Adkins & Cheurfi has been going strong since 2016, and the company could not have developed so successfully without the wonderful people that make our business. These people include all our hard-working staff, the consultants, chefs, waiters, baristas, cleaners, catering staff, kitchen porters and every type of team member we have worked with over the last few years. Alongside our team, we could not have built the company without all our fantastic clients and we send them our best wishes through these unprecedented times.
Thankfully Melika and I prepared a business protection plan very early on in case of future issues. It is this planning that will protect the company in the coming months.
However, even best-laid plans have been challenged in the wake of this catastrophic pandemic. The devastation of the last eight weeks is something none of us could ever have envisioned. The destructive impact of something as awful as the Covid-19 pandemic has touched so many people within our business, as well as individuals and families throughout the hospitality and recruitment sector. The impact has been far-reaching through every industry within the North East, UK and the whole world and therefore it is now more important than ever to look after each other. Just like all the NHS, key workers and carers have looked after society, we must do the same.
The government’s job retention scheme has been most welcome and has helped so many millions of people and we are hugely appreciative of that. As a business we thankfully managed to furlough many of our PAYE staff, although unfortunately, some have still missed out, we have still continued to offer work were possible. Many of our self-employed staff are currently submitting their own HMRC claims for grants as well and we wish them all the best with this. If anyone has any questions surrounding any of this, please feel free to call the office anytime.
As we begin to make our way out of lockdown, we will start to open the office again. Although this is very early days, we expect to have at least one member of the team in branch from the first week of June and every precaution will be taken to ensure safety is paramount.
The unknown is what is most challenging for our immediate future. I see a lot of rumours and content online about what will happen, but we must all remember, no one truly knows. The most we can do as a business and as individuals is to plan for the worst and hope for the best.
The key now is we must all have patience; the economy may have slumped, but the planet is recovering. We may not have the wealth that we had, but we are healthier. We were consumed by our workload, but now we are consumed with spending time with our families.
And on behalf of everyone at Adkins & Cheurfi, we look forward to speaking with you all and getting back to work very soon
Dean and Melika
