Previously thought of primarily as a way to get pizza on a Friday night, the humble home delivery has proved a saving grace for many Australian businesses suffering as a result of the coronavirus.
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Here in the Great Lakes, where the economy relies heavily on tourism, the need to connect with local customers has never been greater and so diversifying into home deliveries has been a crucial strategy for a number of businesses wanting to keep their wheels turning.
For Lobby's Fresh Seafood in Wharf Street, Forster, the ban on dine-in eating combined with the lack of tourists has meant the business has been doubly impacted by COVID-19 - but moving to home deliveries has helped it claim back some ground.
People are changing their business models to include home deliveries.
- Karen Foster
Owner, Karen Foster, says the service has allowed her to keep on staff she would've otherwise had to stand down while at the same time giving local customers another way to access their food.
"It's worked really well," she said.
"We're definitely getting more orders because we're delivering."
The business has been delivering for the past three weeks, charging a flat $5 fee to deliver both hot meals and cold seafood anywhere in Forster-Tuncurry.
Given the positive response from customers, Mrs Foster said she was even considering expanding the service to Pacific Palms and Hallidays Point.
"Local customers are getting behind it," she said.
"Everyone's been really helpful and community-minded."
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And it seems it's not only businesses benefitting from home deliveries, with the demand from customers increasing significantly as people seek to limit their public outings.
Perry's Fruits and Vegetables in Tuncurry has been offering home deliveries for some time now, but delivery driver Adam Hamilton says it's only been since the coronavirus hit that people have been taking advantage of the service.
"It was always something we did, but no one really utilised it," he said.
"A lot of people didn't know that we did them."
Mr Hamilton said that changed following some recent advertising, and since then the business had been doing up to 15 deliveries a day.
Embracing the need for a community-minded approach during these tough times, the business has also been delivering products for neighbouring businesses Butterfingers Bakery and Tully's Tuncurry News.
Mr Hamilton said customers enjoyed the convenience of being able to get a range of products delivered at once.
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Given Perry's Fruits and Vegetables previously relied on supplying a number of cafes and restaurants in the area, the increase in home deliveries has been a godsend.
"It's definitely kept us going," Mr Hamilton said.
"We're able to keep the doors open."
And while home deliveries have boomed under the current circumstances, both Mr Hamilton and Mrs Foster agree that the service could continue to prosper even after the COVID-19 pandemic passes.
"People are changing their business models to include home deliveries," Mrs Foster said.
"People are finding smarter ways to deal with things and I think those things are going to be very helpful in the future."
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