Owner shares secret to steaming through pandemic

One of the Coast’s solid business performers during the COVID-19 downturn is sharing her recipe for survival.

One Noosa business is surviving the downturn through some clever trading: Tourism and Events Queensland.

One of Noosa's solid business performers during the COVID-19 downturn is sharing her survival recipe.

The Steamed Bun Company in Noosa Junction is being hailed as a template for how to trade through testing times of the pandemic.

Business operator Megan Dean said Steamed Bun was only doing a minimum amount of takeaway when coronavirus restrictions started to bite hard in late March.

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Noosa's Steamed Bun Company owner Megan Dean.

"It was the only thing that we really could do, so where we'd focused (previously) on a lot of wholesale, we weren't able to do that anymore," Ms Dean said.

"Surprisingly we were really, really lucky in that we didn't have to shut.

"What happened was that the local customers all came out to support us."

The staff were grateful for the amount of foot traffic that came through the door.

"One of the things with the COVID situation was that we really had to take advantage of every opportunity available," Ms Dean said.

One Noosa business has learned how to thrive in these tough times.

"So it was really listening to our customers and realising that they wanted to buy things like steamer baskets to cook their buns, so we started carrying different sauces and put drinks in the fridge," she said.

During the toughest months the shop was still closing early but Ms Dean told her customers to call after hours so she could pop down to the store.

"I may be sitting with my family and I'd get a phone call 'hi, can I please order some takeaway steam buns'," she said.

"I'd jump up, race down to the shop, organise a time for pick up and then people would come and collect everything.

"I really wanted to take advantage of everything and try and keep everybody happy."

She has also appreciated Noosa Council's COVID-19 business support services and packages.

"There were lots of people to speak to as far as if you had any questions or business mentoring especially in the climate at the time," she said.

"We ended up doing a couple of over the phone chats with various people.

"They suggested other avenues that if we needed support we could turn to so we never felt we were in a position where we didn't know what to do."

There were other support workshops organised by the council that she could not attend because she was too busy trading.

"You could really see a sense of community spirit both from the business side of Noosa as well as just the general public which I don't think you would get in many other places," she said.

Her business focus has completely shifted leading into next year.

"We realise we won't have a lot of the international tourists, we won't have people flying up from all different states and walking around," Ms Dean said.

She said that drove home to her how important the local and Queensland market would continue to be in the months ahead.

Meanwhile, the council business support team is now gearing up for the end of the COVID regulated rent relief which expires on September 30.

The council has asked anyone who has not yet reached an arrangement about rent during the response period to call the economic development office for assistance on 1300 312 344.

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