COPING WITH A BIG FREEZE
spending about two weeks shell shocked and “just numb”, Licks Dessert Company owner Lynette Wilson is now back in her delivery truck, but she’s not headed down the same road.
The gelato and sorbet wholesaler almost went down with the hospitality industry mid March, as COVID-19 shutdowns came into force.
Lynette’s primary customer base was the restaurants, hotels and supermarkets of Cairns including Dundees, the
Crystalbrook Collection hotels, and Muddy’s, who are still placing orders.
“Before all this, I’d actually been talking to the chef at Flynn (Crystalbrook Collection hotel), about creating an exclusive product for them,” Lynette says.
But then came the government’s nonessential travel bans and the restriction of restaurants and cafes to takeaway services only.
“For two weeks we didn’t have a single order. It was very weird, we were all coming to work but there was no production happening.
“I couldn’t really think a lot at the time, I was just thinking ‘this isn’t happening’, I was just numb.”
Eventually Lynette came to terms with what she and her business were facing and sadly this meant a few staff had to be let go.
“As all the shutdowns really sunk in, we realised it wasn’t just a two-week period with no orders.
“We had freezers full of stock and we knew it wasn’t going anywhere. How do I keep putting staff on without a job for them?”
But Lynette who has a long history in business says she would never go down without a fight.
The mother-of-one, in her 40s, also manages Yo My Goodness, a family-owned frozen yoghurt retailer on Abbott St.
She moved to Cairns from Melbourne, with an accounting degree, about 10 years ago and opened YOMG three years later.
“My family are all down in Melbourne and they started YOMG down there. But growing up, Cairns was always like a second home to us, we’d spend three months at a time up here so that’s what drew me here in 2010.”
Her father has had a vide variety of businesses from record stores to restaurants and even clothing stores. Lynette’s first job was at the age of 14, at a record store rivalling her fathers, but has always been exposed to “the ins and outs” of small business.
“It’s all I’ve ever known and I’ve always enjoyed working in small businesses. People think because they’re small they’re easy, but you always have to be giving 180 per cent.
“It’s teaches you and makes you responsible for everything, from doing the payroll to cleaning the toilets. And I think that attitude has helped me now.”
So rather than shutting up shop, on Thursday, Lynette jumped back in her truck and completed her second homedelivery run.
“It wasn’t something I’d thought about before – selling direct to the customers, but it’s created a new stream of income.
“I’ve been able to keep two staff on, I don’t have to throw out any ice cream, and although I’m earning less, it’s still something.”
Lynette, who aims to purchase from as many local suppliers as possible says: “This little bit of income that I am getting with home delivery might help pay one bill, which might help another local business, and that would flow on.”
She says she is adapting her practices daily to meet the new norm and is slowly beginning to accept that her current business model could become the longterm future of her business.