Read Hitchin writer Neil Jensen on an enterprising local healthy food business that is flourishing during lockdown.

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There's no denying the pandemic has been a major setback for small enterprises everywhere including Hitchin and many have floundered over the past nine months, losing customers and money.

In any crisis, challenges are often accompanied by opportunities. It's an old adage, but in the business world, wherever there are hurdles, there are people trying to overcome them and turn defeat into victory.

But what do you do when a service economy is prevented from servicing its customers?

All over Britain, young business people have dug deep in their creative reservoirs to come up with commercial ideas.

With the world turning to their computer screens as their virtual high streets, the home-based magnate has tried to give the public something of what they want.

You don't have to go far to find personable folk aiming to provide customers with a wide range of goods and services.

As well as those that always work from their homes or out of buildings in their gardens, the pandemic has spawned food delivery experts, craftsmen, holistic health services, professional fashion advisers and a whole pantheon of creative services.

Everyone has had to adapt to a new paradigm. Life may never be the same again.

Meet Ping

I came across an interesting fellow in my village whose advertising literature came my way.

Ping's Kitchen is an Ickleford-based venture run by Alexander "Ping" Heathcote, an eclectic character who started his company at a difficult time, but has won a lot of friends by producing good quality food sourced almost entirely from local produce.

Ping earned his spurs in the catering industry the hard way. "I worked in a sweaty Soho basement which was a tough, stress-inducing ride which I just couldn't keep up.

"Back-to-back double shifts were unsustainable and pushed me near to breaking point.

"I had to create my own venture that allowed me to harness my passion for food while making a living, without sacrificing my mental and physical health to the man," Ping told me over a curry and beer at Hitchin's Victoria pub just before Christmas.

"It's no doubt my brief, but intense training at the sharp end in corporate hospitality helped prepare me for producing meals in volume, and without that valuable experience I wouldn't be able to turn my hand to what I do today."

Adapting business in the time of Covid

He initially hoped to focus on private catering, but the pandemic decimated that side of his offering. "I had to think fast to re-evaluate how I could bring fresh, healthy and wholesome food to customers in the Hitchin area.

The result was Mouthfeels, a delivery service that aims to provide highly nourishing, quality slow-cooked meals," said Ping. Wherever possible, he delivers his food by bicycle to keep things green-friendly.

On top of the delicious, nutritious meals he provides, Ping also produces a range of pickles – yes, you've guessed it, they're called "Ping's Pickles"!

Preserved and fermented foods are fashionable right now and in Scandinavia they've long been an essential part of a balanced diet.

He offers an intriguing selection which includes red cabbage, courgettes and pumpkins.

Ping's progress

The current climate is difficult for Ping and others like him, but when we finally navigate our way through the pandemic, you would hope that the hard work put in during a challenging period for everyone will pay off.

Ping: "My goal was to give busy professionals and parents who are starved of time some assistance in feeding their families. That hasn't changed at all, it's just a little harder right now."

With his enthusiasm, not to mention youthful vigour, it is hard not to wish Ping well in his venture.

In many ways, people like him, soldiering on in a crisis and finding ways to maintain some sort of normality, have been the salvation of the community over the past year.

It's arguably in all of our interests that young entrepreneurs succeed.

To find out more visit Ping's website here