Surviving Lockdown 2020 – A Fruit and Veg Story

The streets are getting busy again, people are returning to work gradually and finally, we are starting to see some light at the end of the tunnel. It will be 90 days since I delivered my last training course. After that day, I was informed by pretty much all of the remaining customers and clients that I had in the diary that the work would not be needed as we were preparing for the inevitable ‘lockdown’.

Ninety days without any work.

Thankfully, the ground-breaking government Furlough Scheme meant that at least some of my wages would be covered and although the lost income was frustrating, I had my health and my outlook turned to only worrying about things that I could control. And a global pandemic spreading like wildfire through the country, killing thousands of people was definitely out of my remits.

One thing I could control though, was what I was going to do with myself to fill the time of lockdown. Write one of the best-sellers that everyone was planning on doing? Become a video blog sensation? Follow the wave after wave of social media based ‘challenges’? Or just download Tik Tok?

I’d be lying if I said that I didn’t attempt all of those things at some point over the last three months. But what I actually decided to do was offer my services to a local family owned and run fruit and veg company Raith Fruit. Initially this was done through a scheme run by Raith Rovers Football Club to deliver free fruit and veg packs to elderly and vulnerable supporters in the local community. But my job soon took on a more ‘full time’ basis and before long, I found myself arriving on the site at 0630 every morning, loading vans, making up orders, packing onions/carrots/potatoes into their new packaging and delivering orders to the local shops in the area and further afield.

Whilst the world was grinding to a halt, our little bubble at the back of an industrial estate in Kirkcaldy was carrying on as if nothing was wrong. Of course, new social distancing measures were put in place, PPE was supplied and there was a real emphasis on ensuring that Covid-19 remained as far away from the place as possible. Not just for the wellbeing of the staff, but for the sake of the business.

As part of the much needed supply chain, Raith Fruit found themselves in the category of essential and the staff (and volunteers) were seen as key workers. This allowed the business to carry on functioning whilst many others weren’t so lucky.

However, like many businesses all over the world, in the short space of just a week, Raith Fruit had found themselves in a position where their 75 year history as a family owned business was on the line. With no hotels, cafes and restaurants to supply to, the business had lost well over half of its customers in one fail swoop. Staff, vans, rates, and buildings still had to paid for and the customers who had remained opened still needed their services.

Like many in these difficult times, adapting and restructuring can be the only way to survive. And in situation where no one knows what the future will look like, survival mode is the only way act.  

A phrase that has stuck with me throughout the last 90 days was a quote from Peter Drucker; “The greatest danger in times of turbulence is not the turbulence; it is to act with yesterdays logic”.

 Another phrase was a more recent quote from Dr Michael Ryan from the World Health Organisation when he spoke about managing a pandemic and emergency; “Speed trumps perfection, and the problem in society we have at the moment is everyone is afraid of making a mistake - everyone is afraid of the consequence of error. But the greatest error is not to move. The greatest error is to be paralyzed by the fear of failure”.

With these two quotes in mind, the reaction from the father son duo; Andrew and Charlie Brady to the sudden changes to their fruit and veg business was incredible. Within a week, Raith Fruit and Veg had changed their customer base from supplying restaurants, local shops and hotels to selling their produce directly to the consumer.

This wasn’t just a case of flicking a switch. The process involved actually creating a product to sell. Rather than just dropping off a pallet of onions and potatoes to a restaurant, they were now having to package together specific types and quantities for households. ‘Variety boxes’, ‘The Berry Box’ and an ‘Essential Box’ to name a few. They then had to get these products out to the local public so they know what they could get and how they could get them. An e-commerce website was built in a few days, a Facebook page launched and a new online order system was integrated into the warehouse for staff to be able to take the orders and then make them for the demand.

Within just 10 working days, Raith Fruit were now on the roads delivering fruit and veg directly to people’s doors as well as continuing with the demand from their current customers that they supply to. A change in business model, customer and system in a very short period of time. On a daily basis, up to 25-30 deliveries were going out all over Fife each day. The popularity of having fresh produce delivered directly to your house within 24 hours of ordering it was incredible.

But Andrew didn’t stop there. Keen to continue to offer a unique service, he realised the huge potential in buying and supplying local. The pandemic that was going on was decimating local businesses and naturally the bigger supermarkets and organisations, were surviving and thriving as people stocked up on supplies. Andrew began to add locally sourced ‘extras’ to his product line that were related to fruit and veg but also added more value and something a bit different; DIY Pizza Kits supplied by a local Italian Restaurant, Toasted Marshmallow sets, home-made Scottish Tablet, salted butter logs and locally made cheese sets were all added to his new website as well as an exotic list of condiments that were made in the unit next door to his.

The business has completely transitioned in a massive way, not just adapting to the current situation but thriving in it. For many businesses, the outbreak of Covid-19 has accelerated the changes that may have been a bit further down the road. The success of Deliveroo, Uber Eats and Just-Eat apps in bigger cities have shown that people are happy and content to have their food delivered directly to their door. The digitisation of something as simple as ordering a taxi has allowed Uber and other similar apps to thrive and proved that taking a simple task like ordering a cab and paying for it, can be made even easier with just a few taps of your finger on your phone.

Yes, people can still go to the supermarkets for their fruit and veg, and yes, it will likely be cheaper. But that’s not what this model is about. It’s about offering a service that takes away that hassle and provides a fresher product. The real incentive is that it is supporting local businesses. It’s being part of not just one friendly family owned business in the local area, but also the local farm that grows strawberries and raspberries, or the young lad who took his grandmothers tablet recipe and started to produce it on larger scale to sell.

Friday (12th June 2020) was my last day as a volunteer at Raith Fruit and I left with a slight hint of sadness that my ‘lockdown’ work experience was over. I’d been welcomed in by Andrew and his wife Kerry, his father and mother Charlie and Evelynn and all of the friendly staff.

Over the past 2 weeks, I’ve been having a look forward at what the future of my business and the training industry will be like and what changes I will have to make in order to adapt and survive in the new world post Covid-19. It’s a daunting task to say the least. The doors haven’t been completely opened up yet but the lockdown key is turning. There’s a new business world out there and those who don’t rely on yesterday’s logic and move quickly with the times will be the ones who can change and grow.