We wish to inform our loyal guests, followers and clients of the impact on our services and operations due to the recent Health Order as released by Dr. Bonnie Henry of Health BC.
After much thought and consideration, we have made the difficult decision to cancel our private bookings until December 7th, pending further notifications from our governing bodies. We have contacted all of our confirmed clients, and will adjust our future bookings according to the outlined restrictions, limitations and guidelines as they are updated.
As a community minded business, we feel it is our responsibility to not only adhere to the proposed guidelines, but we also feel that we must continue to do all we can to slow the transmission of the COVID virus, and support the suggestions that may continue to help our regions’ case numbers, some of the lowest in the province. Our business and reputation has been built upon encouraging socializing while representing food and wine culture. In order to maintain our quality-minded approach in providing our culinary offerings, we feel that it is in the interest of our family, clients and business to postpone, reschedule or cancel our private pre-bookings, and likely pivot our business for the remainder of the Health Order. Our hope is that the actions of the public, our peers and partners can help us return to “business as usual”, and drastic measures and adjustments need to be taken in this time of crisis. We feel it is a short term concession to potentially allow us all to return to all the things we enjoy, the way we like to enjoy them.
In the interim, we have decided to restart a few successful and inspiring projects. We will be rolling out our Black Box kits, likely to start next week, assessing after we have the opportunity to connect with our cancelled bookings. We will be offering our Black Boxes to our VIP client list, along with posting the offerings on our website and social media pages. As is per usual, our fancy kitchen designed for refinement rather than production, offerings will be very limited. We will be sure to update the timing and release of the menus as we move forward, understanding that the sudden need to pivot means a bit of adjustment…..
In addition, we are finalizing plans to offer our first ever Traditional Christmas Feast, handcrafted in our kitchen, and comprised of the usual organically grown ingredients, and some beautifully raised and roasted free range turkey. The reality of the current Covid climate is that many of us will be spending the holidays surrounded by less family and friends. We have decided to take the work out of your kitchen by providing kits for 4 guests, with the opportunity to add on for leftovers…..We will provide heating instructions, and providing you with our spin on the classics. Frankly, you could be enjoying OUR turkey dinner, just the way we like to enjoy it in our home. We will be finalizing the availability along with pricing and pick up timing. Our plan thus far is for a December 23rd pickup. Stay tuned for more details very soon!!
And finally, it’s time to shake off the chocolate cobwebs. Those of you who have enjoyed an experience with us before may have enjoyed some of our handcrafted artisan chocolate work. We certainly are fond of pastry arts, and have decided to take this time to work on some packaged goodies to share with your family for the holidays. Likely they will be packaged as a set, and will be certain to share our “sweet” offering on our social media pages and website for some stocking stuffer additions. Might be a great idea to add a few of our handcrafted preserves as well, the shelves are bursting with our efforts…..
So for now, we aren’t hanging up our chef coats, just making a swift change to be proactive in our approach to sharing our love of food culture with you. These are challenging times for us, and the hospitality industry in general. We feel for our peers and colleagues that are also struggling to keep in business. Our team and family is very humbled by the support our clients have shown is rescheduling and deferring their deposits, in addition to being understanding and compassionate even with the disappointment of having to cancel their booking with very short notice. I assure you, we had other ideas for the finish of our season…….
Our future is dependent on your continued support and interest. We will be moving forward with building our outdoor dining room next spring, and will update you as our plans and timing transpire. We figure that with this short term challenge, we can overcome it by staying inspired and moving forward. For now, let’s all just do what is suggested to get this COVID business over and done. Moreover, we are all in the same situation, trying to navigate through the overwhelming negative media exposure along with abrupt change in our lifestyle, socializing and otherwise. Let’s all be kind to each-other, respectful for our choices and beliefs. With so many opinions, let us all just keep in mind that this will be a memory some day relatively soon, and our actions and reactions will be the most relevant part of this challenging situation. We will be revising our operations after December 7th in accordance with any further guidelines and restrictions.
Chris and Team.