Tough times, lucky breaks and paying it forward… How Taster is adapting to coronavirus

With so many people confined to their homes (myself and every office-based team member at Taster included), you’d be forgiven for thinking that Taster’s one of the few companies that’s getting through this pandemic trouble-free. After all, we run delivery-only kitchens and right now we have — very literally — a captive audience.

But while demand has increased, that’s not the whole story. It’s a tougher time for our business than ever.

Everyone working in Taster’s kitchens across Paris, London, Brighton, Madrid and Dubai are doing an amazing job at an incredibly difficult time. Our teams are stretched, as some of their colleagues — understandably — choose to stay home and not put themselves and their households at risk. Those who are braving the commute are faced with greatly reduced public transport, and constant supply chain disruption means our Operations teams are working around the clock to find new suppliers for usually plentiful ingredients which, all of a sudden, are near impossible to source. It’s like whack-a-mole.

We mustn’t lose sight of the fact that we are, for now, in the incredibly fortunate position of being allowed to keep all our kitchens open. I can only imagine what it’s like for the vast majority of those in the food service industry who’ve suddenly found themselves without work, through no fault of their own. It must be crushing. But there aren’t many professions which demand the resilience it takes to be a chef. In contrast to David Chang, I truly believe that, while it might look bleak now, this eclectic, inspiring industry will remodel itself and bounce back.

As long as Taster’s kitchens are able to stay open, we’re going to do our very best to pay it forward.

First and foremost, we need to look after our own, particularly those on the ‘front line’ in our kitchens and the riders collecting food for customers:

• We’re rewarding our kitchen teams with pay increases for their extraordinary commitment during this crisis. The amount varies by country, but it’s around 10%.
• In addition to the usual daily cleans, we are deep-cleaning and sterilising all our kitchens on a weekly basis, and providing sanitiser and protective wear to help keep our teams as safe as possible.

• We’ve adjusted staff shifts and reduced operating hours in some kitchens, to allow kitchen teams to get home at a reasonable time despite reduced public transport.
• All delivery platforms have now introduced no contact drop-off options by default — we’ve built collection racks at the dispatch zones in our kitchens for no contact pick-up as well.

We’re also doing what we can to help those who need it most right now — doctors, nurses and other carers and the vulnerable.

• In Paris, we’re providing daily drops of Taster meals for doctors, nurses and other carers at La Pitié-Salpatrière hospital.
• In London, we’re setting up a similar plan through the brilliant Meals for the NHS and hope to start providing food for NHS staff by next week.

We’re setting up a couple of other ways for Taster to do our bit, but I’m going to hold off on mentioning these until they’re confirmed as going ahead.

In the meantime, if you know any other ways Taster can help those who need it right now, let me know in the comments and I or a member of my team will be in touch.

Finally, we’re introducing a few ways to help keep people entertained at home:

• Recipe videos on our social channels, to let people have a go at recreating their favourite Taster dishes at home
• We’ve rebooted our loyalty programme, the Taster Tournament, which gives our regulars 3€/£3 off every 3 orders.
• We’ll be launching a podcast exploring how people keep loving food when they can’t leave home, with a variety of foodie guests. [We may still have a few guest spaces left — if you’re interested in being involved, please do get in touch!]

I want to share my support for all those in the food service industry who’ve suddenly found themselves out of work and stuck at home. I know how demoralising and stressful it is: I started another food business before Taster which didn’t make it, and the experience nearly broke me. But it didn’t, and in time I was stronger for it — you will get through this.

I couldn’t be more proud of the fantastic Taster team, especially those working in the kitchens right now. Keep doing what you’re doing — I’ll do my best to support you in any way I can. Stay strong.

Anton