Coronavirus: Maroondah businesses delivering food boxes and offering pick-up pub meals
Maroondah businesses are transforming during the coronavirus outbreak with fresh produce deliveries and pick-up pub meals among the popular options.
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A bunch of Maroondah businesses have reinvented themselves to stay afloat during the coronavirus outbreak.
Gone (for a little while) are the days of sitting in cafes and have pots in the bars with your mates - with social distancing and crowd limits now the norm.
But it hasn’t stopped a handful of businesses close to home trialling a few different things to stay afloat and offer the goods and services you know and love.
Green Grocers
Staff at Ringwood Fresh Green Grocer in Ringwood Square are now offering fruit and vegetable boxes for instore pick-up and home delivery.
Busy team members are serving customers in the morning trade and then delivering the boxes to homes in the late afternoon.
Ringwood Fresh Green Grocer owner Wendy Yu said there were nine different options and staff were receiving about 20 orders a day.
She said the store had also expanded its product range and offered eggs, milk, nuts, Asian grocery items and some frozen foods.
“We try to put in the most common fruit and vegetable people like and a few categories depending on people’s consumption,” she said.
“People are very needy of delivery … it’s building up and there’s a demand.
“We have served local customers for 15 years and we don’t want to be overpriced.”
Ms Yu said the atmosphere in the store was still strong despite limits on customer numbers at any one time.
“We get all sorts of people, some come in masks, some people chatting asking how they are going, but most know what they are doing and keep a distance.
“We’ve put red lines on the floor for them to stand on in the checkout and we spray disinfectant on the baskets and door handles.”
Cafes
Cafes have introduced other initiatives to minimise wait times and comply with in-store regulations during the outbreak.
Eastland cafe Brioche by Philip has remodelled its space so customers don’t set a foot inside.
It’s moved its cakes and on-display food to the front windows and put a contactless payment point outdoors for customers to use.
Meanwhile, new Heathmont Village haunt Milk and Wine Co is serving hearty take-home meals in individual and family sizes.
Pubs
Although the beer taps are still turned off, Maroondah’s pubs have begun serving up takeaway versions of their bistro favourites.
The Coach in Ringwood and The Croydon Hotel are taking orders through the OrderUp website and app — and have promised to get meals ready within 25 minutes for diners to pick up.
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Croydon’s The Public Brewery has also started a special takeaway menu with some of its dine-in favourites.
Those after something a bit fancier or couples wanting a date night at home can get cheese and charcuterie boards with wine.
The brewery’s on-tap favourites are also being sold in six packs and slabs in its bottle shop, which remains open for takeaway sales.