Ever wondered what it’s like to work in a sauna? Just ask Helen Duck and her Dragonfly Foods staff who trade from The Hatch in The Levee.
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The girls are now operating the business from 7.30am until 38 degrees or 2pm – depending what comes first.
Dragonfly Foods opened in 2017 – this week has been their toughest with five consistently hot days in a row and more expected next week. “This week we have spent a lot of time rearranging the water bottles in our refrigerators,” Helen said.
As far as we know Dragonfly Foods is the only business to trade on temperature not time. “We cope, we sweat a lot and drink a lot of water,” Helen said. “People are taking advantage of our spritzers and fresh pressed juice rather than hot coffee.”
This week we have spent a lot of time rearranging the water bottles in our refrigerators
- Dragonfly Foods owner Helen Duck
With no air conditioning, when The Hatch is locked after trading, heat is locked in. “When you open the next day it’s pretty much the same temp inside as it was when you closed it,” she said.
Ausgrid is monitoring the extreme conditions across the state with emergency crews on standby, ready to respond to unplanned outages. A spokesperson urged customers to set air conditioners to the correct temperature. The optimum range for air conditioning is between 23 and 26 degrees. Every degree of cooling below that can add up to 10 per cent to running costs.
The Bureau of Meteorology forecasts a cool change on Sunday with showers and a daytime maximum of 29 degrees. The heat will ramp up again Monday with 32 forecast, Tuesday 37, Wednesday 40 and Thursday 37.
Maitland people are trying to beat the heat as best they can and the pools are popular. Maitland City Council reports combined visitation across Maitland and East Maitland pools for January (to close of business Thursday) is 20,191 – an increase of around 3500 on the same period last year at Maitland with East Maitland on par with last year.
“Because of the heat we are seeing people come earlier in the mornings and later in the afternoon, avoiding the main heat of the day and with hot weather planned to continue, it is expected that we will continue to see strong visitation for the remainder of the holidays.”
Got one of the hottest jobs in town? Let us know and tell us how you’re coping in this heat by emailing us at maitland@fairfaxmedia.com.au
