Barry Nub News aims to support our community, promoting shops, businesses, charities, clubs and sports groups.

We will be profiling some of these businesses and organisations in a feature called 'Up Close in Barry'.

We visited Mexican street food and traditional café Lunch At Twelve to learn how they've faced the challenges of Coronavirus

When Lunch at Twelve opened 17 February last year, they couldn't have predicted where the business (and life as we know it) would be.

The team was forced to change the whole business model from catering plans to takeaways when the first lockdown hit, and while there's been challenges along the way, owner Neil Chidzey said the business is better off for it.

"Whilst we've been going through this, there's been periods where we were allowed to open but then we've still been hit really hard," said Neil.

"We lost all of our contracts for catering for the time being and it's purely now home delivery. It has really worked for us. "We've had to go to JustEat and Uber, and we're developed our own app as well. "We've managed to survive, but I wouldn't say that we're making a profit," he said. Front of house staff were furloughed, while the chefs stayed on to cook takeaway food. In fact, the team was able to retain all its staff and take on three delivery drivers. "It's hard because it's not just the financial aspect of it, it's also having to work within the Covid regulations and we're only a small kitchen," said Neil. "All of these guys come from restaurants, so to come into a takeaway service is a whole different ball game." After twelve months, Lunch At Twelve has built up its reputation for quality Mexican and traditional food. But Neil says they're always looking at how they can develop. "We continue to develop on our menu all the time. We have taken on another place as well, Number Nine," said Neil. "Initially with Covid everything closed down and people were looking for something new and unique within Barry. We had a unique market for Mexican. "Since then, we've had to update our menu to move forward with it. It's just a constant thing of how to refresh the business and keep people interested. "We use eco-boxes and bags. That gives us another unique aspect. We don't sell any alcohol, we did a BYOB which people did enjoy, when we were open and are considering applying for a licence. "We just want it to be a relaxed comfortable street food setting for people to enjoy good quality food as a family," he said. While Lunch At Twelve has had success with takeaways, it's been a huge learning curve for the team. "With our restaurant you have an interaction with customers about the food in person. With a takeaway you're taking a restaurant-quality meal and putting it into a small box," said Neil. "To try and present it right, keep it hot while it travels for ten minutes. Is the quality there, how does it look? You have to consider traffic, the flow of orders. The logistics of takeaways are just harder. "And you don't get feedback for maybe a day or so. In the restaurant it's instant, and you can fix it immediately. "We've cracked the takeaway now. Our head chef Lauren is unbelievable. "I've done 25 years in the industry and I've never seen anyone that cares as much as her. "There are chefs who just want to cook and deliver a meal. I've got a chef who is not only passionate but she wants everything to be perfect. I feel very lucky about that. "She understands the essence of our survival is on what food we do," he said. But survival has been tricky, especially as restrictions kept coming throughout December. The team had to cancel Christmas bookings, and though they received a grant on 7 December, Neil said they didn't get any additional help when the national lockdown was announced on 20 December. "In effect we probably lost £20,000 in a month," he said. "January has been slightly better, but we had no forecast for the month. We're ticking over and our name is getting better and better. "We look at the key dates for the year but we can't look too far ahead. There's no clarity about the future, we don't know how long we'll have to plan when there is a change. "Up to now, morale from both customers and staff has been good. We've got a team that are passionate about cooking. "But there was a point when we all had to sit down and have a chat, because we couldn't have the normal socialising after each shift and share how we were feeling." Another cost consideration is the delivery apps like JustEat and UberEats, which Lunch At Twelve relies on until its own app is launched.

"The percentages you pay for JustEat and UberEats are quite high. With UberEats you can have your own delivery drivers, but you can't on JustEat," Neil explained.

"Coming down to quality, we used one of the UberEats drivers on the first delivery and decided after that to use our own.

"You have a set time to prepare to food and deliver it in. We sat here once waiting for over an hour for a breakfast to be delivered.

"The driver it turned out had come from Swansea to Barry to deliver a meal that was then an hour late. It didn't represent the company in the right way.

"We do now have three of our own drivers: one during the week for us during the day, and a couple that come in for the weekend.

"We pay them by the hour, like we do our staff rather than per delivery, because we're a team. They can bring that customer service to the door," he said.

Every challenge that has come their way, the Lunch At Twelve team has risen to overcome it.

"Had it not been for Covid and the takeaway service I do wonder whether we would have just stayed as a small café in Barry, and how long would it have taken for us to get our name out there," said Neil.