A fish shop owner is offering to deliver food to his customers for the first time as people become increasingly concerned over the coronavirus pandemic.
Kevin Peet has owned Peets Plaice in Churchtown Village in Southport for the past six years.
And while he has built up a strong network of business customers, delivering to local restaurants, schools, care homes, pubs and hotels, he has only ever served shoppers from behind the counter at his shop on Cambridge Road.
But over the past few days an increasing number of Kevin’s regular customers, some of whom are elderly, have voiced their concerns to him over the current Covid-19 situation.
So the keen local fisherman and business owner has vowed to fill up his specially refrigerated Peets Plaice van and deliver to people who prefer to stay in their homes across the Southport and West Lancashire area.
He said: “A few customers have come in to ask ‘if we are going to be stuck, would you come out and deliver to us’?
“We have been here in Churchtown for six years now, since moving here from Southport Market, and this will be the first time we have done home deliveries. We thought we needed to take action and play our part pretty quickly.
“At times like this it is about community support and helping people. Our customers have been very loyal to us over the years, so now we are doing this, showing our loyalty back to them.
“All they need to do is call me or email me with what they need and I will deliver the food fresh and straight to their front door. We will deliver anywhere in the Southport area, right up to Tarleton, or out to Ormskirk or Formby.
“People who have been coming into our shop have been telling me that they are getting worried about coronavirus, and the impact it might have. No-one really knows what is going to happen next.
“That is why we have decided to play our part and deliver food to people who need us to.
“All our fish and seafood is delivered wrapped in biodegradable paper, and we also have degradable carrier bags. We also offer a card payment system at the door for people as an alternative to cash.”
Kevin is able to deliver a wide range of fresh and frozen fish and seafood to people between Mondays and Saturdays. Deliveries over £30 will be free, with a £3 charge for anything under £30.
Customers can choose from over 50 products, with fresh fish such as cod, hake, salmon and halibut to frozen food including bags of Royal Arctic prawns, fish fingers, fishcakes and the famous Peets Plaice Southport potted shrimps – the perfect treat to keep in the freezer.
Kevin said: “We catch and pot our shrimps fresh ourselves off the coast of the Southport coast. They are great frozen, perfect to get them in and stock up for when you need them.
“Coming soon we will have a brand new website where people will be able to book their orders and pay online.”
People have different views on the current coronavirus situation.
Kevin, whose Peets Plaice shop has a 5 star food hygiene rating, said: “One customer came into our shop today and said ‘I am healthy, I won’t get coronavirus’. But I think it is a much more serious situation than some people are realising. We should just all keep washing our hands, and take any advice we get from the government.
“We have hand gel here in the shop for staff and customers, wash our hands all the time and wear gloves when we are serving. For people who are starting to get nervous about coming out to the shops, we are more than happy to start coming out to them.”
Kevin Peet can be contacted by calling 07877125999 or email sales@peetsplaice.co.uk
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