Retail Awards 2021: Home Delivery/Collection Award finalists

Yorkshire Treats, based in Harden, was set up by Ruth Taylor last year

YORKSHIRE TREATS

Nomination from Ruth Taylor, owner of Yorkshire Treats, based in Harden, said: "Myself and my husband sold our last business (a cafe) in Feb 2020 and started our new business The Yorkshire Treats Company straight after.

"The new business was set up to supply cafes and restaurants with desserts and treats.

"Throughout February, we converted our garage into a commercial kitchen ready to supply from March 2020.

"Then the pandemic struck, we were more than devastated, our whole business plan was turned on its head.

"Because the business was new, we didn’t qualify for any government support and as the new business was our only source of income we had to think on our feet and totally re-write our business plan and change our business completely just to survive.

"We decided to deliver contactless treats retail to people during lockdown. We specialised on say it with treats, rather than say it with flowers.

"So, we delivered giant brownies with personalised messages, graze boxes, afternoon teas and also started doing birthday treats.

"It was really hard, but by May we were starting to turnover a small income.

Sadly in May, my husband/business partner was rushed to hospital with breathing difficulties and we thought he had Covid.

"Saying goodbye was devastating as he went into the ambulance.

"We had a couple of days wait to get the results but he tested negative to Covid but was still very ill.

"It was at a time where you couldn’t visit so he was alone and I had to keep things together trying to do run the business and home school my two children.

"We were then told that he had sepsis. A couple of weeks later he was strong enough to come home which was such a relief.

"We took a week off so he could recuperate and then we had to get back to it, we had just had a few weeks without and income so we needed to make some money and fast."

"For the next year we worked seven days a week 10-12 hours a day, baking and delivering and brightening peoples day with a little treat.

"We did loads of deliveries as gifts for people to show their loved ones they were thinking of them.

"We suffered a further setback which meant we needed to get premises and move the business from home, so the search was on to find somewhere that we could run the bakery from.

"Finally, in autumn 2020, we found a little shop in Harden which we moved into in March 2021.

"Slowly restrictions were lifted, the business was starting to do well and things were finally on the up.

"It's been a struggle and it's not the business we set out to have but we managed, we built a business from scratch during lockdown and it was starting to be successful.

"We are still changing the plan as we go and who know where it will take us.

"It's not the business we expected to have, but we survived. Hard work and determination is starting to pay off. The story continues."

Ice-Cream Gelato has continued to deliver to its customers

ICESTONE GELATO

Icestone Gelato Batley branch has always offered home delivery and has had to use both its own drivers and those of third-party delivery companies.

But once the iterations of government Covid policy settled into lockdown, delivery and collection became the principal way of operating the business and of all Icestone’s stores none embraced or succeeded more than the Batley branch.

Firstly, though, the store had to adapt to social-distancing, hand-sanitising and mask-wearing not least of the problems being to ensure in the most diplomatic ways possible, customer compliance.

This strained the diplomatic skills of a mostly young staff and required careful management.

When lockdown meant that customers could either collect take-away orders or opt for home delivery, the staff, slightly reduced in numbers.

They adapted to the new order by tightening up on precision and timing to maintain their customer base in a competitive market and thus maintain Icestone itself through the trial by fire that has been Covid-19.

It is due to the efforts of staff across all the stores, but most successfully at the Batley Icestone, that the company has got through the pandemic when others have folded.

Ultimately this has preserved jobs by keeping the stores and the factory going so that as lockdown has ended, staff numbers have climbed above pre-pandemic levels.

The team at Batley are strong and deserve recognition for the part they played during the last 18 months.

Save Co Cash & Carry, which is based in Bradford

SAVECO CASH & CARRY

SaveCo, based in Thornbury Road, Bradford, launched their online grocery delivery service in March 2020, around the same time the UK went into its first lockdown.

The company set up a local delivery network offering same and next day delivery of groceries and meat across West Yorkshire, and a next day nationwide service.

Within the first year has grown 300 per cent, created over a dozen new roles and is widely regarded as one of the UK's leading nationwide independent grocery delivery services via their website.

This quick thinking has not only helped to supply so many families and households with essential groceries but also launched a business division in its own right that will accelerate towards a £1million annual pound turnover within the next 12 months.

This has to be a great, positive story for a Bradford based family business with a 40-year history in the city.