Londoners have been struggling to get their food shopping done as panic buying triggered by the coronavirus crisis has emptied supermarket shelves, but some will soon be receiving food boxes prepared by a Michelin star-winning chef instead.
Andrew Wong, who serves up sophisticated interpretations of classic Chinese dishes at his restaurant in London’s Pimlico district, has had to abruptly close down along with the rest of the capital’s restaurateurs due to a government-mandated lockdown, Reuters reported.
He and his staff have started producing cook-at-home boxes which they plan to give free of charge to vulnerable people who are struggling as radical measures to curb the spread of coronavirus take effect.
The team plan to produce 50 to 100 of the boxes per day, dependent on available supplies. Distribution is a challenge, and they are in the process of working with local charities to make sure the boxes go to the people who need them most.
According to Reuters, wong’s annual turnover is usually in the millions of pounds, much of which is absorbed by the cost of employing 70 to 80 staff members at A.Wong and its sister restaurant, Kym’s, in the City of London financial district.
The chef said the seismic scale of the coronavirus pandemic mean his first thoughts are not on preserving his trade.
