Ballarat business Natures Cargo delivered to restaurants, pubs, hotels and cafes, setting them up with a scenario where if they didn't adapt quickly, staff would likely lose their jobs.

Sales manager Ben Wilkie told The Courier the business was forced to think outside the box to keep their staff employed.

"(Changing how we operated) was basically essential to our staff keeping their jobs. Not to sound dramatic but we went into survival mode," Mr Wilkie said.

"The main part of our business is to supply restaurants, pubs and cafes right across Victoria, so it hit us in a really big way."

Having never operated selling directly to the public, Natures Cargo made the adjustment with some sense of apprehension.

Procurement manager Emily Wilkie said the decision was made out of necessity to keep staff employed.

"It was something we thought about but at the end of the day it was either we close the doors and let down all of our employees or we keep going," she said.

"I think we're very lucky that we deal in commodities that people always need... it was really about adapting our business model to something that was accessible to the general public."

Since announcing it would be selling to the public, the business has received lots of community support.

Ms Wilkie said thanked the greater Ballarat community, saying their support was not only helping staff, but local suppliers from around the region, such as Country Style Smallgoods, Camperdown Dairy, Green Eggs, Luv a Duck, Meredith Dairy, Timboon Icecream, Mount Zero Olives, Maffra Cheese and Apostle Whey.

"The biggest thing we wanted to stress was that in supporting us, people are supporting a huge number of local producers that would really struggle otherwise."

Ben Wilkie added he and his staff now feel a sense of relief since making the adjustment to a home delivery model.

"It's definitely given us some confidence and lifted morale around the business," he said.

"The initial goal was just to keep everyone employed... some of our staff have been with us for over 30 years so we didn't want to let them down. They have always been there for us so it was only fair that we be there for them."

After adapting to take care of their own staff and suppliers, Natures Cargo partnered with three other Ballarat businesses to do their part in assisting health care workers on the front line of the COVID-19 pandemic.

PETstock, Lola (The Provincial Hotel Ballarat), Natures Cargo and Eat Drink West have come together to help provide some support to health care workers at Ballarat Base Hospital, St John of God Hospital and Ballarat Community Health.

The initiative launched by PETstock sees Lola purchase and prepare local produce from East Drink West to be delivered to health care workers by Natures Cargo.

PETstock Assist's Charity and Events coordinator told The Courier they wanted to work with like-minded businesses from around the region to help give back to those on the front line of the pandemic.

"We know that our team members and our customers will all know someone who is working on the front line," she said.

"So our family values led us in the direction of supporting those front line health care workers and their families."

She added over 100 meals had already been delivered and hundreds more were on their way.

"Last week there were over 100 meals produced and this week we're on track to deliver over 100 more. We're committed to making sure our health care workers are looked after for as long as we can."