A CATERING company which specialises in Polish food has been forced to adapt to overcome huge problems caused as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.

The family run Old Granary Pierogi serves up homemade food at festivals throughout the year, but their trade for 2020 dried up effectively overnight when events were cancelled.

This week, the trio should have been at Hay Festival, but this was cancelled in March and organisers said it would put the not-for-profit event in “immediate financial jeopardy”.

Some events are being held online in the first digital Hay Festival, but it still means one of Old Granary Pierogi's big income streams has been lost for this year.

"This year we've basically had to erase it from our books because we were supposed to start on April 23 but that didn't happen," said Emilia Koziol-Wisniewski, who set up Old Granary Pierogi in Herefordshire six years ago.

"We don't expect there will even be one festival we will be going to this year, basically for us it's between April and October, and maybe one event in November, and that's about that.

"We work really hard to make sure that we have enough to cover all the leases and rent for the winter months. Sometimes we do go to other jobs over the winter.

"For the business, this year that's not going to happen. We're just trying to think of what else we can do to hold up basically, to save our business from bankruptcy."

Having started off selling food in street markets, for the last two years the business has been focussed on festivals.

But now, Mrs Koziol-Wisniewski and her family have started takeaways from their premises in Marden, near Hereford in an attempt to recoup some of the lost income.

On a Friday evening they offer traditional Polish food, and every Sunday they serve up roast dinners.

"We are trying to do everything we can to keep us going for the time being," she said.

"Normally at this time of year we would be busy cooking for the festivals, we'd go from one to another. For now, we've got everything cancelled and this year is basically a write-off."

She added: "We've decided to start serving our food here in Herefordshire, if we can't go further afield and nationally as we normally do, we will deliver and people can collect from our kitchen in Marden.

"That's what we've been doing for the past three weeks, a takeaway of some kind."

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