Landmark Issue 19 2021 SINGLE PAGES

ISSUE 19 | 2021 51 RAU ALUMNI James and I gave up our desks andmoved to a newportacabin on-site, converting the original office and staff room into further picking and packing facilities.We increased the team in Somerset by 182 % and introduced a new rotating shiftpattern from standardworking day hours to 24 hours a day seven days aweek. Further Covid-19measures were introduced: PPE, sanitation stations and an increased level of daily cleaning of the operations facility. The customer service teamwas increased by five to maintain our service levels during lockdown. Dave, ourmain delivery driver and head of logistics, managed to recruit seven newdrivers that had found themselves out of work to ensurewemaintained 50 % of our own deliveries eachweek.We invested further in our IT infrastructure and server to increase capacity and robustness.Where supermarket websites went down, and other food retailers introduced virtual queuing, our website continued to perform.We didn’t increase theminimumspend, product prices or delivery fees. This investment happened as our ops team (nowkeyworkers) continued towork, putting their own health at risk.Wewere doing our equivalent of two Christmasses everyweek. The dedication to ensure we fulfilled every order was truly inspirational andwe couldn’t bemore grateful. What does the future look like? The beginnings of normal life are starting to return formany, and that’s awelcome relief. As a small business that invested substantially in increasing our infrastructure to deliver orders during this period, we are proud to have stuck to our principles during lockdown. We hope our free-range, high- welfaremeat will continue to be enjoyed bymany. It’s important to remember the small farmers that weworkwith and who continued to deliver product throughout the pandemic – for many, trade has still not returned to pre-pandemic levels andwith many restaurants either still closed or at reduced capacity, it is not clear when tradewill fully recover. For these farmers, we will continue to support them with every order that ismade. Customer feedback has confirmedwhat we’ve known all along, the quality of our produce is noticeably different. It’s been quite a journey. fieldandflower.co.uk @fieldandflower