BACK TO WEDDING NORMALITY? What are your thoughts?

As things now stand, Scotland's government has issued updated guidelines, which seemingly paves the way for citizens who may not know they have Covid, to attend weddings. Thereby placing fellow guests and hospitality workers at risk. Guidelines are currently for 50 wedding guests, rising to 100 guests on 7th June. Face coverings are required, social distancing is to be in place, alcohol is permitted, as is live music without dancing. This is, to say the very least, going to be a challenging set of circumstances.

We can now prove that there is a better, safer way in which to proceed. We therefore call simply, for logic. Stating the obvious, what we outline below can similarly be applied very quickly across the span of hospitality.

(This Blog is an adaptation of a Balbirnie House Facebook Post published 2pm Thursday 6th May 2021)

Scroll to that date to read all comments.

11,000 people go clubbing in Liverpool last week, without any social distancing, but we still can't have dancing at weddings? Here's a solution to end this.

We now have over 300 future weddings booked at Balbirnie House. It is suggested that England will have removal of social distancing restrictions on 21st June. We await Scotland government updates.

In the meantime, what about all weddings taking place between now, and when Scotland's government issues 'guidance' and a date for the removal of social distancing.

From all ongoing discussions with our many clients, weddings categorically do not want photography with face coverings. There is stated desire to let dancing start again. Simply put, weddings wish to revert back to normality, with all love and celebration with nearest and dearest ... that is the love, humanity and tradition of weddings and celebrations.

Over recent days our main twitter feed has been contemplating the potentials of Balbirnie House pro-actively creating a temporary Covid 'safety system', which would enable us to fully re-open for weddings without social distancing requirements. NB Optional and only for wedding clients who wish to do so.

The header tweet has now been contemplated by over 22,500 people, and there are currently no valid reasons stated whatsoever, as to why we should not proceed. Visit our Twitter.

The proposed system is based on Liverpool's trials last week with apparent gig pilot success for 11,000 people. This was made possible by everyone confirming negative Covid test results.

Balbirnie House would propose to go one step further, by also investing in wedding Trusted Trace App.

But we could only do this, if all relevant wedding guests were in agreement to all working together to ensure everything is 100% intact.

(If a wedding wishes NOT to go ahead with what we propose, and to proceed as per the existing government guidelines in relation to social distancing, face coverings, no dancing etc, then stating the obvious we can do that ...)

We have the team in place, the infrastructure and capabilities to deliver what we propose.

There is now a service to order free packs of rapid lateral flow tests to be sent to your home.

In addition, there are now Community testing sites available across Fife, providing quick and easy access to testing.

Current Scotland government guidance for weddings is split into SHOULD and MUST. The MUST legal requirements ... 'Guests MUST wear face coverings (inside) other than when eating and drinking' - an interpretation of that is if you have a glass in your hand, you are drinking. The other MUST is in relation to closure timings at the end of the special day, straightforward ...

Everything else, is stated as guidance - all of it.

We need to respect the rule of law, but we can certainly choose to re-interpret how we can proceed with the combination of hospitality and guidance, if we can deliver a new system that renders the guidance as obsolete.

Our thinking is, that as we can deliver this 'system', our Risk Assessments can then also incorporate the logic of our hotel brigade taking eg twice weekly Covid tests, and on that basis, we immediately then revert back to normality for weddings.

If everything and everyone is Covid-free, and App records are flawless, we would be happy to accept that all other forms of guidance can be logically re-interpreted back to a return to normality. And perhaps even more importantly, in creating the proposed system we can see no valid reason as to how or why any representative of any authority should wish us not to proceed, let alone having any law in place to prevent us from proceeding.

The same testing requirements and App process would similarly be required for anyone visiting the hotel to provide services in association with the special day.

Our ability to provide the backdrop for any wedding, is of course fully dependent on anything that becomes a new legal requirement in Scotland.

What are your thoughts? If you have your wedding booked, would you be happy for all guests to proceed with this?

Many people are nervous about everything that has happened, would this 'safety system' give confidence in attending weddings?

