GrandWest Casino Serves as Base for Food Distribution Center

Sun International announced that it will soon be reopening several of its casinos around the country, including GrandWest Casino in Cape Town. The process will be staggered as the group prepares for operations in a new Covid19 reality.

But in the meantime, Sun International has stepped up to its social responsibility by allowing the volunteer kitchen, Ladles of Love to move to Sun Exhibits at GrandWest Casino and Entertainment World. The charity organization has been using the kitchens and back office of the Cape Town International Conference Center to prepare food for struggling communities all over the Cape Peninsula during the pandemic.

Administration, campaigning and operations will run from Sun Exhibit, while the hot food kitchen and distribution point will move to Observatory.

Ladles of Love founder Danny Diliberto thanked both venues for allowing the kitchen to continue its operations in such trying times.

“We are moving from 1500 square metres at the CTICC to over 2600 square metres at GrandWest and we are looking forward to unlocking new opportunities and partnerships while growing our food supply chain,” he said.

Preparing to Reopen Casinos

No date has been given for the reopening of establishments now that President Cyril Ramaphosa is allowing restaurants and casinos to do business during Level 3 of lockdown.

Sun International plans to open up Sun City, Boardwalk, Carnival City, Wild Coast Sun, The Table Bay Hotel, The Maslow Sandton and GrandWest as soon as authorities announce a date. However, there is a lot of work to be done to get these establishments ready to welcome patrons in a safe manner.

Staff and customers will keep a 1.5 m distance from one another, every second seat at slot machines and tables will be removed to create space between patrons, and visitors will have their temperature checked on arrive at the casino, hotel or restaurant.

Sun International will initially only allow members of its MVG loyalty programme to enter the casino floor.

Other steps that casino operators will take include ongoing chip cleaning, physical barriers at check-in counters, and the removal of books and flowers to keep surfaces clean and sanitized.