A Dundee hotel boss is hoping to help those less fortunate on Christmas Eve by delivering hundreds of meals that would have otherwise gone to waste.
Glenn Roach, owner of Perth Road venue Taypark House, says the business will have nearly 300 portions of Turkey that won’t be eaten by customers.
Taypark House is one of many venues that has suffered after Nicola Sturgeon advised people to socialise less in the run up to Christmas amid the threat of Covid-19 strain Omicron.
Glenn, former executive head chef at the Rusacks St Andrews, said he has seen a number of cancellations.
Last week The Courier reported how the hotel had 100 cancellations in 24 hours.
And he says he was unable to cancel the orders from suppliers, leaving them with a huge surplus of food.
Rather than freezing them or putting them in the bin, Glenn has decided to donate the meals to local people in need and deliver turkey with all the trimmings on Christmas Eve.
He said the idea came from a staff member during a meeting on Saturday and is the first time they have done something like this.
Glenn said: “We had pre-ordered the food from our supplier without realising what was going to happen, and for whatever reason our supplier wasn’t going to take it back.
“So I thought we might as well do something with it and one of my members of staff suggested donating it to charity which is when I went on LinkedIn and Facebook and asked people to help out.
“The amount of people who have offered to help out is incredible, I’ve had more than 100 Facebook messages.”
And now thanks to the help of Social Good Connect, all of the dinners are being delivered across Dundee and the surrounding area.
Anyone who wants to help deliver the meals is encouraged to message Taypark House on Facebook or get in touch with the hotel.
‘We don’t understand the full crisis’
Glenn said that while he is glad to be able to help local people in need, the issue is a lot more widespread.
He said: “The amount of people that are struggling for a meal on Christmas Day is ridiculously high, we don’t understand the full crisis and the amount of people that will go without.
“Even the 300 meals we are providing is not going to be enough to help everyone.
“If this is a success and this year it goes very well, it is something we may think about doing every year, we hope to keep it going.
“The community also need to get together and help fix the problem. It is a much bigger issue that is at hand here.
“I didn’t always have the best circumstances growing up so I understand a little bit of what they are going through.”
Glenn described the past few months as “tough” and while he is usually a positive person, it has been hard to stay this way in the current climate.
He said some businesses will sadly struggle to survive.
He said: “It’s going to be what it is going to be, the government are not going to change their minds.”
