Baking with Black Goo

Like the rest of the country, the coffee business came to a grinding halt on 23 March when the lockdown came into effect for the hospitality and entertainment sector. Many cafes’ and restaurants’ initial response was to look into offering take-away services as a means to keep ticking over and to use up all the perishable goods they had in stock. When the government aid packages were announced, it came as a massive relief to an industry that is primarily made up of staff on lower salaries than the national average. Without this aid, many thousands of businesses would have been faced with having to lay staff off immediately. An immediate impact of the Furlough arrangement was that staff couldn’t continue to work. This compromised the ability of those business who wanted to offer takeaway services and therefore the majority have now abandoned those plans and will remain closed until the lockdown can be lifted.

It goes without saying that this is an incredibly difficult time for the industry. At Black Goo, our immediate focus has been on getting our staff paid at the end of March. We then started to untangle the different grant and loan offerings available to us before submitting applications. Once those are in place, we will be working with our suppliers who are patiently awaiting settlement of their invoices. A lot of stress for all involved…

During the closure period, Sacha has been very active on the Black Goo Coffee Instagram page. As well as sharing her take on the day, she’s been making favourite recipes from our Tring and Berkhamsted cafes; our famous brownies, rocky road, banana loaf, Victoria sponge, using Insta stories to show the baking process from start to finish. This has been a great way to keep engaged with our customers and it’s been lovely to watch followers who’ve made the recipes themselves and shared their results with us. We’ve given away everything made to our followers, and many have made their way to essential workers who continue to work so bravely in these trying circumstances. With over 1300 people engaging with each daily post, it’s felt like a virtual community coming together to bake each day.

By the time we come out of this lockdown, the impact on our sector is going to be significant. Many businesses that had been struggling will not want to take on more debt, and will take the opportunity to close (as we’re already seeing with some of the well-established chain restaurant groups). Like many others, we’re using this time to re-focus and prepare for what lies ahead in anticipation of very tough trading conditions for all businesses as confidence remains fragile. But in adversity, we find strength and we all look forward to better times ahead, with a coffee and a big slab of cake…

To follow Sach’s musing on life, stripy tops and Black Goo recipes, go to Blackgoocoffee on Instagram stories. Happy baking!