Appetite grows for online chocolates
Continentally-trained chocolatier Iain Burnett lost 90 per cent of his business when his major clients suddenly shut their doors.
“I have furloughed my staff - there is just me and Mairi Thom who does the packing and dispatching,” explained Iain.
“My mum Hilary, who is 81, planted hundreds of bulbs to make the flowerbeds around the shop look nice for visitors but heartbreakingly, no one is passing by now.
“But conversely it has been a little like Christmas with the online business really taking off.
“We noticed that with everybody at home, our chocolate tastings were suddenly really popular.
“These were normally happening here at Grandtully, with people getting an audio guide to the kitchens and exhibition and five different chocolates to try.
“Normally we’d send out a dozen a day, but during lockdown there are orders of 40 or so every day, so that side has become really busy.
“I’m happy that I can still source my fresh ingredients like the cream from a local dairy herd and I had lots of ingredients in stock when the hotels and first class British Airways custom stopped, which are coming in handy now.”