When Romano Juric started his delivery service from Longyearbyen restaurants a few months ago it was the fulfilment of a years-long ambition of doing something nice for the community he enjoyed despite knowing “I’m not going to get rich for sure.” But as with everything that was pretty much unimaginable before the coronavirus pandemic struck a couple of weeks ago, he’s now finding himself something of an unofficial “essential public service” and one of the few (maybe only) businesses booming rather than in complete collapse.
He’s still not likely to get rich, mind you, since his basic rates are roughly equal to a side order of fries, and he’s offering deliveries of critical supplies such as groceries and pharmacy items free or at heavy discounts. But the rewards of doing something positive for the community in a crisis is a payoff that can’t be equated on a balance sheet.