Hi there, I’m Hannah and this is my first blog I have ever written (I apologise in advance)
Firstly thank you for taking the time to visit this blog page and supporting my business it is very much appreciated.
It seems very surreal writing my first blog in these current times we find ourselves in, I should have been writing about the success of weddings, christenings and parties that had gone ahead but instead Covid-19 has hit and everything has been postponed until next year, not a great start for a new business venture aye!
Anyway abit about me, in my previous job I was a Civil Servant working at Exeter Combined Court for 12 years, my time there was pretty much good I worked with some great people, I learnt alot not just the job but also about myself.
I certainly never planned to be there for 12 years, but after the birth of my 2nd Daughter it was the right time for me to leave
I have 2 lovely little girls who keep me very busy, along with both myself and my husband running a business, life is generally non-stop.
My husband Liam runs the wholesale side of the business ‘Isca Foods’ http://www.iscafoods.co.uk which is soon to be ‘Orchardlea Foods’ we specialise in cutting and pre-packing a lot of our products including cheeses, meats and pate, we offer a huge amount of products of which a lot of this is locally sourced.
Isca is going from strength to strength and thankfully for us we have been crazy busy throughout lockdown and continue to be as we are lucky enough to supply community shops, farm shops and general stores rather than restaurants and cafes which were for the most part closed.
Leaving my previous job to join Liam at Isca made perfect sense, we had previously been asked to supply buffet food for a few friends’ weddings in the past so it seemed silly not to try and make a business out of doing food for events/occasions when all the products are already there.
I have also organised a couple of large fundraising events, one when Liam and I ran the London Marathon we had to raise money for the charity we were running for which was called ‘Phab Kids’ https://www.phabkids.co.uk/ and the second was for Liam’s Football Club ‘Music in the Marquee’, both were a huge success and I loved every minute of organising them. I have always loved organising and being a part of events and occasions and seeing it all come together.
I started working on Orchardlea Occasion Foods when I was pregnant with my youngest Daughter, I’ve spent so many hours on it I’ve lost count, so when I finally left the Court Service after my maternity had ended, it was time to really get stuck into my new job I was excited, anxious and I didn’t really know what to expect from it all but I couldn’t wait.
I supplied food for a friend’s two boys Christening in January 2020 and started having lots of meetings booked in, and then had enquiries coming in and bookings secured. I was buzzing and it was all really exciting, all the hours I had spent getting started seemed to be paying off.
Molly was settling into nursery, I was loving life, really felt like a part of me was coming back, I wasn’t just a mummy anymore. BUT then it hit me like a tonne of bricks, I knew it was too good to be true….
What the heck is CORONAVIRUS?!
At the start of lockdown I struggled to balance home life with the girls, as well as the uncertainty of the events/wedding industry due to Covid, but then I felt inspired to help those that were shielding/vulnerable so I decided I wanted to focus my energies on something positive, to help others, so we did a price list of some of our products and every day for a couple of weeks my eldest daughter and I went leaflet dropping around our Village, I also put a post on Facebook too and then the orders started flooding in, I couldn’t believe the response we were getting.
So we have been doing that ever since and continue to do so, with a few regular customers who order every week and we deliver to their doorstep.
Then the hampers started, I got asked if I could put together a cheese hamper for a friends sister and of course I was more than happy to oblige and the hampers spiralled from there, ‘The Pub Lunch’ special for Father’s Day went abit bonkers with over 60 ordered which I did not expect.
Although hampers was never part of the plan for Occasion Foods I have whole heartedly enjoyed doing every single one of them, helping customers decide on lovely food for their bespoke hampers for family and friends knowing that they are being gifted to those that they haven’t been able to see in months due to Covid-19. Checkout the hampers available on the ‘gift hamper’s section of the website – https://www.orchardleaoccasionfoods.co.uk/gift-hampers/
As we come out of lockdown and hopefully happier times ahead and occasions and events can take place again soon, I will be putting my all into the Orchardlea Buffets.
I can’t wait to do the weddings that are booked for next year and hopefully we can be apart of a really special time for many people.
Our Buffet food is great quality, a lot of local produce and our prices are very competitive and can be flexible, we can offer be spoke to budget buffet food or priced per head packages and are always open to new ideas and suggestions. We can cater for dietary requirements and I am always trying to source more gluten free and vegan products to increase our range of products to offer.
Lastly I just
want to say that I think it is really inspiring how so many small businesses
have adapted and diversified as a result of this crisis and made the
significant changes needed to stay afloat. It has been a time of huge change
which a lot of people find very difficult. Certainly my business and my husband’s
have had to change to reflect changing customer requirements.
The determination and strength people have shown in this pandemic has
demonstrated that things will get better amid a situation that many of us have
never experienced and hopefully never will again!”
If you are still with me – Thank you once again for your time, I will be trying to post blogs regularly so keep an eye out for the next one and any suggestions/ideas are always welcome too.
This has been my experience so far, feel free to share with me how covid-19 has been for you.
