King's Country Cut Flowers adapting in bid to survive coronavirus pandemic

#futureofwork: Farm located just west of Newmarket adapting to changes caused by physical distancing

Yorkregion.com
May 25, 2020
Laura Broadley

Small businesses have taken a hard hit when it comes to the coronavirus outbreak.

Some business owners are able to change the way they operate to adapt to the changing times.

Country Cut Flowers in King Township has taken on the challenge of physical distancing and continued operating with several changes.

“I’m overwhelmed with all the information,” said owner Janet Tuenschel.

Country Cut Flowers has been able to stay operational as it falls under agriculture, Tuenschel said.

Delivery, limited numbers of people and no-touch service are just some of the ways Tuenschel has been keeping her business viable through physical distancing.

Tuenschel said she’s been having a difficult time keeping up with the changing landscape of physical distancing requirements and whether or not she’s allowed to open her business.

“We sell most of our flowers through cut-your-own-flowers days. Honestly, I’m still not clear if I’m going to be able to do a lot of that,” she said.

Instead of letting customers cut their own flowers, staff is cutting and delivering the items locally.

“It’s certainly added to the workload,” Tuenschel said.

Tuenschel has had someone design a website that incorporates delivery and curbside pickup, but she’s concerned about what she’s allowed and not allowed to do.

“A lot of my orders are just coming through email, direct messages through Instagram and Facebook, which really is not the most efficient way to do it. We will get the website updated,” she said.

Country Cut Flowers is still early into its 2020 season, with the tulip sales just starting, but the busy workshop season in the summer months are approaching.

Tuenschel isn’t prepared to keep up with the physical distancing changes permanently.

“That changes my business completely,” she said.

Most of the businesses in King Township are small operations, which can sometimes be hard to adapt to meet physical distancing requirements.

Restaurants in the municipality have adapted well considering the challenges, said Jamie Smyth, King’s manager of economic development.

Many of the restaurants have been able to offer delivery, curbside pickup or both, he added.

“We did a bit of an assessment and 60 per cent of the restaurants and food and beverage (businesses) that we have in King were able to do that, which is a pretty good number,” Smyth said.

The municipality created a website called ShopKing to help direct customers to essential businesses that remained operational during the coronavirus pandemic.

“We are a creature of the province and as the province, kind of, tells us what businesses are able to open through the various stages and phases, it’s like, how do we adapt that online portal to help market and promote the businesses that are now starting to reopen?” Smyth said.

Smyth said the municipality is also helping through its online business resource portal.

“We put in place this one-stop-shop location for businesses to get all the information on the various financial relief measures that are being put in place by the senior levels of government,” he said.

Smyth said his team is trying to come up with ideas to prevent businesses from suffering so much they have to close.

“There will be casualties everywhere, but you know, I don’t think King is going to be different than other jurisdictions,” Smyth said. “How do we mitigate?”