Pubs and restaurants all over the UK are coming up with innovative ways to provide food and booze to people in self-isolation during the coronavirus crisis.
The government announced yesterday that food venues will be able to become takeaway and delivery services to cope with the financial strain of the pandemic.
And several outlets are already taking advantage, coming up with novel new ideas to cater to their customers.
One wine bar in southeast London has launched a ‘milk round’, in which they’ll deliver wine to locals by the case twice a week – with free delivery.
Tom Wykes, who imports wine for 161 Food and Drink in Sydenham, said: ‘In the light of coronavirus and the government decisions to advise people not to attend restaurants – but obviously not to order them to close, which makes insurance tough – we have come up with unique and adaptable ways to switch the business in different directions.
161 Food and Drink in Sydenham, south east London as launched a ‘milk round’, in which they’ll deliver wine to locals by the case twice a week – with free delivery
‘We have a large customer base around southeast London, so the idea was to create a kind of home delivery, isolation service.
‘We’re calling it a milk round, in the sense that we’re going to be dropping the wines to your door – it’ll just be in a car, but calling it a milk float has a ring to it.
‘We have had a tremendous amount of support. Yesterday was the day we launched, and I’m inundated with orders today of people really interested and really liking the idea.
‘It’s been a really positive response from the locals, which we knew anyway because southeast London’s community vibe and spirit has been really good.
‘We’re doing discounts. If you buy six bottles you get a ten per cent discount, and if you buy twelve bottles you get a 15 per cent discount – trying to encourage people to get in bigger orders to last longer.
‘I’ve got an order here which has got some magnums in, I’d definitely want to be trying to self-isolate with those guys over the weekend.
‘There’s been a lot of cases of six going out, and you can also order just one bottle if you want – as long as you live in southeast London.
‘If you’re a regular we are happy to accommodate as far as possible. Just got to try and make some money in this climate, which is crazy.’
Tom Wykes, who imports wine for 161 Food and Drink revealed the bar’s new policy amid the coronavirus
The Pembury Tavern in Hackney, which is owned and operated by craft beer brewer Five Points, is throwing its weight behind takeaways – for both its food menu and cases of beer.
Ed Mason, the founder of Five Points who runs the pub, said: ‘We are a traditional full-service pub, as well as being the taproom for Five Points.
‘We have a pizza menu, and basically we have taken this quite complex decision following the government advice over whether to keep trading or not.
‘Clearly we feel that we have a responsibility to our employees, to our staff, to our regulars, to our investors – and we are doing everything we can to come up with a business model to keep the business going and keep staff employed.
‘So we have taken the decision to try and pivot quickly to a model where we focus on takeaway for now, so we are keeping our existing opening hours – but with a focus on takeaway.
‘We are making our full pizza menu available seven days a week for takeaway and collection, and we are also stockpiling cases of beer and selling them at a discounted rate for takeaway as well.
‘Obviously we don’t have a reputation for takeaway, and we literally started yesterday, so it’s very earl days.
‘But it’s just an example of a way that a business can try to transition to a sustainable model in what is a really uncertain time.
‘I think we had 25 takeaway pizzas last night, which considering it was the first day we found relatively encouraging for a Tuesday night.
He said: ‘It’s been a really positive response from the locals, which we knew anyway because southeast London’s community vibe and spirit has been really good’
‘We are currently exploring how to go about a delivery service and how we might do that.
‘Something we’re looking at, for example, is whether we can reallocate delivery drivers from our brewery to the delivery service for the pub.
‘We’re 24 hours in, but we sold a few cases of beer last night and we’re going to see what today brings.
‘If the government does order a final shutdown of pubs and restaurants we are hoping that a takeaway and delivery model could help keep the staff employed and keep revenue coming in.
‘It’s not going to necessarily replace our current business model overnight, but every little bit helps at the moment.’
Clerkenwell restaurant Quality Chop House – and its sister wine bar Quality Wines – will also be pivoting to takeaways.
Shaun Searley, executive chef at the restaurant, said: ‘It’s an organic process currently, our places are completely unaccustomed to doing deliveries.
‘A lot of restaurants are quite au fait with Deliveroo, but we’re not. We’re a restaurant and a wine bar through and through.
‘But we’ve got a team of people and a fridge full of ingredients, and just by nature of what we do – which is to have minimal waste – we had to think about how we’re going to use what we have.
‘One option was to see what we could do to get food into people’s homes that they would otherwise not be able to come and get themselves.
‘First and foremost, with the deli and food shop that we have, we have to get our produce out and into people’s houses.
‘If you’re self-isolating and worried about going out, we’re here. It’s a delivery or pick-up service. It’s early days, we’re officially starting it tomorrow, so we’ll see what happens.
‘We’re not using Deliveroo, we’re doing it on our own – we’re still finalising the logistics.
