Leanne and Ian Neeland are praising the efforts of local regional Victorians for continually supporting the Great Ocean Road Chocolaterie and Ice Creamery.
With many hospitality businesses across the state forced to shut their doors to in-store dining due to strict COVID-19 restrictions, Leanne said her business has been trading “well below” usual revenue for the past seven months.
“These are extremely difficult times. It’s been difficult to run a tourism and hospitality business in Victoria,” she said.
“We laid off about 70 per cent of our staff and we had to really diversify the business.
“Anything that could go into a do-it-yourself kit or into an activity to do at home.
“We had lots of challenges. We had to change our business from serving customers and them coming in and choosing their own chocolates to us picking and packing and shipping.”
To stay afloat during the pandemic, Leanne and Ian made the decision to transition their factory to an online shop.
Ian said the transition was the lifeline that kept the chocolaterie in business.
“It has allowed us to keep connected to our customers. They were the foundation for the online sales and we have been able to grow,” he said.
“It allowed us to really keep the core staff and continue to trade, otherwise if we just relied on people walking through the door we would have closed.”
However Leanne said the factory relied heavily on Melbourne tourists, who were unable to travel to regional Victoria.
“The locals and regional Victoria have really stepped up,” she said.
“We’ve seen a fantastic response … but because we are regional Victoria, we haven’t got our Melbourne customers and they are a huge part of our revenue base and visitor base.
“Financially we are still well behind last year.
“We appreciate the support of our locals. They are the foundation of the business and they are the ones who can bring their visiting friends and family when people can start moving around.”
The Great Ocean Road Chocolaterie and Ice Creamery is at 1200 Great Ocean Road, Bellbrae.