Let's go a stage further. The most heartbreaking thing we are seeing today, is incoming enquiries one after another about making bookings for example, for Golden Weddings. So if we created the above 'system' for weddings, we can also create it for Golden Weddings.

Any feedback most appreciated, please comment below.

Yours in Hospitality, and all best wishes, Nicholas Russell / MD Balbirnie House 😀

The first four Facebook comments:

Above Blog was subsequently turned into a mainstream article, published mid May 2021 via Dram Scotland, many thanks to Editor Susan Young.

SCOTLAND GOVERNMENT RESPONSE 9.6.2021

As per guidelines, Scotland government was meant to respond to the above within 20 working days, therefore 4.6.2021 

Having not had any response, Jenny Gilruth MSP, Scotland's Minister for Culture, Europe and International Development, very kindly offered to intervene and directly request a response. The below was then forthcoming on 8.6.2021, for ease of reference here are the key points, followed by a few thoughts, and then full government response below. 

SUMMARY RESPONSE:

A SUGGESTION THAT WEDDING NORMALITY MAY ONLY BE POSSIBLE WHEN ALL ADULTS HAVE BEEN VACCINATED? (NB two jabs each!)

DELTA VARIANT CHANGES PLANS FOR A RETURN TO WEDDING NORMALITY! 

DELTA VARIANT CHANGES MARCH 2020 ROUTEMAP TO NORMALITY!

A NEGATIVE COVID TEST RESULT (USING LATERAL FLOW DEVICE) DOES NOT GUARANTEE THAT THE INDIVIDUAL IS FREE OF COVID, ONLY THAT CORONAVIRUS HAS NOT BEEN DETECTED! (THEREBY, THE SYSTEMS AS DEFINED BY TRUSTED TRACE ARE NOT WORKABLE IN SCOTLAND!)

As is stated above, TrustedTrace is seemingly integrated with Crown Commercial Service, the biggest public procurement organisation in the UK. 

Scotland's government is therefore saying that the systems as defined, offered and set by Trusted Trace, and as integrated with Crown Commercial Service, are inoperable for Scotland. 

The date we have all been hoping to see establish for a return to wedding normality at Balbirnie House, was circa 21.6.2021 - in line with everything the UK government has previously outlined. 

However, the best guess date by which all Scotland adults (who wish to receive vaccine) are actually vaccinated, well that's anyone's guess. Underlined, fully vaccinated with two doses.

It's widely acknowledged that NHS Scotland are targeting to complete first vaccines for all adults by the end of July 2021. When and if allowing the further 8 to 12 week gap for completing second vaccines, this would theoretically take a return to wedding normality towards the end of September, but this is of course stated as total speculation, and in the absence of any clarity from those in charge of making decisions. 

In the meantime, we wait and hope, as that's all we can do. Thoughts are with all Scotland wedding venues, couples who are holding bookings, and all associate wedding suppliers. 

The exact status for anyone organising a wedding, all venues and all suppliers, appears to be: 

- No clarity on return to total wedding normality as at 21st June 2021.

- Perhaps the eventual return to total wedding normality when all adults have received two doses of vaccine?

In the meantime at Balbirnie House, we have weddings scheduled nearly every single day through summer 2021, and our amazing wedding planning team confirm that all wedding clients have of course fully accepted that weddings will be proceeding with any required ongoing restrictions in place as a necessity, as defined by Scotland government, and restrictions themselves however, certainly won't be detracting from the joy and celebration of the wedding day. So, onwards we go! 

For the very first time, we are also now seeing clients with eg re-scheduled 2022 wedding dates, getting back in touch saying, 'We cannot wait any longer, we're now prepared to go ahead in 2021 even if there are restrictions!' 

All best wishes, 

Nicholas / MD Balbirnie House 

Full ScotGov response:

DIRECTORATE FOR CULTURE, TOURISM AND MAJOR EVENTS
DCTME : Tourism and Major Events

abcd

Nicholas Russell Nicholas@balbirnie.co.uk

Our Reference: 202100200468 8 June 2021
Dear Mr Russell,

Thank you for your e-mail of 10 May 2021, concerning your suggestion for piloting a system to reduce the risk of transmission of COVID – 19 at weddings held in the Balbirnie House Hotel. The Scottish Government’s Tourism and Major Events Team has been asked to respond.

