As a small business we were extremely fortunate with our set-up when the first lockdown was announced. The Fish Island warehouse was about as isolated a workplace as you can get in London and it was a beautiful half-hour walk from our home along Regent’s Canal – so no need for any public transport. We had good stock of spices in the warehouse and with more of you cooking more than ever our sales boomed. The only problem? Baby Spice!
“Maternity Leave” is a very loosely-applied concept as a business founder, but I’d not anticipated being back at work in such a full-on, physical capacity so soon. (Particularly with zero childcare options!) Needless to say, Baby Spice loved it. Sure, it might have taken about five times longer to get the parcels out with her less-than-helpful contribution … but we got them out!
The entire past year has been such a strange time vacuum but the oddest thing of all for me is looking back through photographs from that summer where Flo went from a sedentary, sleepy baby to a toddler tearing round the warehouse. It’s where she took her first steps, where she ate her first lunchtime daal … and also developed a taste for cardboard!
In such a tough climate for small businesses the good fortune of already being set-up for remote sales was not lost on us, and the ability to get through it as a family is something which also fills us with gratitude and pride. I’m so pleased I took some photos while we were going through it all to capture what was such a strange time for us all.