A local guest house has opened a pop-up coffee shop in an effort to continue supporting their staff during the Covid-19 pandemic, on 12 August.
According to Annemien Kotze, co-owner of Bonne Esperance, the guest house, management had to come up with ideas to generate an additional income stream to avoid job losses.
This came after the staff at Bonne Esperance were temporarily laid off so that the business could claim Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) and Temporary Employee Relief Scheme (TERS), during the nationwide lockdown, said Kotze.
According to Annemien Kotze, Bonne Esperance means “good hope” in French and the team aims to keep the hope alive in these trying times PHOTO: Supplied/Carmen Adriaanse.
Kotze said that all her staff was able to return to work on 1 July, on an ad hoc basis because livelihoods depended on it.
“We employ 15 staff and between them are 39 dependents. We have an amazing team that we have built up over the years and it would be tragic to lay any one of them off permanently,” said Kotze.
One employee, Carmen Adriaanse, who has been working at the guest house for three years, said that she is grateful for the initiative as it helps the staff financially.
“With partial income, I couldn’t afford to pay rent anymore,” said Adriaanse.
The team looked at their opportunities and strengths and realised that they have a very beautiful and unique Victorian house with a wrap-around veranda and big dining hall to utilise the space. PHOTO: Supplied/ Bonne Esperance
A visitor to the pop-up coffee shop, Elzaan van Zyl, said the concept was a “thinking outside the box” idea for the staff and shows how much the employers care about their staff.
“The coffee shop is beautiful. Service was really quick, the staff is super friendly from behind their masks and the menu offers something for everyone,” said Van Zyl.