Well, it goes without saying that the last few months have been unprecedented for everyone. For some it's been lonely and scary, others have felt frustrated and angry and some have dealt with more tragic consequences. Some have found it cathartic and used it as time to bond with (or fall out with) family, learned a new skill or just topped up their suntan. This will go down on record as the best weather we've ever had in springtime yet we couldn't walk around to enjoy it.
We at Tokes' found ourselves having to adapt quickly just as everyone did. Annie was furloughed and stayed home to look after her young family. William and Katie battened down the hatches and cooked. Boy did they cook.
The range of ready meals had been launched last year in October and had been ticking along rather nicely. Now all of a sudden peoples need for easy to prepare, quality food that could be delivered to their door (not to mention a steady stream of booze to keep the spirits up) absolutely skyrocketed! We'd like to say it kept us out of mischief but that wouldn't be the Tokes' way now would it?
So we had a crash course in food photography and website design - to which we even added our famous sausage rolls! Sighs of relief all round. Not just from the customers.
We settled into a rhythm over the coming weeks, we continued to stop for Pop Master every day at 10:30am (with William still carrying the team every time) followed by a sandwich at mid-day.
Being as how we couldn't partake in our usual after work pint in one of our favourite establishments in town we decided to make our own 'Not For the Public' House, which basically involved us having a couple of beers out the back in the garden. Our fine establishment was named after Annie's daughter Patsy's favourite animal - the flamingo, thus 'The Pink Minko' was born.
So the first few weeks passed by in a bit of a blur, lists were made, clipboards were purchased and once we'd navigated a few learning curves the system became a smooth process from ordering to delivery. Katie never got any better at Pop Master.