We understand the impact that COVID-19 has had on businesses and individuals. We welcome the efforts and sacrifices made to help contain the virus. In order to understand issues affecting the sector we have engaged regularly with a range of stakeholders on a consistent basis.

We appreciate your suggestion of a system where potential guests declare themselves COVID – 19 free prior to attending a wedding, following testing, to avoid the need for physical distancing.

The decisions the Scottish Government are making are difficult and complex ones. This reflects the fact that we are currently at a delicate and fragile point in what we hope is a transition to a different way of dealing with this virus. We believe that vaccinations are opening the path to a less restrictive way of dealing with Covid – one less driven by case numbers. But as not all adults have been fully vaccinated with two doses so far, we are not quite there yet. We are also dealing with a new, faster spreading variant; the “Indian” or “April 02” variant has now been renamed by the World Health Organisation as Delta. This variant is spreading faster than previous variants of the virus. We now believe it accounts for well over half of our daily cases.

This is a new development that has arisen since we set out our indicative route map back in March. At this critical state, to avoid being knocked off course completely, the Scottish Government must still err on the side of caution. It is important that we ease restrictions carefully in order that we continue to suppress the virus and protect public health.

Scottish Ministers, special advisers and the Permanent Secretary are covered by the terms of the Lobbying (Scotland) Act 2016. See www.lobbying.scot

St Andrew's House, Regent Road, Edinburgh EH1 3DG www.gov.scot

There are currently no plans to permit trials of new experimental measures aimed at supressing COVID– 19, at individual hospitality venues.

I understand that where asymptomatic testing using lateral flow devices (“LFD”) is being used, this does not avoid the need for other mitigation measures, such as face coverings or PPE and physical distancing. A negative result using LFD does not guarantee that an individual testing negative does not have coronavirus, only that coronavirus was not detected. There are also sometimes false positive tests. It therefore appears that testing will not offer a realistic route to “more normal” weddings.

Physical distancing and good hand hygiene remain the most effective measures in reducing the transmission of COVID-19. At a wedding reception, held in a hospitality venue, 2 metre physical distancing between people in separate households should be maintained. Please note that a 1 metre physical distancing exemption applies to the contained hospitality areas of the premises i.e. the bar, restaurant, dining room or café. Clear signage must be provided by venue to indicate that guests are entering the 1 metre zone.

Further guidance on wedding receptions is available as part of the Scottish Government “Coronavirus (COVID-19): tourism and hospitality sector guidance”.

For further information on protection levels, please see the latest guidance, available at: “Coronavirus (COVID-19) protection levels: what you can do” at Coronavirus (COVID-19): local protection levels - gov.scot (www.gov.scot).

The Scottish Government will not leave any restrictions in place for any longer than they are necessary to meet our responsibility to safeguard the people of Scotland. As this situation is evolving, I would encourage you to keep up to date by checking our website at: https://www.gov.scot/coronavirus-covid- 19.

Yours sincerely

Clive Brown

TME : Tourism Policy

Scottish Ministers, special advisers and the Permanent Secretary are covered by the terms of the Lobbying (Scotland) Act 2016. See www.lobbying.scot

St Andrew's House, Regent Road, Edinburgh EH1 3DG www.gov.scot

BALBIRNIE HOUSE TAKEAWAY IS NOW HERE TO STAY!

When we started our Balbirnie Takeaway 27.12.2020 we had absolutely no idea how it was going to go. Even within our brigade, there were those with misgivings before we started, with some saying 'That's not possible!' 

But as we know: 

Little did we know, but we were about to see the very rapid creation of Balbirnie Takeaway, quickly rolling with scope for the creation of a £1million future set of annual revenue streams. 

