After yesterday afternoon's government announcement, the restaurants are both closed again. The first time that this happened (nearly 10 months ago), we thought that was the end for Lunya - and it was for our beautiful store in Manchester; we had so much dread and fear, it is hard to capture in words exactly what it was like. But now, we have been here before - I think this is our third lockdown. We know what to do, we are prepared and have lots of other ways to keep Lunya alive. You have played such an enormous part in that, supporting us in everything we do. we'll never be able to repay that, but we can make sure we are always around for your Lunya fix, and here's how today and as far into the future as we can see:
- Our Deli will stay open throughout (closed on New Year's Day), with our daily fresh bread, pastries and over 1000 beautiful products. We are open 11-6, Monday to Friday, 10-6 Saturday, and 11-5 Sunday. We still have a huge range of cases of Spanish beer and wines at brilliant prices and it is still not too late to call in today and stock up for tonight and the week ahead. You can also order click and collect ahead from our online store.
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We are open for take-aways (for today, we only have collection slots available). Our normal take-away days are Friday, Saturday & Sunday. You can still order for tonight here
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Our online store is open 24/7, we have kept prices as low as possible (we are clean out of ham (apart from sliced) right now, but stock levels of our superb cheeses, cured meats, nibbles and everything are good (no Easter eggs yet!
Just sharing a copy of this newsletter, or a Facebook message or Tweet is a tremendous help.
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Wondering what to order?
And another reminder of some of our best offers
Plus, you can still buy vouchers to use online or in the restaurant as gifts for friends, family or work colleagues. No expiry date, and don't worry, we will be here to use them. available to use in our online store and in the restaurant and deli.
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A tribute to our team
It is hard to describe how difficult it has been for our team this year. From the early days wondering even if they had a job and an employer that wouldn't go under, working through the days of the first lockdown when the fear of personal safety was at its highest. Then came summer and a busier period than we ever predicted, the madness of Eat Out to Help Out, intense shifts, very little time off. We are here because we adapted (and you supported everything we tried), but it is really hard when every day your job changes and you have something new to do.
We learned about mass-production of frozen meals, internet dispatch and so much more. The second lockdown brought huge disruption again, we embarked on our Christmas Canapes (thinking we would be closed in December - we weren't!) - we created 15,000 canapes in the end, thanks to your wonderful support - but you nearly killed us with kindness!
When we reopened, we had as busy December as we have ever had, seriously under-staffed and constantly struggling to get all of the help we could. Your support in our online store was sensational. In the first 10 days of December, we did the same trade as the whole of 2019.
So many of our team worked 7 days a week and well over 15 hours a day to try and keep going on all fronts. We managed it. Our staff's willingness to do everything they could to keep the business afloat and work through exhaustion is something we will be forever grateful for. Like anyone who works throughout the pandemic, you take risks - just getting to work on public transport, alone, is a big risk. They are a fantastic group of people.
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We had problems! Everything from there being a worldwide shortage of cardboard, couriers stretched to the limit, stock getting held up in ports and customs channels, Spanish and French drivers refusing to come over to the UK and the early implementation of Brexit paperwork by French customs (which we for one did not know about).
Some of you will not have received all of your order because of some of this disruption. We tried to substitute wherever we can. Due to the sheer volume of orders (in December, we were sending up to 500 parcels in a single day), we have to work on a 'Just in Time' system for deliveries. As your online Christmas orders were coming in from October onwards, we were placing our orders to come in all throughout December. We were getting between 12-15 pallets of food and drink a week. We couldn't get all the stock in during November as there is nowhere to store it - 15 pallets come in a week and all of that goes straight out. If there is the slightest delay, it's a problem. Right now we have no legs of ham or boneless ham at all. With the new Brexit rules, it may not be well into January that we can get it.
The courier network was unbelievably stretched using casual labour who are not as fast nor as accurate as their permanent counterparts.
On top of all that, we had some staff having to self isolate.
We think we managed it. We're hear raring to go. Forever in your debt for your support. Thank you x
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Virtual Events at Lunya
We have a fabulous programme of tasting events where we send you the food and drink, and then you connect from home via Zoom for a tasting - fun, informative and sociable. Check out here for all of the details. Come and join us in the next couple of months. The safe way to enjoy yourselves, anywhere in the UK. we run these privately for companies too, and the feedback we get is that they are the best in the UK.
The highlight of the programme for next year, will be our wine tasting, direct from Rioja, where Rafa of Vallemayor will be hosting from Fuenmayor.
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Free meals for NHS & other carers |
We finished the year within spitting distance of 6000 free meals to carers. We're still at it, and it is a permanent feature of what we do. If you know any local organisations who would like some, just let us know |
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And finally .....
Your support really has keep us going. From all of our team at Lunya, thank you so much and we wish you the best possible New Year - we will be here to feed, water and entertain you in whatever way we can. Your generosity in thinking about us is so much appreciated. Thank you, our very best wishes & stay safe.
Peter & Elaine, and the whole of our team x
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