Bluestone Bar and Kitchen's head chef Sam Bray had only been in his new position weeks before the COVID-19 pandemic hit.
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The 28-year-old was four weeks into his first head chef position, having worked in top restaurants in Montreal, London and Copenhagen, and was about to launch his menu before the lockdown began.
"I worked for a few years full time at MONA in the kitchen and then I got some slightly itchy feet and found out that it was an actual job in Tasmania to bush walk," he said.
"I never fully got out of the cooking game but I started to miss the kitchen full time.
"I was only just finding my feet ... I was very excited, I had printed the menus and had them fully ready to go and then it was announced [the restrictions]."
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Restrictions forced him to reinvent his menu for takeaway, almost immediately, and meant reduced hours. With international chefs and apprentices around him, Mr Bray put his hand up to cut back his own shifts to ensure the team could survive.
He said good chefs were hard to find and when you did you had to do what you could to keep them.
As restrictions have eased, the restaurant is back open and running in-house dinning again under Mr Bray's new menu.
However The Sebel owner Craig Richman said the publics support during the lockdown and since had been overwhelming.
"I can't overstate how overwhelming it was, as an owner of a business, to be supported by the local community like we were," he said.
"People who were regulars would come in get coffee during the day, they were coming in and getting takeaway at night."
Mr Richman said as it was Mr Bray's first head chef position it was a lot to handle but he went above and beyond to ensure the kitchen thrived.
"We had to turn around and say can you reinvent yourself and build a takeaway menu and he did," Mr Richman said.
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