This Michelin-starred restaurant was closed by coronavirus. Now it's feeding vulnerable people

London (CNN Business)Every restaurant and pub in the United Kingdom has been ordered to close as the country seeks to limit the spread of the novel coronavirus. On the outskirts of Birmingham, one award-winning restaurant is riding out the crisis by assisting people in need and accepting help from German supermarket chain Aldi. Hampton Manor, which includes a hotel and restaurant called Peel's, needed to act quickly in order to avoid huge losses as the coronavirus swept across Britain, decimating the restaurant and hospitality industries. "We were looking at losing £150,000 ($180,000) a month if we didn't do anything," James Hill, the managing director of Hampton Manor told CNN Business.

"We had to contract our team to a core for us to be able to survive. " James Hill has been running Hampton Manor for 11 years with his wife, Fjona Hill, who described the start of 2020 as an "emotional roller coaster. " Earlier in March, pressure on the business was mounting, putting dozens of jobs in jeopardy. But then, Aldi offered to take on dozens of Hampton Manor staffers.

The German company's head office in the United Kingdom is near Hampton Manor, and it sometimes uses the venue for events and conferences. Faced with panic buying of food and supplies, the discount grocer was in need of workers. So Aldi temporarily hired 30 Hampton Manor employees. The UK government has since pledged to pay 80% of employee wages during the crisis, but at the time Aldi's intervention was a "miracle" for Hampton Manor.

"That was a huge moment of relief for us," said James Hill. But faced with a loss of diners at Peel's, which boasts a Michelin star, and revenue from weddings, the entire estate temporarily closed its doors. "We've closed everything. We were basically unviable because we relied a lot on weddings to keep our revenue up ...

without the wedding business we will be in massive losses," Fjona Hill told CNN Business. A coronavirus reinvention The Hills, who describe themselves as "foodie diehards," quickly sought to reinvent their operation. The goal was to give back to their community as it adapted to social distancing rules.

“"We wanted to come up with a model that both met the need of the community and kept some of our team working as well," said James Hill.”