Surviving the lockdowns, all three of them…

Lockdown 3.0 we really hope is the last! We want our buzzing cafés back, full of you lovely lot!

Lockdown 1.0 feels like a lifetime ago...we closed our doors (only for a few days!) so we could find our feet with a new way of operating. Once we hatched a plan, I became “egg lady!”....we had a small list of items that customers ordered for delivery. It was lovely to drop off essentials of milk, eggs and flour (remember when flour was like gold dust?!) to our loyal customers every day and catch up with them on their own doorsteps - from a distance, of course.

We then offered collections and the excitement from our customers, who were coming to pick up a “proper coffee” along with their essentials, was almost too much!

Our next adaptation was to become a “take out only” venue.....giving our regulars their “Salt fix” (some normality to us too!). We had an exciting addition to offer ...LICK, our new soft serve ice cream machine! Very popular amongst the kids (well....and adults too!)

Summer for us at Salt was pretty much “normal”. We saw our returning customers but also a lot of new faces who had discovered us on their lockdown walks and we could now show them what we were really about....our sunny seaside café was back to being busy and we had our buzz back!

Just as summer was coming to an end, the hospitality industry was hit with an announcement that all establishments must become “table service only”. We had just 24 hours to bring a totally new system in and a brand new way of working (we had to try a few new systems - really isn’t as easy as we thought it would be!)

After a few (very) trying days....our team nailed table service and our service was streamlined for us and our customers.

Lockdown 2.0 saw a return to being take out only again (just as we were adjusting to new ways of working....)

We felt this lockdown was a lot different, there were a lot of customers still out and about (probably as they knew it was only a 4 week lock down) we had a very busy couple of weeks as we were one of the only cafés locally that were remaining open and providing (much needed) coffee!

We opened again as a “sit in” café in the run up to Christmas. We had a whole lot more restrictions to follow but we were used to it by then! We had The Shop open, selling gorgeous bits that you could buy as Christmas presents (or for yourself?!) and we had some amazing Christmas cocktails on the menu (there’s going to be more for the summer....watch this space!)

So here we are, in lockdown 3.0. We are operating as a take away (again). We have had some quiet days which have been hard and we’ve had some great days which bring memories of “normal” back. We are hanging on for 12th April where we can open our outside seating back up to welcome you guys back and we cannot wait!!!

The past 12 months have been a challenge for everyone and it is really important that we say a huge thank you to all of you who have supported us by coming back time and time again.

Look forward to seeing you (sat outside on our benches!) on the 12th April!Or in the weeks leading up to it when you come by for a take out!

Ellie x