So this is what we figured before we began. Create an ordering system which delivers unprecedented convenience, in that it combines an App order, with the huge relevance of a pre-set Collection time. Deliver a significantly better product than you'll find in a national Takeaway chain. And price it only marginally more than you'll find in a national Takeaway chain. These in any event, were our three start points. 

Fife has many great chippies, and each of these is of course (and quite rightly so) protective of their batter recipes. This was our very first Takeaway photo. 

It's a long story maybe for another day, but we successfully managed to totally nail the batter, to a standard equating to the best-of-the-best chippies in the land. Then we added 'the Balbirnie detail', complimentary pea puree, chippie curry sauce, served with sachets of salt and vinegar, and a wee wooden fork, a napkin, and a lemon-scented hand wipe. Yours, for a great value £7.95!

We asked ourselves, 'What would our local community like most from a Takeaway?' Simply put, fish'n'chips, 12 inch thin'n'crispy Sourdough pizzas, and our Royale burgers, which we actually started serving in our Bistro al Fresco summer 2020. It's a 6oz Aberdeen Angus/ Limousin flame-grilled burger! 

We nailed the App and tech order process, only thanks to tech crew working until 10pm on Boxing Day night! And thank you again Hungrrr! 

Our App and tech architecture made provision for two Pre-Order Collections every 5 minutes. 

Writing the next morning 1 hour 25 mins before opening time! ⬇️ 

We thought that by opening over New Year, we might have a few customers, but we were lost for words at what actually happened. Whilst also needing to unexpectedly miracle more supplies! 

On 3rd January we were able to put up a Facebook post confirming in the first week, that we had served 1,000 customers. And in turn, that Facebook post then received 1,000 Likes! 

That same day, and having learnt from the previous week, I arrived very early that morning, and introduced a totally new process for setting up the day's printed ticket orders, holding in batches of two hours at a time, and then transferring in timed slots over The Pass. Similarly, Head Chef Sharon Munro and our kitchen brigade introduced a totally new board system which future-forecasted quantities of outgoing orders. This meant that we were then able to produce all orders, by moving ahead of the timing curve, literally 30 seconds prior to pre-designated Collection time, and then hold the collection package under hot lights, until the customer car (mobile dining room!) arrived - usually bang on time as well, our front door crew checked the car registration plate correlated to our order, and there you go, Voila! In an instant, the provision became organised beyond belief, and effortless, as it should be if there's a really good plan! 

Our kitchen service and front-of-house service on 3rd January 2021 goes down as one of our most memorable in history. Because all systems simply clicked together that day, as never before in the previous week. I went home that night absolutely buzzing!  

So, then The Courier ran the story! Fife hotel boss left speechless ...

After that, there was no stopping! It was amazing to see customers embracing the idea of 'The Còsagach winter picnic', arriving all wrapped up with extra blankets, wishing to dine outdoors on our many garden bench seating areas. Some daytime customers even brought their own easy carry folding tables and chairs, and headed into the surrounding parkland to dine! In that process then starting us thinking about potential future Takeaway picnics!

We gradually refined the offering and packaging. Speakers placed at the front doors, and we got into a Euro downtempo groove! We were absolutely amazed at how our local community had so easily grasped the App process, with many arriving during the day for pre-designated Collection times, on foot. So we lit the fire pits to give a wee focal point for the warming of hands, of course one social distanced group at a time. 

Over the weeks to come, we then started introducing new offerings, and Posh Dogs arrived! These are custom-made for Balbirnie House, by our 3 decade and more local supplier J Henderson, 25% beef, 75% pork, cannae specify the secret seasoning mix, but it includes white pepper, nutmeg and mace. We specified at 7.5 inches, for serving in a 9 inch La Boulangerie brioche bun. A proper posh hot dog! 

We considered 'the cutting edge of Posh Dog innovation and combinations' elsewhere, and then started putting together some great combinations.

Then a veggie combo of Beetroot Falafel dog, spiced red pepper hummus, harissa mayo, lettuce, red onion, red chilli and crispy shallots! Thanking former Balbirnie Bistro Chef, now owner of Glasgow's amazing Cafe Strange Brew Laurie Macmillan for suggesting this combination. 

