Bouncing Back Q&A: Andrew Lundy, Vino Wines

By Jo Gilbert

Published: 24 August, 2021

It’s been a one-of-a-kind 18 months for the trade. Here, as we begin to push into the second half of the second year of the pandemic, Harpers is catching up with businesses to find out how they’re focusing on recovering from the shock, and what challenges and opportunities lie ahead.

We continue our series with views from Andrew Lundy, MD, Vino Wines.

How ‘back to normal’ are you as a business?

Is it possible to be back to normal yet? We still have the number one focus of safety for staff and customers. We have increased the numbers of customers slightly, but we still have one store where we only let one customer in at a time.

What are your priorities and predictions for the second half of 2021?

Keep the team safe through the tourist season is priority one. Predictions though...it feels like anything is possible from a pandemic perspective. From a business angle it would be nice to see some of the corporate business return. We have some big clients who are not considering office-based working, let alone entertaining.

What kind of Christmas are you anticipating and how are you prepping?

Last year was snipped off with lockdowns despite a strong start, this year should be a reaction to the previous two years. Big big big magnums and spending. What has been hugely significant for us in the last six months especially has been the levels of support from suppliers. Information is key when we are not in certain times and knowing what isn’t coming is just as important as knowing what is. We will I’m sure be more reactive to changes than ever before.

Do you anticipate making a full recovery from the pandemic? What timeframes are realistic?

I have been consistently blown away by the energy of the support we see from our customers, they love having us and have ensured we will come back stronger. Once greater numbers can gather for parties, celebrations and events we will be back to well above pre-pandemic sales.

How heavily have you been impacted by staffing issues?

Aside from a couple of self-isolations due to contact tracing, not one of our team has been sick from Covid-19. I was surprised that we did not get more applicants for a position we had in spring time. I would have bet my house on getting big numbers of great applicants. We got a fantastic new member of the team who is just perfect but if they had taken another role elsewhere, we had few other candidates. I put this to melting-pot Edinburgh, traditionally having a lot of staff from all over Europe and beyond. Brexit has made it a hostile environment for EU citizens, unfortunately. Couple this with furlough perhaps being a safer choice in the short-term?

Are you anticipating more Covid-related restrictions?

A hard question. I cannot see Westminster funding more restrictions and without funding it will be hard to lockdown any sections of society without a strong backlash.

How have drinking habits changed post-lockdown?

Spending ourselves happy was a thing for lockdown one. Not in volume particularly, but certainly in the quality of what is being drunk. Alcohol-free was again big for us as people looked to other options.

Lastly, if you could make one change in government tomorrow, what would you choose?

[Bites fist]. Proportional representation.

Quick-fire questions:

France, Spain or Italy?

Spain.

USA or Oz?

USA.

Port or Sherry?

Port.

English bubbles or Champagne?

Champagne.

Go-to drink to watch with the Olympics / tennis / football?