‘We focus on quite high-end ingredients, so our margins are pretty tight as it is. If you add a 35% commission, or whatever it is, is it worth using Deliveroo?
‘Doing it ourselves we get to offer that level of service that we want to people’s doors.
‘We’re calling it a menu of both food and wine, because we’ll be changing it just as frequently as we were before to get a sense that it’s fresh and made to order.
‘It varies, so you’re not going to be stuck at home eating fried rice with sweet chilli sauce for the next however long.
‘Not all our stuff is obviously transferrable to a takeaway, so of course there are some new dishes being created.
Pubs and restaurants in the UK are taking advantage of the government’s decision to allow outlets to home deliver during the coronavirus crisis. The Big Society in Oxford (pictured) is one of them
‘But we want people to replicate our mince on toast, we’re sending the delicious beef ragu that we make out with some already-fried dripping toast with instructions on how to warm it up.
‘We have a butcher’s shop, so we’re also suggesting meals that you can create from the fresh ingredients that we have – be it a ribeye or a couple of pork chops.’
Owner of The Bruce Arms, Phillip Boyling, 39, said: ‘We always had the intention of a pizza delivery service.
‘We always made homemade pizzas and had boxes in stock.
‘Given what’s happening we’ve had to think of different ways to support the business and the community. No one’s told us we’ve to close.
‘We’re looking to bring some much needed income to the business and support the areas ageing population – it’s providing them with a service.’
Phillip is also hoping to offer his customers beer, cider and wine – but only with food orders.
He isn’t charging for delivery and is offering customers ten per cent off the total of their order.
Phillip said: ‘We’re a pub who’ve an off sales license. Many people we serve in the community are regulars and come in for a pint. It’s not just alcohol. If you’re ordering food you can order in ale as well.
‘We’re able to get cask ales into cartons and deliver them with food. We’re not charging for delivery and offering a ten per cent off the total bill.
‘We hope it’s a service people will use and we’ve had a lot of great feedback on it.
‘Nobody eats out every day of the week but it could be difficult if people can’t get out and get the supplies they need.’
The Marksman Pub in Hackney, east London has told customers it will set-up a takeaway menu, despite being closed because of the coronavirus.
The pub posted on its Instagram account: ‘While we adjust to this new reality, we will look to create a new takeaway offer that will include our pies, buns, wines, beers, and much more, to enjoy from the comfort of your own homes.’
Outside of the capital, The Big Society is one of several pubs in Oxford offering home delivery.
The Dog and Gun Inn, a family owned Cumbrian Pub in Penrith, have also set up a takeaway menu offering mains, sides, puddings and drinks.
The Bruce Arms in Limekilns, Fife, Scotland is home delivering bottled beer, cider, wine and soft drinks, as well as bar meals, including homemade pizza, with immediate effect.
The Major Rammy in Ramsbottom, Great Manchester has even pledged to deliver Sunday lunch to customers.
A tweet from the pub read: ‘This Sunday if you’re worried about coming to the pub for your Sunday Lunch we will bring Sunday lunch to you.’
Restaurants all over the country are also taking advantage of the new policy.
In London, the Cheese Bar announced on social media that it would be dropping off cheese and wine for customers forced to self-isolate.
Restaurant Trullo has also created a take-home menu, which it says is designed for customers to reheat at home.
A string of other restaurants in the capital, including popular chain Bao, have announced similar measures.
Outside of the capital, Indian restaurant MemSaab in Nottingham is offering to drop off curries to customers during the pandemic.
Communities Secretary Rt Hon Robert Jenrick MP said: ‘We are committed to doing everything we can to tackle the pandemic and support people, businesses and communities through this difficult time.
‘These changes will provide vital flexibility to pubs and restaurants and will ensure people are able to safely stay at home while still supporting some of the great local businesses across this country.’
The government confirmed the relaxations to planning rules will be put in place as soon as possible to provide reassurance to businesses and enable them to start providing takeaways to people quickly.
It is hoped the move will ease fears as the UK struggles to tackle coronavirus panic.
Panic buying across the country is intensifying today as supermarkets under mounting pressure are taking drastic rationing action in a bid to deal with the unprecedented demand for goods.
Panic-buying has worsened despite weekend appeals for calm from supermarket bosses and politicians.
Britain’s coronavirus death toll has today risen to 104 after the number of new daily fatalities doubled in the space of just 24 hours.
Officials today announced 33 more deaths from the life-threatening infection in the UK – up from 16 yesterday and 20 on Monday.
The number of confirmed UK cases today rose to 2,626, up from 1,950 yesterday, amid a dramatic worsening of the pandemic. Westminster Public Mortuary by the Houses of Parliament can currently store 102 corpses and is likely to see its capacity almost doubled.