An Indian restaurateur in New Plymouth has come with a special offer for essential workers, selling meals at a meagre rate of $5.
Bach on Breakwater Café & Restaurant owner Rahul Radhakrishnan had an idea to give back to the community, especially essential workers who were on the frontline during the last five weeks in Alert Level 4 doing their job for the community.
Speaking to the Indian Weekender earlier today, Rahul Radhakrishnan said ‘The Lunch Box’ was the concept he had developed long back as a part of business expansion and had planned to implement it sometime last month. But, due to the lockdown, the concept was kept on hold.
As soon as Alert Level 3 was announced, he planned of implementing this concept now since takeaways in New Zealand were given a green signal to operate.
The Lunch Box concept kicked off on Tuesday, started from Tuesday, Day 1 of the Alert Level 3, comprises of a handsome lunch meal that includes a salad, a savoury and a dessert, all for just $5 for the essential workers.
Essential workers included healthcare workers, police officers, firefighters and supermarket staff who worked hard on the frontline during the last five weeks of lockdown.
For other members of the community, the meal was on offer for $10.50 (pick up) and $2 extra for delivery.
“As a business owner, I wanted to do something for those essential workers who had dedicated their time and efforts working on the frontline during the last five-week lockdown, and this is the least I could do for them,” Rahul told The Indian Weekender.
The Lunch Box’s regular customers are from pharmacies, MediCross Urgent Care and GP Clinic, Taranaki Base Hospital, and he has now received two bulk orders, one from a rest home and the other from Countdown in New Plymouth.
“My initial plan was to get this distributed or available around the city centre but since Port of Taranaki advised to keep the gate to the Lee Breakwater car park closed during Alert Level 3,” Rahul added.
As more people are now coming out for work and travel, preparing food for their lunch can be a big task, and this lunchbox, especially for the essential workers will be a great help when they can take a break and enjoy a good meal with dessert for just $5, Rahul added.
Essential workers can call and place an order, and restaurant staff will deliver the lunch box to place accessible to the essential worker without coming in contact with the delivery person.