Businesses in Ballarat are working together to support each other and their community through the challenging economic climate caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
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Emma's Homemade Cakes owner Emma Conroy said like many other business owners, she panicked when COVID-19 restrictions forced her major customers to reduce their business or shut their doors.
Ms Conroy said it was heartbreaking to tell her casual staff there would be no work for them after the closure of many cafes and a university she supplied to.
I think coronavirus has made the world stop and everyone take a breath and think we can all do this.
- Emma Conroy, Emma's Homemade Cakes
But after time spent adjusting the business model and collaborating with other Ballarat businesses, she has been able to bring all staff back on board.
"You have feelings of heartbreak because you work so hard to get to where you are and you think, 'what am I going to do?' We are either going to sink or swim right now," she said.
"I thought we could try some home deliveries. One Sunday afternoon I jumped on the computer and built a Shopify website. I didn't really know what I was doing but we gave it a red hot crack and it took off.
"We put it on Facebook and Instagram and the home deliveries started coming in. We started doing 30 to 40 home deliveries a day. Around Easter time had around 70 to 80 a day.
"Then the casual girls I told we didn't have any work, I was able to bring them back into the workforce. What we lost from all our shops and the university shutting down we have picked up with home deliveries."
Ms Conroy said collaboration had been part of the key to home delivery success.
Emma's Homemade Cakes is offering delivery of hampers including their cakes and pies, ham, salami, kabana, cheese and fresh eggs from her friend at Ballarat Wholesale Smallgoods, fresh bread and rolls from North Ballarat Bakery, milk from Inglenook Dairy and jams from The Preserver's Pot.
"All these businesses make it so easy and it sells because it is local and everybody loves it," Ms Conroy said.
"It has been really good networking and dealing with other businesses.
"Even though it has been such a hard time for so many people, for us it has been a very special time because you have been able to feel like you are contributing to Ballarat by offering this little service."
Ms Conroy said social media had been a powerful tool to form direct connections with consumers during this time.
She said Facebook groups like the Ballarat Small Business and Deliveries Page had been a massive driver of new orders.
"I feel good about the business. It has definitely been an eye opener into home deliveries," Ms Conroy said.
"I think it is something we will continue to offer to locals. As everyone starts to re-open very slowly, business will pick up a little bit more as well for us. It is exciting times ahead."
Emma's Homemade Cakes was formed when Ms Conroy started baking as a way to help deal with postnatal depression after giving birth to her first child.
She had completed two years of a baking apprenticeship after leaving school at 15, but then followed her passion and talent for horse riding and show jumping to live in Sydney and compete in Europe.
After returning to Ballarat, Ms Conroy continued to work with horses at big name racing stables until having her first child.
She said she baked so much she gifted the treats to friends and loved seeing the smile on their faces when they would taste her treats.
Ms Conray then spent the next three years selling her baked goods at the Ballarat Showgrounds Sunday market.
"That helped me recover from my post natal depression because I was talking to people and getting out of the house and it was a little bit of pocket money for me," she said.
"I was probably doing that for two years, then one day I had a cafe come to me and say 'I love your biscuits, can you put them into our cafe?' I had never thought about wholesaling and that was a little light bulb for me."
Emma's Homemade Cakes has continued to grow and now supplies to cafes as far as Dimboola to Hoppers Crossing, Ballarat Health Services, La Trobe University and 16 supermarkets.
Ms Conroy now employs 12 staff, including 10 bakers who are all mothers, and two delivery drivers.
"It has been a very hard journey but a very special journey as well," she said.
"As many highs we have had, we have definitely also had a few downs. But we have always worked through them and got the help we needed or advice we needed to get over the little hurdles and move forward.
"I am not worried about moving forward. I think coronavirus has made the world stop and everyone take a breath and think we can all do this.
"It gave us just a little break to think if we can't mainstream out to our cafes, what are we going to do?
"The home deliveries was such a good way to branch into a new section of what we can do.
"Sometimes the business is just so quick and fast, you kind of forget about new options, so it has given us that chance to look at the new option, and think we can do this."
Mr Conroy said Ballarat residents had been so supportive of local businesses during this challenging economic time.
"I would really like to thank Ballarat," she said.
"I have always loved Ballarat, but the care, kindness and support everybody has shown, just not supporting my business, but supporting everybody's business, it has showed it is a very supportive town.
"There is plenty of kindness out there."
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