TWO young Bedford mothers were smiling again last week after an emotional roller-coaster recently when their jobs hung in the balance.
Simonique Arens and Ruth-Anne Rex are the friendly faces behind the counter at the Sugar Shack fast food eatery on Hope Street. “We love our work because the customers love our food,” said Rex who worked in restaurants in Cape Town before coming home to Bedford. This is a first job for Arens.
Recently Sugar Shack owner Garth Bishop faced the fact that now is the time for real retirement and he announced the closing of the ‘retirement’ project which he has run with passion and ingenuity for 15 months. A startled community heard the Sugar Shack was closing on May 31.
The decision took his two devoted staff members completely by surprise. “We had no Plan B,” said Rex although they knew that Bishop would never leave them completely in the lurch.
On June 1, two days after Bishop’s announcement, the Langstons of Adelaide decided to take over the business and all the equipment. Ross Langston is the manager on the ground and he said, “I have always wanted to get into catering and when we saw Garth’s notice on e-mail, we made the snap decision to take over Sugar Shack.”
Langston was radiating excitement when we visited the shop on his first day (Monday, June 4).
He said there wouldn’t be any immediate changes. Business would continue as usual while he got the feel of the trading environment.
Bishop is very pleased to be able to hand his project over into good hands and he has called on all of Bedford to give the new team the wholehearted support that he enjoyed.