Guernsey Press

Busy stage one opening for island’s food outlets

RESTAURANTS, cafes and takeaways are grateful to see customers again with staff happy to get back into work.

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Franco Bianco works at Rosso, one of the many takeaways that has opened in stage one of the exit from the second lockdown. (Picture by Sophie Rabey, 29270338)

After closing for a month premises have been cleaned and prepared to take orders for distant collections and deliveries.

‘It has been extremely good to be able to reopen for takeaways, both mentally and physically,’ said Vuong Pham, Cobo Tea Rooms manager.

‘People have been very happy and so are we. It’s been busy.’

Reopening now has taken some adjusting to regulations but has been going well so far.

‘We appreciate the understanding from the customers’ perspective that in this situation we are all trying our best.

‘The weather has definitely been with us too – we’ve had a few customers trying to knock on our door but we’ve had to say they cannot come in, it’s still possible to order but you have to call and we’ll put our product outside. We have a bit of a laugh together.’

Rosso reopened on Monday for outdoor collections and phone payments and yesterday its bookings were full.

‘Everything went OK, we are happy,’ said manager Alex Clampnza.

‘It has gone absolutely fine so far and our customers have been coming for their collections downstairs wearing masks and gloves. It is a big effort from the community.

‘We were perfect all summer and Christmas which was just incredible.’

After having to close on Monday from flooding and a broken cooker, Ephgrave Store – The Green Hut reopened yesterday.

Frances Winterburn, owner, said: ‘It’s been nice and steady, it’s good to get back into it. We’re looking forward to seeing all our customers, old and new.’

Gusto reopened on Monday, and owner Sabino Rega said: ‘It’s good just to go in and do something, and to get back to normal doing three to four hours at lunch and three-four hours in the evening.’

After closing for one month, deep-cleaning the restaurant from top to bottom was needed.

‘Hopefully we will move very soon into the next phase. It is getting better – even today [Tuesday] with no new cases is a great sign. From the previous lockdown until now it has been fantastic. I think again we will be in a very good way in Guernsey.’