Next up, chicken burgers! Our breakthrough on that trial came with the introduction of Panko breadcrumbs, combined with chipotle barbeque sauce. 

All things rolling, we then added Takeaway Cocktails, 4 pint draught beers, and Brewdog canned beers. Love a can, especially the grapefruit-infused Elvis Juice! 

The cocktails have clever packaging, stauners, they stand up after being opened. 

To our surprise, the Negroni never sold very well, so we dropped it from the team! Every morning now, we have a designated Cocktail manufacturing and packaging area which springs into life! 

Next to add, were ice creams and sorbets in 2 litre tubs! Our in-house Caledonian Dairy has been making the finest such commercially-made products in Scotland for many years. We already supply across Scotland, distributed by Clarks Speciality Foods, so we thought it only logical to also enable these for Pre-Order Collection as well. 

Next introduction, was a small range of of Bistro Deluxe Ready Meals, focussed very much on wonderful value. We pre-manufacture these to Balbirnie House recipes, we then blast chill, vacuum-seal and store frozen whilst awaiting Collection. 

Re-heating is so straightforward, pop the unopened bag into boiling water! 

All re-heat times via App! 

We've now gone live with our first ever Pre-Order, Collect and Cook at Home, in the form of our brand new Royale Super Tasty burger (and seasoned wedges) kits for two. Again, all instructions via App. These burgers offer a double Emmental hit, with white onion, bacon, and a secret recipe sauce which contains liquid smoke! Truly a delicious burger. I'd go as far as putting my personal tuppence on this, saying it's actually the tastiest burger I've ever had!

In February 2021 we ran an extreme value Itison voucher campaign, two main courses and two soft drinks for a tenner, Mondays to Fridays. We allocated 2,500 meals for two, these sold within 48 hours, so we added a further 250. 

At this point we decided to allocate a further 100 meals for two donated to Glenrothes Foodbank, and by circumstances alone this was Scotland's very first such 'good cause system', combining hard copy voucher, redemption codes, and App collection. The Foodbank raffled all vouchers, raising £1,000 for new purchases.

Our customers were repeatedly telling us that the Itison deal was ridiculous value, so for March we repeated but moved it up £2 to £12 for two mains and two soft drinks, but cranked the choice to include Chicken Satay Skewers, Chilli con Carne, Royale Super Tasty, Beetroot Falafel Dog, and Fish'n'Chips. This offer has kept us very busy Mondays to Fridays. All of it, a rapid learning experience. 

However, all of the above Takeaway operations has been focussed in and around our main kitchens, and as things stand today, these kitchens are certainly going to be needed to be used for something else April 26th 2021 onwards, the re-launch of Bistro al Fresco. In passing, this will be located on the right lawn below in 10 brand new dark green Gazebos. On days when we don't have weddings, available 12 noon, 2pm, 4pm, 6pm, 8pm. On days when we have weddings, only 6pm and 8pm.

So, what happens to the Balbirnie Takeaway? Which is now rolling steadily at a constant 20 grand a week, with potential therefore for us to look to create new jobs, and continue offering great Takeaway value for local Community. 

Well ... this is what happens! You see, the Takeaway originated for what we thought would be a few weeks at most, but we've set the systems and seen it establish, and we've also watched as ongoing customer reviews continue rolling in, very close indeed to 100% total delight! Customers certainly love the convenience of pre-arranged Collection times, it's a total contrast to being parked in a very slow takeaway queue of cars for a conventional national chain 'order at the speaker and then drivethrough', and it's an opposite of needing to find a parking space and then walk, wait and collect. 

It's crossed our mind that we could perhaps offer local deliveries as well, that's a potential for the future. Stating the obvious, many customers are already simply arranging their collections by booking a local taxi driver. 

On all combined basis, we have therefore decided to take one of our other four kitchens (currently multi-purpose), and convert it into a designated Takeaway kitchen. This is a significant investment in future capabilities. 

We cannot even begin to find the words to thank our local community for supporting us so incredibly during all lockdowns, so this is Balbirnie giving something back, with a permanently established great value great produce Takeaway for Fife. And we will only keep getting better at what we are offering as well. 

