Celebrity chef Curtis Stone has spoken about the “brutal” impact having to close two of his restaurants amid the enforced lockdown restrictions.
WATCH: Curtis Stone reveals COVID-19 forced him to close LA restaurants
Speaking during an interview on The Project on Thursday, the 44-year-old spoke candidly about the devastating impact the pandemic is having on the food and hospitality industry.
“It is brutal, I’m not going to lie. We are in Los Angeles, one of the hardest hit areas of America, and both our restaurants were closed,” Curtis said via video link.
“We found out at 4pm that afternoon there was a closure that night and it was state wide.
“So you accept it and you move on and you’ve just got to be flexible and try and keep your people taken care of and employed and that was always our goal and if we can feed the community at the same time, wonderful,” he said.
With restrictions now enforced, the Aussie chef has now transformed his restaurant into a popup marketplace that delivers food to people.
Curtis recently revealed what he really thinks of MasterChef’s new lineup of judges, after he appeared alongside the newbies for the first time.
The 44-year-old, who is set to appear on the reality cooking show this Thursday, told The Daily Telegraph the new judges provide something fresh to the program.
“It was a totally different feeling … but well wishes from the ex-judges were given and they were genuine,” Curtis confessed.
“Change always feels strange, but I think it’s going to work out really well for all of them, to be honest,” he added.
With Australia – and the world – remaining in lockdown (for the time being), the chef went on to say the latest season of MasterChef couldn’t have come at a better time.
“We all have more time on our hands and, if you think about it, we are all not only cooking more but cooking more adventurously,” he said.
Curtis was one of several big-name chefs who had been tipped to be a new MasterChef judge, but at the time he reportedly admitted it was unlikely he would have had the time to commit.
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