We spoke to Crumble & Core, one of our long term customers. We asked Louise how she’s coping with the change during coronavirus and what changes she’s made to adapt her business.

Our business is Crumble & Core, we are a family business based in East Sussex.  We began our life on Etsy three years ago selling direct to the public, but developed the business alongside to become a wholesaler selling direct to shops.  In September 2018, we launched our Jewellery cards.  They are a card and a gift in one presented in a box which we sourced from the Tiny Box Company.  They were very well received in the marketplace and our business quickly grew.  Before COVID 19 we were supplying over 500 UK based and international companies, we had new enquiries on a daily basis and we had a team of six family and friends helping us.  

Once Lockdown was announced, Wholesale business vanished overnight as shops were ordered to close.  It was a very scary and unsettling time.  It was also heartbreaking to watch everything we had worked so hard to build disappear overnight.  The thing that kept us going was that firstly it was completely out of our control, and that secondly we and all our customers were all in the same boat.  

We quickly set ourselves up to work from home just like we had in the early days.  We have spent many hours on Zoom and FaceTime every day.  It’s really important for our morale and to bounce ideas off of each other.  Retail orders have increased online for us as the public are unable to get to shops.  Some of our shops have set themselves up with online shops so we are starting to see some wholesale orders coming back as well.  

Once we had got over the initial shock of Lockdown, the overriding feeling as a team and individuals was to use this time in a positive way.  We all felt that we would probably never get an opportunity like this again in our lifetime.  

Whilst the growth of our business was amazing and felt like such exciting times, it had meant that we hardly had a chance to breathe, let alone make a solid business plan.  It has allowed us as a business to think how we can improve our business, website, designs, collections and think about our strategies for the future.  It has actually been an incredibly creative time for us and with added new ideas in the pipeline.  We are trying not to worry about how, or even when, it will all come back.  For now we are just living in the moment and it feels good! Nobody knows what our new world will be like but we are optimistic.

Read other motivating stories like Crumble & Core on our Bored? page. We hope to bring you inspiring stories in a time of need so that you can find a rainbow in every storm.

You can find Crumble and Core on instagram: @crumbleandcore