HAVE YOU EXPLORED ANY NEW AVENUES DURING THE LAST GEW LOCKDOWNS TO KEEP YOUR BUSINESS ALIVE? WHAT HAS BEEN THE SUCCESS OF THIS?

Lahpet started with the pantry/DIY kit offering quite early on into the pandemic. During the first lockdown I was in Wales with too much time on my hands, so we conceived this Burmese pantry offering. We started to package some of our key indigenous ingredients and pastes and condiments to sell on a pantry subpage of our website. We also developed a few DIY kits of our favourite dishes which we launched in June 2020, which have been selling well. We had a PR firm working on it in the background, so we managed to get a decent amount of good quality press including a feature in The Times. As re-opening crept up, pantry and DIY sales went down and as we went into another lockdown, sales picked back up. It’s kept us going, engaged and busy, but doesn’t come near to the level of revenue we require to meet our fixed costs. On the whole it’s been a success though.

IN WHAT WAYS HAVE YOU PREPARED YOURSELF FOR INDOOR RE-OPENING?

We’re pretty well versed at this now! Initially, after the first lockdown when social distancing and giving customers space was at the forefront of our minds, we were considering using QR codes at tables to place orders via phones, but we ended up moving away from that. We’re not a cuisine that people are really that familiar with, so customers often need to engage with us and have a lot of questions about the food, so we steered clear of putting processes in place that would limit human contact, which was the right decision for us to make.

In terms of the layout of the restaurant, we’ve been quite lucky – it was quite an easy space to adapt to create 1m+ distance between tables. We also have a small terrace which we’ve made use of for outdoor seating. All in all, our covers have gone down about 30% with social distancing, which in comparison to some other operators, could be a lot worse.

WHAT MADE YOU DECIDE TO OPEN UP A SECOND SITE DURING THE MIDST OF COVID?

We were fortunate enough to have the backing to capitalise on opportunities out there at the right time. Given all the doom and gloom with so many hospitality businesses going the other direction, I feel incredibly fortunate to be in the position we are – expanding, not going the other direction. We were at a point before the first lockdown where we were achieving a healthy EBITDA and so our cash position going into the first lockdown was strong, so we didn’t have to worry too much at that point about not being able to reopen. This gave us some time to really put our heads together and put a plan in place to go and find a new site. At the end of last year there were so many opportunities on the market – landlords were throwing money at operators to come and take sites, so we capitalised on that and got a really good deal. It was always our intention to open our next site in the West End or SE1 so couldn’t be more thrilled with what ahead this year.

The new site, a 2,500 sq ft unit at 21 Slingsby Place, will be bringing Lahpet’s contemporary take on authentic Burmese cooking to The Yards, Covent Garden later in the year.

WHERE DO YOU SEE THE FUTURE OF THE HOSPITALITY SECTOR AND DO YOU THINK WE’LL SEE ANY TRENDS COMING OUT OF THIS TIME?

Just getting back to normal and thriving. I truly hope that we’ll get back to the levels we were at pre-pandemic as soon as possible. If we’re unable to get back to that point then we’ve got serious issues and there’ll be more businesses failing than we’ve ever seen before.

The industry has had to pivot and adapt to drive revenue during lockdown so one of the trends is obviously the DIY kits and the use of restaurant quality products at home. I think on a macro level rents and VAT are going to be major topics for discussion with landlords and government needing to show flexibility and understanding in order to get the industry back on it’s feet.