We've become key workers
JENNY THORNHILL
We are now a couple of months on from when our lives and habits were turned upside down by the coronavirus pandemic; we now have a new ‘norm’. We all seem to have settled into new ways of working, shopping and living. At the beginning, we spent a considerable amount of time playing catch-up, placing one order after another as shelves emptied in minutes. What we couldn’t source from one supplier was sought elsewhere. It was a constant juggling act performed pretty much solo by Tommy, with me in a supporting role. To begin with the products most in demand were store cupboard items like pasta, rice and tinned tomatoes. Then lentils were on everyone’s list; we have never ever before sold out of lentils, but we did in those early weeks! We had to place restrictions on many of these items during this time, and eggs, well, most calls were about eggs! Then flour and now it is yeast.
Fortunately, as a farm that produces a lot of what we sell, we are in a very fortunate position – our cows keep producing the best milk available anywhere, our chickens keep laying the very best eggs and it’s spring – the garden swings into gear right now with new crops appearing almost every week.
We had to make many changes, practically overnight, to the way we work and how customers shop. Only four customers are allowed in the shop at a time to maintain ‘social distancing’, a term never before heard and now one we hear constantly. At the counter our customers have to stand back behind the multicoloured line while we pack their bags (why multicoloured? Well it’s fun and easier to see but mainly because when we put out a request on the farm communication WhatsApp, Robin, our herdsman, turned up with three roles of tape - red, yellow and green, and rather than choose one colour we chose all three!)
Towels, tea towels, and dish cloths were all replaced with paper towels and hand sanitiser, spray sanitiser and sanitiser wipes have all made an appearance. On the one hand my hands have never been cleaner, but it’s costing me a fortune in hand cream!
The first month and a half were utterly exhausting for all the shop staff as we adapted to the new systems and the constant state of awareness required of us all. We had to change our time of closing from 6pm to 4pm to allow us time to restock, prepare for the next day and recover; it really was that exhausting. We have never been busier, but it has now settled into a steady weekly rhythm. Funnily enough, what was our busiest day, Saturday, is now our quietest day; perhaps because so many people are at home and able to shop during the week and so avoid the ‘busy’ day. Online orders are working extremely well and we feel our system is a good one, it’s certainly a personal one with Marvellous Mo doing the orders with support from others. Orders are collected non-contact from the coffee barn opposite the shop and a few are delivered, mostly by our lovely Rebecca (it gets her out of the office and thankfully she does have sat nav!) Most orders are done the same day or failing that, the next.
Although this has been, and still is, a very challenging time for us all there are also many positives. I am amazed and really grateful how my shop team has risen to the challenge and pulled together. Morale has been amazing and considering how much we have needed to adapt and change, we have all also had a lot of fun. Coffee consumption has leapt and thanks to some generous donations from our customers we bought ourselves a milk frother that allows us to pretend we are still drinking coffee from Nik’s horse box café. And to be perfectly honest a glass of wine in the evening is well and truly on my survival list!
With only four customers in the shop at a time, the shop can seem quieter and calmer than previously but there are few gaps in the day when there are fewer than four and the work behind the scenes has increased hugely. More ordering, more checking deliveries, more creating yet more space in storerooms and chillers, more restocking shelves, shopping for online orders – all these jobs have increased staffing needs so where we might previously have four or five staff each day we now have six, seven and, some days, eight. But we are grateful to be working and count ourselves lucky.
One of the things I have particularly enjoyed is the involvement of volunteers. We’ve needed someone on the door at all times managing the numbers of customers in the shop and that has mostly been done by volunteers. You’d think counting up to four at a time was easy but it’s not as simple as that. Whoever is on the door is also answering the phone, talking to people queueing, sanitising baskets and collapsing cardboard boxes that shop staff keep emptying. It’s not as simple as a one out, one in system, as a customer who looks like they are leaving may really only be taking their first box of shopping to the car, or that person walking out of the shop is not a customer but a member of shop or dairy staff. But I think I’d be right in saying that all those that have been doing door duty have really enjoyed it, helped of course by some pretty amazing weather and of course the coffee! We’ve so appreciated the help and the opportunity to get to know people better. We still need door helpers as some get back to work so if you’re interested please let us know by emailing info@plawhatchfarm.co.uk. We’ve been having two shifts per day 9am to 12.30 and 12.30 to 4pm.
There are times when there is no queue at all and other times when customers do have to wait to be allowed in, but this is inevitable as the advice is to shop less frequently this then means that each shop is bigger than normal. There is rarely a hold up at the till to pay and the lay out of the shop with enter and exit doors means there is a natural flow.
Customers only wanting milk and yoghurt can be served at the door without having to queue or even enter the shop at all.
I feel very fortunate to be here at Plaw Hatch, to be able to still work, to work with such a great team, to have such supportive and appreciative customers, to live in such a beautiful part of the country, to eat the very best of food and apart from venturing out to get fresh fish from Veasey’s, I’ve had no need to go anywhere else.
We are regularly posting on Instagram and Facebook so if you are unable to come in in person to shop, you can still follow the seasonal changes as they happen.