Here's the layout design: 

This is a full-on installation, with seven A4 pages of equipment! 

The investment is significant: 

Today, I'd like to highlight two particular pieces of new kit. 

Drum roll please ... 

The brand new Balbirnie House Josper Grill. We first saw this at Hotelympia a few years ago, and it's a quite incredible piece of kit, a combined oven and grill which is fired with wood charcoal. Matching our brigade entrance doors and kitchen floors, ours is custom-designed with the door finished in Balbirnie blue.

If you cook a roast at home, your oven will be circa 200 degrees, the Josper is up at 350 degrees, meaning for example, that a butterflied chicken breast can be roasted in literally 3 minutes! 

('The Mighty Josper' - Image via twitter, @HawksmoorLondon)

Moving ahead, our Josper is going to deliver absolutely unprecedented capabilities for Takeaways. The Royale Super Tasty certainly goes to a flame-grilled level of Tastiness, which is totally off the scale! 

Next, drum roll please ... 

Our current Takeaway pizzas are 12 inch thin'n'crispy Sourdough. 

The Turbochef is going to enable us to move pizza manufacturing however, into totally new territory, with ability to create brand new Balbirnie Deluxe pizzas, sized at up to 16 inches! Dominoes as one example, their large pizzas are 13.5 inches. 

Our contemplation for Balbirnie Deluxe pizzas actually began in earnest in early summer 2020, with very detailed specific input from our former Operations Manager Scotland's former Young Hotelier of the Year, Erdal Ozer. This was us, sat for hours talking about the potential making of dough! 

Erdal has amassed wonderful experience elsewhere, in terms of the art of creating dough for Deluxe pizzas. Because without shred of doubt, it is indeed an art, and certainly a source of great pride amongst Fife's many Turkish-inspired Takeaways. Our sincere thanks to the team at Istanbul Takeaway Leslie, for having me along one evening in summer 2020, to see exactly how their pizzas are created. It's an extremely precise process. Erdal will be personally briefly returning to Balbirnie House in late April, to help oversee our first outgoing Balbirnie Deluxe Pizzas. 

With everything on the go, we've also decided to invest in our very own custom-designed packaging. All as environmentally-friendly as it can possibly be done. 

When we start providing the backdrop once again for weddings, our main entrance and front steps will need to be kept clear for weddings and associated photography. So, our Takeaway Collection point will be shifting, to a new point and car turning circle at our North Courtyard, new signage is installing to show the way. 

A massive thanks to our local Community for supporting the hotel over these recent months of Takeaway, and we very much look forward to being at your future service. 

All best wishes, 

Nicholas 

MD Balbirnie House 

BALBIRNIE HOUSE AND THE HOSPITALITY MIRACLE!

A few days ago, a single tweet on our main twitter: 

Over 30,000 Impressions!

So I thought it would be relevant to expand on this with today's Blog post, because where I am writing from, in the capacity as Balbirnie's managing director who also has the working responsibilities of finance director, it is undoubtedly the case, that all combined circumstances are certainly a hospitality miracle. 

After the initial March 2020 lockdown Scotland Hospitality was only able to re-open with restricted social distanced trading on July 6th 2020. Many hotels however, said they would only re-open if they could trade in an unrestricted way, and therefore they have remained shut, and still as of today they don't even know when they will be able to re-open. 

Back in July 2020 hospitality thought that it would perhaps be a few further weeks of delay, and here we are now, 9 months later, with still no sight of re-opening dates. 

I cannot begin to say how important it has been for Balbirnie House to have opened on July 6th 2020, and then continued onwards doing anything possible to keep going and fighting for our very survival, because if we had remained closed, I'm absolutely unsure if we would ever have been able to physically afford to re-open. 

