Langley catering company shocked by customer requests against COVID restrictions

LANGLEY (NEWS 1130) — The owner of a catering company in Langley can’t believe the requests her business has been getting this week.

People are still contacting the Well Seasoned: A Gourmet Food Store, to provide food for large parties despite health guidelines prohibiting large gatherings.

Owner Angie Quaale tells NEWS 1130 the company says she’s shocked people are still holding parties.

“So it was a bit shocking this week to receive three separate requests from three separate groups, asking us to cater,” she says.

“Typically, we (did) cater parties pre-COVID … We did a lot of custom catering in people’s homes and at offices … But obviously, since COVID, we’ve been following the provincial health orders and not participating in events that are outside of all of those orders, and we’ve been following strict COVID protocols.”

Quaale says she responded to the customers with a link to the provincial health order and reminded them having parties during the pandemic isn’t a good idea.

“I do know that there are caterers out there that are taking these jobs and booking these catering events, and I get it, times are really tough. Small businesses are really struggling. And there are people who are willing to take the work but, unfortunately, people aren’t perhaps taking this as seriously as they should be,” she says.

Quaale adds the catering company, which also has a storefront, had to deal with a customer not willing to follow their health protocols on Wednesday.

“We had a customer in our store who refused to sanitize their hands and so we asked her not to come in,” Quaale explains. “So she took to social media to criticize us and our policy and unfortunately, she didn’t get the reaction she was looking for.”

Thankfully, she says customers defended and supported her business.

“We’re working so hard and struggling every day just to keep our customers happy and keep our employees safe and our store open or business functioning, and then to have somebody just, you know, not agree with a policy that we’ve created and take to social media to try and shame us and prevent people from stopping at our stores is really disheartening.”

Quaale says if there are people who don’t follow their in-store protocols, she expects customers to preorder their food or use the company’s curbside service order.

“If you’re not prepared to participate in the general rules of the pandemic, find alternative ways of not participating. You don’t have the right to belittle and yell at retail staff or anybody for that matter, because you don’t agree with somebody’s policy around their business and their efforts to keep their own people safe.”