00:12So this is one point in the second, this is a tiny point.
00:16Alright, so we, uh, you know, we need to be important.
00:22The pieces are working out nicely, huh?
00:32When we got the phone alert yesterday, it was definitely a bit shocking after the calm period.
00:37My initial reaction would have been a mix of surprise and concern.
00:42Online school is definitely a bit of a downer since I think we all crave that social interaction,
00:48but our school has done a great job at bridging the gap and making sure that online learning
00:53doesn't mean we're still not growing as students.
00:56I hope that everyone is safe and I hope that things go back to normal.
01:01But mostly I hope that students and everyone alike can thrive and learn and grow in whatever situation we have.
01:08After a month of peace and calmness, the alert naturally caught my attention.
01:14However, I was calm and composed and thought of first verifying the information from the right sources.
01:24And then my next thought was to check on the wellbeing and the safety of my team members as a
01:32supervisor of JSS private school.
01:34So when remote learning came into picture, we exactly knew what to do.
01:40However, the human connect which is involved in face-to-face learning and the holistic development of a child
01:48is definitely missed partially during remote learning.
02:00Honestly, the bigger challenge for us has been supply.
02:04Avocados come from a long way away.
02:06Tomatillos come from a long way away.
02:09And the reality is cargo has gotten more expensive.
02:12Gas prices have gone up.
02:13Straight-up arm moves are still blocked.
02:15This is really creating a problem for us as far as our supply.
02:18Like I want to get my local fish, but it's not a good time for the local fishermen to go
02:22out at night
02:23and the waters facing the run.
02:26We understand that that then means that the local fish availability is going to go down.
02:30So we all just sort of have to be patient and sort of understand and lean into what we do
02:34well.
02:35We are very close to our resident customer base.
02:38So we're very grateful that they continue to ride with us.
02:41But no, it has not been easier.
02:42Our food cost is up.
02:43Our overall business level is down.
02:45And, you know, we just have to keep going.
02:47We trimmed down our payroll.
02:49And we've also had to do a little bit of a reduction for now.
02:54Obviously, that's not intended to be for a long time.
02:57But we needed a way to recover from the very, very, very low points of March.
03:02But we all, you know, will get through this together and come out the other side and feel stronger.
03:07So on our old menu, we had things like we were getting organic salmon flying in from Ireland.
03:12We were getting specific Japanese seafood.
03:15We were getting scallops from Norway.
03:17These sort of things were very difficult to come because they are not only difficult to source already,
03:22but they're time sensitive.
03:23So facing these constraints where they would have to find alternate routes and all these sort of things,
03:27it made it very difficult.
03:28And their only option was then to fly air freight, which would increase our costs by about 30-35%.
03:34I think what's going to happen is we're going to have this slow growth.
03:37People will come back because it's still Dubai.
03:40I'm still super confident that Dubai is the city.
03:43It is the best city in the world.
03:45And eventually we will reach that point where it's back.
03:47It's just going to take a bit of time.
03:48So you can't look at the past.
03:51You just have to say, we're going to have to make changes.
03:54Sometimes those are going to be difficult changes, decisions I would never want to make.
03:58But they are going to have to be made if you are going to succeed.
04:03You know, there's a lot of loyalty in this town.
04:06There's a lot of people who love supporting local.
04:08And we love that support.
04:09But rents, you know, salaries, all of these things have to be paid.
04:14So it is the big pivot that does need to take place.
04:19...accepted outside of the U.S. and Mexico.
04:21Yeah.
04:28...
04:28...
04:30...
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