To explain, from initial 3 month Lockdown: 

So, if we had closed in entirety, basically, for an entire year - the accumulated loss would have been somewhere approaching £1.6M - and in endeavouring to borrow that entire sum using government-backed lending, we would have needed to satisfy very specific lending criteria, in being able to prove to our bank that we would be able to repay that amount within the 6 years which are provided via CBILs. Proof of ability to repay, via financial forecasting and cash flows, as then signed off and agreed with the professional understanding and opinions of company auditor. If we had fully closed, we would no longer have any future diarised wedding and special event business, so we wouldn't even have been able to start any financial forecasting, let alone defining how we could begin to make an additional annual bank repayment of £320,000 plus Interest!!! 

And these comparisons dear readers, are situations in which many hospitality industry colleagues are now finding themselves in. Closed and unable to afford to re-open. This is why there are already specialists offering help in advising hotel owners how to begin to 're-purpose' their hotels. I would imagine that many smaller hotels will revert back into becoming private houses, and larger hotels will be converted into flats.

And it's not even as simplistic as stating it at what would have been £1.6M, because that's without even additionally factoring what would be needed to be made in terms of reinvestment, in necessary ongoing repairs, refurbishments, and renewals - these never stop at Balbirnie House. In reality, that figure would therefore have been nearer £2M ... 

I am absolutely shocked to the very core of my being to say this, but since the March 2020 Lockdown, many Scotland hotels and hospitality business owners (with Rateable Value above 51k), have literally only received circa £30,000 in financial business support. It frankly defies belief. There has been no equivalent whatsoever of furlough for businesses, and owners have needed to somehow continue to endeavour to pay all ongoing costs. Politicians talk about giving support, the sentiments are expressed, but the reality is truly, absolutely appalling. Near non-existent. And it is against that backdrop that we have somehow traded our way through. 

It is even worse, across the span of the entire wedding industry, many businesses have had nearly zero financial assistance, and many individuals have been basically left to fend for themselves, supported only via Universal Credit. 

Setting aside a late summer week on a secondment project elsewhere, since re-opening July 2020 I personally haven't been able to justify taking a day off work. What I have done is ensure I've maintained IronMan training, getting out in the fresh air every day, with some music on the headphones has given very valuable thinking time, wondering as always what I can do to best support brigade colleagues, and do our collective best for community. 

In the immortal March 2020 words of our (three decade long relationship) highly valued insurance broker Graeme Christie of Marsh Commercial, 'For hospitality, this is going to be the survival of the fittest!' Back then of course, we were only contemplating a closure of 'up to 12 weeks', nobody had any idea it would become a year, and longer! 

So instead of the £1.6M loss, we consolidated our finances in summer 2020 with a new 200k overdraft, and a 300k CBILs loan, took the pain of 4 calendar months of lockdown and loss of all revenue in what are traditionally always financially productive months, and then re-opened into restricted trading, but unable to deliver for large weddings. That was time therefore, for Balbirnie's brigade to think out the box! 

Summer 2020 Bistro al Fresco was amongst the most enjoyable Hospitality we've ever seen at Balbirnie House. We started by saying 'We've got 10 gazebos, there's a dozen of us on duty, and we can only bring more colleagues back to work, if we are busy enough to justify this!' 

Within days we were catering for up to 300 diners per day, with all new systems delivering App safety and records, in conjunction with 2 metre social distancing. We were absolutely staggered at the level of local community support. 

Having also paid the many re-opening costs, we were soon back to actually almost breaking even, from a standing start! In all contexts, that was a quite incredible circumstance.

In designing al Fresco f + b systems which were created for one kitchen and 100 daily diners, managing the process of accelerating to one kitchen and 300 daily diners, this was a lot of hospitality fun, many classic Balbirnie dishes blending with multiple new offerings. I started operating 'The Pass' on day one, this is the area in which we finish food presentation, then tray up ready for service. Very quickly we were rolling at one outgoing tray per minute. First time I've ever worked in shorts!

Into September 2020 and the end of summer meant basically, shifting Bistro al Fresco inside, divided between our Orangery, and 'Food in the Woods' in our Millennium Ballroom, all with 2 metre social distancing. 

