As we reopen our stores for takeaway (and now limited dining) we’ve revisited the COVID safety policy we launched in March. The steps we have implemented to keep you, our loyal customers, our teams and our suppliers safe.

Since opening in 2010, we’ve been very proud of our benchmark hygiene & safety policy and procedures, we’ve decided to further heighten these for the time being.

Some immediate specifics:

• We’ve increased our sanitisation regime throughout the day to cover more customer and staff frequent touch points. Our sanitiser is, of course, food grade (as required by the Dept of Health) so perfectly safe to use in store and kitchen environments.
• Our teams have had additional training regarding personal hygiene and hand washing (which is naturally important irrespective of current concerns) and we now have an hourly hand washing standard as a minimum in addition to our typical food handling glove use on all products.
• We removed communal disposable cutlery from stores and have replaced this with prepackaged, disposable cutlery which is available on request. Alternatively, why not bring your own from home, and help the environment too.
• Our store location landlords have all implemented their own plans, you will see more visible cleaning and sanitisation in the common areas where we operate.
• We have moved to become cashless. There’s still all the usual ways to pay, or you could consider loading some EARL Cash on your App.
• BYO coffee cups, for the time being, can only be used for contactless coffees, please discuss this with our staff when you order. We would love to continue using reusable cups, including in-store crockery where safe – we know it’s the right thing to do.
• For the stores that have seating available, appropriate distancing is in place & measures are in place for contact tracing.

Our approach is one of increased awareness & vigilance, all with a smile of course. We really appreciate your continued loyalty & welcome your feedback.

Jackie & Simon