Earlier this month The Peach Pub Company announced that none of its staff would lose their jobs as a result of the Coronavirus epidemic and that it would top up the monthly pay of anyone whose salary is more than the maximum grant cap of £2,500.
Now the managing director of the 19-strong pub company says he wants to create a social enterprise where some of his pubs can be used as hubs to deliver food to the NHS and people in need.
Stoddart also says that the company has created a Hardship Taskforce – a team of volunteers to look after people who need help, and to give guidance to people struggling with mental health issues.
While the group, like the majority of hospitality businesses, has been forced to close its operations, Stoddart says he has one eye on the future and when hospitality businesses can reopen. “We are planning how to come out of this bigger and better,” he says. “To use the time to figure out how to adjust to what will be a new world.
“It will be different, but pubs are in a stronger place. People will need the feeling of sociality and interaction and pubs are where this happens.”
#UnitedWeStand has been created by William Reed hospitality titles BigHospitality, Restaurant magazine and Morning Advertiser and is supported by Arla Pro, Britvic, Coca-Cola European Partners, McCain and Unilever Food Solutions.
