Sheffield mac n' cheese kitchen 'hopeful' for the future after support from The Star
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Macpot has received a £25,000 government grant, was accepted on to the furlough scheme to pay staff wages and has seen its business rates halved.
It comes after the paper raised the company’s case with HMRC - and publicised a fundraiser which raised £3,000.
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Hide AdHatty Webster, co-founder of Macpot, said: “Thanks to The Star for your support. It brought a big amount of pressure that let the little guy get heard. That backing was a massive coup for us.
“I’m sure our MP would not have been so pro-active and we can actually see how many people clicked through from The Star’s story on our crowdfunder and donated.
“Six weeks ago we had no options - now the future is looking hopeful.”
Macpot, in Orchard Square, was set up by sisters Emily and Hatty Webster in February.
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Hide AdIt had a busy first month, with some people coming three times a week, Hatty said, until it had to close due to lockdown on March 20.
It registered with HMRC before furlough but didn’t hear back until after the deadline on March 19, resulting in it being shut out from the scheme.
Separately, the firm was denied a hospitality grant because its rateable value was too high - but the figure was based on the premises before they were divided in two. Macpot is in the upstairs unit. When that was sorted out they received a £25,000 grant. And with the ‘extra’ campaign money they paid the team 100 per cent of salaries.
Now the firm is doing home deliveries of chilled meals, hosting events on its terrace - the rules permit up to 30 people, Hatty said - developing cooking ‘kits’ and aiming to reopen soon.