Spilt Milk, Melville – Coronavirus Plea for Help (March 2020)

With the news of the Coronavirus pandemic, there has been a call to start social distancing as a way to contain the spread of the virus. As we understand it, social distancing and self isolation are some of the best ways in which we all can play a role in flattening the curve and keeping as much strain off of our hospitals and doctors as possible so that the seriously ill can be treated.

With this being said, there is a very delicate balancing act that we all have to traverse in these times of uncertainty. For those of us in the hospitality industry, the virus has had a devastating impact on our livelihoods and those of our staff members who rely on all of us to support their families. With many of our customers choosing to practice social distancing, we have seen our turnover quite literally fall off a cliff and as we see numerous restaurants around us close their doors indefinitely, we are starting to fear the worst.

Without customers, we are unable to pay salaries, suppliers, rent or utilities. We are unable to service our debt and we stand the chance of losing everything if we are forced to close our doors. Not only our lives will be affected but also those of our staff and our entire supply chain who are also seeing a significant drop in business as more and more restaurants start to close. Our waiters who get paid an hourly wage and rely mainly on tips from customers have been the hardest hit by this and we really want to do everything we can to help and support them through these incredibly hard times.

We are an industrious, inventive and resourceful bunch and have been able to quickly adapt to the outbreak by implementing strict procedures to prevent the spread of the virus in our restaurants in addition to promoting our takeaway and home delivery options however, this is still not enough, and this is where we need your help. Our monthly break even is R270k and as it stands, we are about halfway there. In order to ensure that everyone gets paid and can continue putting food on the table, we will need to raise an additional R115k to get us through to the end of the month under the current circumstances. Please note that our only intention is to break even and any donations over this amount will either be carried over to get us through the next month or will be fairly redistributed to our staff members who are in need should the situation improve.

We are not going to take this lying down and we are willing to do anything and everything to keep our heads above the water so that we can continue supporting our staff members and other people who depend on us. If you are unable to come in to the shop, we implore you to still keep supporting us through this campaign with any spare pennies you may have and please share it with friends and family members who you think could help us.

We thank you and love you from the bottom of our hearts and once this is all over, please come in for a BIG hug and a complimentary coffee so that we can show you our deepest gratitude and thanks for supporting us and helping us through this.