A new Midlands company is hoping to turn the business tables on Covid-19 and help firms return safely to work.
Spray it Safe, based in Leamington, offers a spraying and anti-bacterial fogging service to commercial clients allowing staff to return to the workplace after the coronavirus lockdown.
The company has been formed by Ian Wallace, a director of catering firm Grace & Flavour, which saw its work all-but wiped out by the crisis.
The firm has delivered high-end catering for staff and conference guests across the region for 10 years and developed into a £2 million turnover company but, in March, the coronavirus crisis closed all event and catering venues around the UK.
Mr Wallace realised the sector would be one of the last to recover and identified a need to redeploy some of his team, protecting the core event and contract catering business for the future and building a new one offering disinfectant cleaning services.
All staff were already fully trained in hygiene and experienced in completing full deep cleaning as part of their day-to-day work.
Mr Wallace has also invested in cutting-edge electrostatic and fogging equipment and a full Covid-19 specific training programme to build on those skills to help other businesses also impacted by the crisis.
Spray It Safe uses ultra-low volume (ULV) foggers and electrostatic sprayers to cleanse offices and other workspaces allowing companies to prepare for a return of staff.
Mr Wallace said: “We had built up Grace & Flavour over 10 years and provided catering for a number of leading international and national companies but all that was threatened to be wiped out in a matter of weeks as the Government closed all hospitality operations.
“I’m sure there will be opportunities to deliver world class event catering and staff dining in the future, but right now we need to keep all of our options flexible.”
He added:“We have always put great emphasis on training and skills and it was a question of refining those attributes and using them in a different way to help other companies and organisations who are hoping to return to the workplace and want to do so knowing they have the highest hygiene and safety standards in place.
“We have put our staff through a full and rigorous training programme and have already had orders from hospitality and education organisations who see the benefits not only in ensuring the highest safety standards as they return to normal service, but also using this level of cleansing will bring reassurance to staff and customers which is vital as we start to recover.”
Spray it Safe is also developing a managed service which allows client businesses to deliver the chemical spraying themselves using their own teams but supervised through a management, supply and training framework on a subscription basis, and aimed particularly at restaurants, hotels and retail settings.
Operations director Jake Phillips said: “It has been great to see some of our original G&F team using the skills we have helped them develop, in a totally new way with our exciting new company.
“It will hopefully save jobs and also allow companies to resume their operations with confidence after what has been a torrid time.
“Lots of our previous event and hospitality clients are key players in the Midlands Engine and we are confident that we will be able to support them with this new service.”
