Q & A with Rene Spence from Uncle Thursday 5 August 2020 As part of Stay Home with Scarf, we're checking in with some of Scarf's awesome partner restaurants and sponsors and sharing their words with you. Last week, we spoke to Rene Spence, co-owner of Uncle in Melbourne's CBD - our partner restaurant for Winter Scarf '19. . Yep, this time last year we were in the middle of a season of weekly Scarf Dinners, with an eager group of trainees gaining paid work experience in one of Melbourne's best restaurants. If only we could turn back time! Rene and business partner Dai Duong are just about two of the nicest fellas in the industry, and their food garnered some of the most positive feedback we've ever seen during Scarf Dinners! If you live with 15km of Melbourne's CBD, we highly recommend you get on board the Uncle takeaway train and enjoy some top-notch Vietnamese cuisine delivered to your door. . . Scarf: Why did you choose to partner with Scarf last year? Rene: Scarf is such a great initiative from passionate people with an altruistic heart. One of our managers had been along to quite a few of the dinners and connected us with the good people there. We loved the ability to offer our space to such a good cause through our winter months last year and it proved to be a very positive marriage. . How has lockdown 2.0 impacted Uncle and your team? We’re a bit devastated if the truth be told. We were beginning to see baby steps out of lockdown 1.0 and it felt like a good place from which to move into the new landscape. Now that we’re back in lockdown, our future is so uncertain. The worst thing is that we can’t really see the city regaining a familiar shape and flow for a very long time which will devastate our industry for a long time to come. With distributed workforces looking like a permanent thing, the CBD’s loss is the suburb’s gain and we’re on the wrong end of that equation. We only have a few staff left as many flew back overseas or interstate which leaves very few of us left. You can also see the mental health challenges that everyone is facing which is one of the many problems within the problem. We’re made of strong stuff though so hopefully we all come out the other end in positive shape with a story to tell. . . Why is it more important than ever that the general public support Melbourne restaurants? The dining scene in Melbourne is the envy of much of the globe and a really important and cherished piece of our celebrated culture and fantastic city. The amount of expertise and effort that goes into each dining experience should not be underestimated and the livelihoods of each of us is under severe threat. Hopefully as we transition into safe opening and normal life resumes, we will need the support of the government, our landlord and crucially the dining public to keep us going. The dining scene in Melbourne is the envy of much of the globe and a really important and cherished piece of our celebrated culture and fantastic city. The amount of expertise and effort that goes into each dining experience should not be underestimated and the livelihoods of each of us is under severe threat. . What is Uncle currently doing (now and in the near future)? Uncle is currently offering takeaway to a 15km radius but may be extending that a little to spread the love a little further. We are also talking about banquet boxes which may be a bit of fun as well as trying to convert and package some of our items to be supermarket friendly. Hopefully all of this lands over the coming weeks. . . . Support the Melbourne hospitality industry by ordering from Uncle, and find out more: Stay Home with Scarf. Read a Q & A with graduate Liz, who trained and worked with Scarf while Uncle was our partner restaurant. . The Winter Scarf '19 team of trainees having a laugh at Uncle. Photo: Peter Tarasiuk