At Locavore we are taking the implications of coronavirus very seriously and doing what we can to reduce the spread of the virus and keep our staff, customers and community safe while staying in business. To do this we are making a number of big and small changes across the enterprise including:

Events – We have cancelled our events programme for at least the next two weeks. Anyone with tickets to our events will get an email and be refunded ticket costs.

Cafes – Our cafes at Victoria Road and Renfrew Street have closed for sit in food but remain open for take away. Unfortunately we won’t be filling keep cups.

Shop – Our shop remains open as usual. We have hand sanitiser at the entrance, use this on arrival and before you use our loose foods area. More generally our cleaning and sanitising tasks have been increased significantly with high contact areas being cleaned and sanitised numerous times per day as a precaution. We have been busier than usual so if you want to avoid busy places we recommend visiting at our quieter times (pre 10am and after 7pm), particularly if you consider yourself more vulnerable. We are low or out of stock on a number of lines but this is only because of panic buying, not because there is a real shortage or weaknesses in our supply chain. Please shop sensibly. Finally.. If you have any symptoms, don’t come to the shop, stay at home and visit NHS online if needed (https://111.nhs.uk/covid-19)

Vegboxes – Vegboxes remain running as usual with extra precautions in places. We will be adding additional items to the online shop (available to vegbox customers only) to make it easier for customers to get more of their groceries with deliveries. You can join as a vegbox customer on our website: https://glasgowlocavore.org/vegbox/

More generally we have increased the level of our prevention measures across all areas of Locavore to reduce opportunities to spread any virus and keep our team, customers and community as safe as possible.

This includes:
– All staff who can work from home are now doing so and phone calls are replacing face to face meetings.

– Where home working isn’t possible staff are limiting close or prolonged contact with one another, keeping 2m distance whenever possible and washing and sanitising hands and surfaces much more than usual.

– Staff are aware of symptoms and will self-isolate should they develop them. We are paying double statutory sick pay to make this less financially difficult.

Overall we are going above guidelines put out by the government which have been criticised for not being fast or hard enough compared to other countries. We would like them to go further and make more financial support available to small businesses that will be affected. It’s highly likely that many small local businesses will fold over the coming months unless government support steps up.

We are doing our best to contingency plan and avoid being one of those businesses.

Thanks for all your support, stay safe, keep washing those hands and sanitise for society!