We talked to Konsa Micallef all about her restaurant ETC in Penarth. We discussed their recent reopening as well as the struggles they have faced during the coronavirus pandemic and the innovative techniques they have taken to tackle them.

Konsa, how has the coronavirus lockdown affected your business?

I had to close on one of my busiest weekends of the year, which was fully booked for a period of time.

As COVID kicked in the booking started dropping off which really hit us hard especially as an independent.

So we instantly introduced, about 2 weeks before closing, extra sanitising for door handles, frames, toilets, chairs etc. This happened every 30 minutes as well sanitiser readily available for customers and spacious dining where possible.

We also cook everything fresh using locally sourced ingredients so you can imagine none of it could be returned therefore was an incredible amount of waste and loss of revenue and when you consider all other charges bills, utilities and wages (as furlough wasn't applied till mid-April).

We had to make a decision to consider as we didn't want to leave the staff with no money at such short notice. With no money coming in and grants and loans becoming available this has been a great help to get us threw this tough time.

However, it has still been hard in making steps to reopen with COVID standards.

What have you been doing during the lockdown period with the shop closure?

In the beginning, I was still working to ensure all at ETC was ok but I was also volunteering which included going to the chemists, doctors and doing food shopping for those who couldn't and shouldn't go out as well as a few hospital runs.

What do you have on offer now you're open again?

We have put together a few fun sharer boxes of things that can be collected or delivered for ease of dining.

Again, we have tried hard to use only locally sourced produce.

How has the community of Penarth supported you in your reopening?

I feel a lot of the community have been wonderful and we can't thank them enough, upon collections last weekend the comments we had were incredible. We actually sold out which is amazing.

What are your hopes and plans as the situation progresses?

We are really hoping that at the next announcement we have a possible date to consider a slow re-opening so we can start to get back to some kind of normality.

Our plans in the meantime are to put together new menus for what may possibly be the autumn-winter menu followed by the usual Beaujolais and Christmas menus.

We're very much looking forward to welcoming our customers back into ETC.

We have decided that when we re-open we will continue the takeaway service as it has been such a huge hit so far.

Penarth Nub News aims to be supportive of every element of the community from business and shops to people and charities and clubs and sports organisations.

If you have recently returned to business do feel free to get in touch with us and let us know by emailing [email protected].

You can also add your business to our local listing page by clicking here.

You can visit ETC's website here and also check out their current takeaway menu in our gallery.