some people are choosing to pick them up getting their coffee in the morning or on the way back home in the afternoon,” said Katie.

“We basically wanted to give people something to do at night, something to keep them sane, a bit of communication with us and probably a laugh as well and a new skill.”

It is all new for the kitchen team at the Groundstone, but Katie said all her staff have been pitching in to do what’s needed in this difficult time.

“They are adapting as much as we are,” said Katie. “Our team has been amazing. Anything I'm asking them to do, they are just saying yep we can do that.”