A SOMERSET farm shop says it has survived the impact of lockdown restrictions including the closure of its café thanks to the magnificent support it had from customers and staff (June 2020).
Rumwell Farm Shop has adapted to the Government’s social distancing rules, launched a new web-based ordering system, re-deployed its catering teams to handle online orders and opened a new bakery.
Anne Mitchell, Joint Owner of Rumwell Farm Shop, which is located on the A38 between Taunton and Wellington, said: “At this difficult time, we are extremely grateful to our loyal and new customers, who have continued to shop with us or have started to shop local and have respected the safety measures we have had, understandably, to put in place.
“We were so grateful that our customers and staff have supported us fully, that we’ve been able to open every day and we’ve been in a position to help the people in our local community, some of whom were self-isolating or elderly. We feel we are a local farm shop for local people and our motto has always been, food you can trust from a family that cares.
“When the panic buying set in, we coped by reordering as quickly as we could to try to meet the demand. However, we did struggle to get what we required. We are lucky though that we have our own farm and have a good supply of free-range pork and beef, eggs and potatoes virtually on our doorstep. We also create many of our products onsite such as our cakes, jams, chutneys, pork pies, quiches, frozen ready meals and soups. Where we can, we source other products locally and support British suppliers, farmers, growers and makers.
“We would also like to thank our wonderful staff members, some of whom have had to change their roles within the business during the pandemic to cope with demand. As soon as the lockdown commenced, we started work on our new online shop and launched it for deliveries and collections for our customers.
“Even though our café closed on March 20 due to the Coronavirus pandemic and subsequent restrictions, our staff members, who would have normally been working in there, were redeployed to help with organising the orders for our deliveries and click and collect orders.
Overnight the Rumwell café turned into a food delivery hub and the café staff members were retrained to collect and pick orders for deliveries. Other café staff members were able to help in the shop, butchery, deli, bakery and on the Mitchell family farm just four miles away.
Anne added: “We put in place procedures at the shop to protect customers and our staff from the virus. This included moving the tills, as well as adding perspex screens for shielding and hand sanitising stations. We also limited the amount of people in the shop at one time and people had to stay two meters apart. We also intensified our cleaning routines throughout the shop. These are all procedures still in place.
“We also used the time to make improvements to the farm shop including to our veranda and garden area, as well as laying a new floor in the shop area. We also added new display units for our bread, cakes and fruit and veg.
“To add to all this, during the lockdown we opened our new Bread Bakery. This enables us to offer fresh bread and cakes daily to our customers. We are hoping to be able to do an official launch of the bakery later on in the year, when restrictions on social distancing may have been removed and we’ll be inviting customers and staff to celebrate with us.
“We are looking forward to when we will be able to open our café once again. We are currently putting measures into place for our customers and staff so we can safely operate it if we are allowed to open it in July. There will be a separate entrance and exit to the café to avoid customers queuing in the shop plus fewer tables and these will be two metres apart. We will also open our large seating area outside. We will adhere to government guidelines at all times and customer and staff safety will be paramount.”
Rumwell Farm Shop is an independent, family-run, award-winning business owned by the Mitchell family. It was originally a potato store, when David and Anne Mitchell began selling their potatoes and free-range eggs at the gate.
Due to customer demand, the range of products soon increased, and the farm shop grew into the place it is today. David and Anne’s sons, James and Jack, are now also involved in the business, as well as daughters-in-law Sophie and Donna.
Rumwell Farm Shop has a traditional butchery counter selling free range pork and Aberdeen Angus beef reared just four miles away on the family farm. There is also a delicatessen, bakery, jam kitchen, food hall, wine cellar and gift room.
Home grown potatoes are also still available, when in season, as well as everything from fruit, vegetables and groceries to plants, flowers, gifts and cards.
For more information, please call Rumwell Farm Shop, which is located in Rumwell between Taunton and Wellington, on 01823 461599, visit www.rumwellfarmshop.com, follow the company on Twitter at www.twitter.com/rumwellfarmshop or log on to www.facebook.com/Rumwellfarmshop.