This also hit the ground running, and we were on a roll until we needed to close to non-residents after 6pm, and stop selling alcohol unless it was into hotel bedrooms, or what we then created outside, 'The Courtyard Bevvy Zone'. 

All ongoing restrictions then began to hinder basically, everything. December 2020 was the absolute worst of all combined possibilities, huge restrictions, no alcohol sales, inability to trade at night, but with all bills to pay. It therefore went down as our worst operating month in history. And then, it got even worse, 'You need to shut down again on Boxing Day!' Hardly any notice, anything that we could have delivered over New Year, cancelled! 

From a financial perspective, it was then either, here comes 2021 so: 

- Shut the doors, maintain 24 hr security and start losing 5 grand a day again, or

- Offer Takeaway, maintain 24 hr security, and maybe we might end up losing a significant amount less than 5 grand a day. 

So, that's when we stepped on up for New Year, and into another new gear! The Balbirnie House takeaway opened on 27th December 2020. What we didn't say at that point, was that we had been contemplating this for months, and whilst chippie batter recipes are always trade secrets, we had absolutely nailed our new fish batter. To perfection! 

And what happened in the following week then left us completely lost for words. 

- To our astonishment, by introducing Takeaway, we were therefore subsequently able to make our way through January 2021, and 'only' lose 2 grand a day, and that pattern continued through February, boosted by selling 2,750 Monday to Thursday extreme value vouchers, a campaign which has repeated again in March. 

Since re-constructing our finances in summer 2020, we therefore made it to March 2021 without accessing new lending, but have now needed to introduce a further 100k to support cash flow. That 9 months without borrowing more money, that was our hospitality miracle. 

We thank our local Fife community for supporting Balbirnie House through these many challenges, we have been truly astonished to see such ongoing support. 

We thank everyone who has continued to hold wedding bookings. Since the beginning of Lockdown 1, we've only had 12 wedding clients who could not continue to hold bookings, everyone else has stayed with us and kept their bookings, albeit in a 30 phase process of management which has been the most profound hospitality challenge that we have ever seen. Many clients have needed to move dates once, twice, three and even four times. 

Incredibly today, we now have verging 300 future weddings booked. 

As we continue to wait for dates and numbers for unrestricted trading, our future diary and all bookings are at their best in history. To feel that level of support physically there for the future, is what drives determination and the absolutely committed desire to survive, and not only to survive, but to make sure that she ... Balbirnie House ... is ready and waiting for our clients, in as best shape as she has ever been presented to in history. (We are now finalising complete refurbishments of seven of our thirty-four bedrooms and bathrooms, so that when we do open, we are able to open all bedrooms presented to levels which are pristine.) 

We count our blessings that we have been able to keep our wedding planning team in place, to manage all of this incredibly challenging ongoing Special Event process. 

I can't say that things have been easy operationally since we re-opened in July 2020. The challenges we have been through have been the making of many in our brigade, certainly eye-opening as well. We've also seen multiple members of the brigade departing, citing personal circumstances and the generalities of the many mental challenges arising from the pandemic itself. Our thoughts with one and all. 

A massive thanks to our suppliers, many of whom have gone to extraordinary lengths to help us, amongst the angst of their own supply chain challenges as well. 

And a very special thanks to our HSBC Business Banking Relationship managers, Scott Shankland and Steve T Cummings. Together with Mark Gibson, partner at EQ Accountants. 

Many of the unfolding circumstances we are now hearing from prospective new wedding clients are so sad, there are literally no words. It pains me beyond belief to tell you this, but due to near total lack of relevant government financial support for what is going be more than a year, across the span of hospitality and wedding sectors, there are many couples who are now holding wedding dates within hotels and wedding venues which will never be able to afford to re-open. There are many couples who are now very quickly realising that this is very sadly the case. Our thoughts with all those who are finding themselves in that situation, and please do get in touch if there is anything we can do to arrange a replacement future date at Balbirnie House. 

And to conclude on a positive, we cannot begin to imagine the joy, in seeing weddings which have needed to postpone dates, now go ahead. Bring on the dates and numbers! 

All best wishes, 

Nicholas / MD Balbirnie House