A MILDURA dessert box business still made Valentine’s Day their biggest weekend yet despite the statewide lockdown restrictions.
Leteesha McSwain and her business partner Angela Kerr, who started their dessert box business last August, managed to complete 100 orders, with roughly 70 per cent of customers picking up their orders in person.
“Even last night (the night before Valentine’s Day) I had 20 people message me for last minute orders, in eight hours, between midnight and 8am,” Ms McSwain said.
“We made it as contact free as possible so people would feel comfortable.
“We wore masks, we took every precaution we could, so people would feel protected anyway.”
“People wouldn’t come into our house… we’d go out to give them their box.”
Mildura-based Ms McSwain said they also delivered orders to homes.
“I thought a lot of people would cancel or reschedule their order but almost everyone was happy to go ahead with it,” she said.
“I personally think businesses probably aren’t abiding to lockdown laws… especially in Mildura because people here are being a bit more casual.”.
Ms McSwain said after the Victorian Government’s announcement on Friday, they worked the phone “all day and night” to ensure orders were met.
“It was absolute mayhem because people were changing delivery addresses, pick up times and pick up days… people felt their Valentine’s Day plans were jeopardised or under threat from the lockdown< she said.
“Daniel Andrews’ announcement made a lot of people freak out so I was in contact with every single customer I had for the weekend asking whether they would like to change their delivery time or if they wanted to cancel their orders because of COVID.
“But most customers were enthusiastic about going forward with their orders.”
Another Mildura-based gift box company Rapt With Love spokesperson said they had a “very busy weekend with a run of last minute orders most likely due to the lockdown and people not being able to do what they first planned.”
And Mildura’s first original event dessert gift box business Zaza and Gee also operated over the Valentine’s Day weekend.
Local florists were also making deliveries and offering pick-up services on Sunday.
