Welcome back – a moment of joy!

The announcement of the JobKeeper Scheme was one of the best feelings we have experienced as a business. Whilst still watching on TV the Prime Minister and Treasurer’s announcement of this scheme, and before it had even ended, our founder, Eric, was on the phone to our accountant to get more information how this works.

Within 1 hour, phone calls were made to the 9 staff members who were eligible for the JobKeeper scheme, and they were informed that their employment was reinstated immediately. The business was given a heartbeat again.

For those that are unaware of this scheme; in short the government will fund $1,500 a fortnight for each employee of organisations who have been hit hard by COVID (like us). The employee however must be an Australian or NZ citizen, or permanent resident.

It was a bittersweet moment, as a large portion of our team are international students, studying and working in Australia to create a better life for themselves. They remain out of work, will receive no government support and unlikely to be able to continue paying their study fees. Also Aussie casual staff with less than 12 months employment with us were also not eligible.

This in itself has given the remaining team extra motivation to ensure we work on ways to re-grow the business and adapt to the new business landscape. We are committed to bringing back each of our staff back– one by one.

For the team that we have been able to bring back, some have now adapted into new roles and learnings to help bring the brand back to life. Some examples:

  • Matt – previously he was our sales rep for corporate catering. He selflessly volunteered to become our delivery driver for home deliveries, and is now learning about Google strategies to drive sales for our e-commerce online business.
  • Hannah – previously handled in-store marketing and is now learning all about e-commerce, working with web developers, creating online blogs, and creating our new and improved training manuals for when our stores re-open.
  • Mary – previously was customer service for our corporate catering clients, and is now managing all our social media content, photography and online promotions.
  • Bonny – previously a barista in store, and has now pivoted to the kitchen to help with our home delivery meals, and being a delivery driver.
  • Anne – previously our regional manager of 4 stores; now doing anything and everything in the 1 remaining store to keep it open.

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