American Express Dining Awards 2020: The best Restaurants in South Africa Announced

Dear guest.

I would like to send you all my sincerest wishes of strength, courage and determination during this difficult time. Please take care of yourselves and your family.

We in South Africa are on a nationwide lockdown from Thursday 26th March.

I started The Test Kitchen in 2010 with a very small family of 5 employees. Over the years, our small business has grown to 4 restaurants comprising of The Pot Luck Club, the Shortmarket Club and Salsify at the Roundhouse. Our family has become bigger too, count prior to the COVID-19 pandemic stood at 203 employees.

We already closed all our restaurants on Monday the 16th of March to ensure the safety of our staff and patrons. We did this as a mandatory annual leave break and it was paid at full rate.

The government has offered to pay a flat fee of R3500 to each member of staff per month for the duration of this “State of Disaster”.

We as a company have purchased 2.5 tons of basic dry goods to assist the staff whilst we are closed.

In addition, the company has pledged to offer additional help, where possible, to our employees living in challenging conditions.

I would like you to consider donating to the welfare of our staff and their families.

Today (24 March 2020) I must address the team at The Shortmarket Club and retrench all of them as their simply is no money left after we pay them their full departure packages. I will honour my pledge to my staff, to find every last one them work when this nightmare passes.

We have a trust within our organization that is dedicated to the welfare of our people. It is called The Naturalis Trust.

I implore you all to give in this time of need and with your help we can all get through this and start again. 100 % of the funds will go to our staff.

You can do this by donating here. Each R100 donation makes a big difference.

Many thanks and stay strong and healthy.

Luke.

Luke.