Perhaps the one positive thing that may come out of the upheaval that COVID-19 has brought to our lives is the fact that life and business can go on from home. Even I who am writing this am sitting at home in front of my computer, with the phone and the internet as my conduit to the world we share but cannot take part in.

COVID-19 has forced us to absorb and react to changes that many would have considered far fetched not too long ago. We are literally being forced to look for things closer to home and at present in the home itself.

If ever there was need for nimbleness it has been now – the need to adapt or sink has never been more clear than now.

Cherrie Miriklis through Flowers Vasette headed one of the big event managing organisations in Melbourne. Flowers had been the backbone of the business  that begin in 1989 and which branched out to include the management of big events in the  management.

When the country moved into overdrive as a result of the measures to counter COVID-19, she  was suddenly  faced with a gaping hole in her business. As of March 60 per cent of her business managing sbig social events for corporates, weddings, funerals disappeared.

“Events started getting cancelled, and I lost about $30,000 to $40,000 in business a week. I had always relied on a loyal customer base to manage big social events for them. It all dropped to Zero,” Ms Miriklis said.

Her online presence before COVID-19 accounted for just 10 percent of her business but that has changed drastically as her focus has moved from flowers and back to her family roots in the fruit and vegetable world.

“I saw that supermarkets were running out of fresh produce and I thought people needed something on the table to add colour to their lives.

So now she and her staff of 17 are creating specialised vegetable and fruit hampers that have been selling online mainly through Instagram and Facebook. And the response has surprised her, in a good way.

“The clever idea was (when she first started) to include a brochure with every hamper sent out which explained what we had to offer online. We now have about 90 repeat customers each week,” she said.

“I read a market, get to understand what it needs and then go for it. It is about satisfying customer and the community. I am still going to the market to get the best produce.

“In fact setting up online is not as demanding as running a shop, which is costly to make it look amazing or dealing with event management.”

Having the lockdown close to Easter has helped with the sales of the hampers which have been sent as gifts and helped to promote the products.

“For (Western) Easter we sold 1000 hampers which is incredible. We are offering a special Orthodox Easter pack for this weekend and we are gearing up with special hampers for Mother’s Day (10 May).

In response to Covid-19, Ms Miriklis has designed Vitamin C hampersof fruit and vegetables  geared to boosting immunity, there are also among others, the Minestrone Hamper, Brunch Packs  and Mixed Fruit and Vegetable packs with a complementary flowers.

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“Depending on the size of the household, the hampers can last up to a week.

Her parents ran a family fruit shop on Brunswick Street in Fitzroy so Ms Miriklis grew up learning the business. But her heart was always in flowers.

To please her father, she studied accountancy and working with a stockbroking firm until the economic slump of 1989. She went to selling flowers at the fruit shop and saw that the flowers were selling better than the vegetables.

Flowers Vasette was born and grew from there. As Melbourne became an events capital so did Ms Miriklis move into that world. And the business grew until the arrival of COVID-19.

“Event management had become a very competitive business. I had reputable people working for me, real artists in arranging and presenting flowers while I visited the markets to find the best flowers, coordinated the staff and saw to the business. You have to know produce and how to look for it,” she said.

“This has been a jolt to my business model. Events management is very high maintainance but this has been easier and cheaper to run with minimum staff.

♦ To find out more about the special Orthodox Easter Hamper, shown above, and other products go to https://flowersvasette.com.au/collections/all  or call (03) 9419 4988.