Imagine setting out for work in the morning, heading down the familiar roads that you have driven so many times, usually filled with your fellow commuters, yet now you are the only car on the road. Imagine further, as you arrive at work and open up your store front, located on Hwy 10, usually a busy thoroughfare now dead, devoid of the usual evidence of people living their lives, you begin to wonder if you might be the only person left, if you’d some how exited reality and entered some sort of fantasy world.
If I had asked you to do this three years ago in 2019, or even in those first few months of 2020 before we knew what was to come, you might’ve thought that I was describing the start of some dystopian novel; now, however, everyone knows what I am speaking of. If, like Beth Vincer and her staff at Absolute Catering, you were also part of the few “essential workers” who still left the house to work in those early days, you likely experienced something very similar yourself.
A little over two years of a “global pandemic” later, of living through “history”, it seems hard to believe how unprepared we were, how completely off guard this entire thing took us. People were scared. People were confused. As a nation, as a world even, we didn’t know what to do or where to go next.
Having worked in the industry for 28 years, Beth had never imagined that there could be anything that could affect her life and business so completely, that could invade and change every part of it, and she was not alone in this. The problem with “unprecedented times” is that you have nothing to compare it to, no frame of reference or guidebook to follow. Like all of us, Beth and Absolute Catering were going in blind, and like all of us, they felt the fear, confusion, and yes, even the despair that came with it. All feelings that would have been tempting to give into, but there were 15 families depending on Absolute Catering, so as a team they came together. They agreed that hell or high water, they were going to fight to make this work, to keep it going.
Not only did that decision bring them closer as a team – over the last two years, they’ve seen and experienced the best and worst together – but it brought them closer to the community as well. With large events, or any events, at a stand still, their focus turned instead to their store front, and providing ready made meals for anyone who might need it. What had previously been a bonus, an after thought of “if we have the space anyway…”, has now become a staple, with fridges and freezers filled with either frozen meals for the week or chilled meals made that day and ready for that night’s dinner.
These days if you head into Absolute Catering, you will find yourself with a full option of foods, from their lasagna, home made soups and Thai chicken curry to vegan options; all food designed to provide comfort, warmth and of course amazing taste. While this move was an act of self preservation, a necessity to keep Absolute Catering going, an unexpected thing happened – it also brought the community to them.
In those early days, when fear and confusion ran wild, the small easy to control space Absolute Catering provided made many feel safer than the larger supermarkets. As more and more people came, and began coming regularly, Beth and her team got to know them, what they feared and what they needed. So many people were isolated in those days, it became about more than just the food; it became about the connection, that little bit of safety and humanity that they were able to give. Having the time and space to really talk to and connect to her customers has allowed Beth to meet so many more people, forming strong connections and gathering remarkable stories.
It wasn’t just Absolute Catering that was helping the community either, but the community that helped them in return. Whether it was through inviting them to cater charity events or simply donate money so that Absolute Catering would still be there when the world began to be more familiar again, the pandemic showed them, showed all of us, how connected we can be.
The past two years have truly been “unprecedented”, and it’s easy to dwell on all the hardships and divisions that it showed or created, but nothing is all one thing. As Absolute Catering showed, it’s also in those hard moments that the best of humanity shines. Let’s not forget we really are all in this together, and it’s together that we’ll all find the best way forward.
WRITTEN BY: JILLIAN KENT | RESOURCES: ABSOLUTE CATERING, MONO
