The Chocolate Mill at Mt Franklin adapting sales around coronavirus

Does your ideal Quarantine Survival Kit contain nothing but chocolate? These Easter bunny helpers from country Victoria have you covered.

EASTER is just around the corner, but it will not be an Easter like any other we have experienced before.

Yet one thing can remain the same — chocolate.

But even the Easter bunny’s chocolate-making helpers have been feeling the effects of the coronavirus situation.

At The Chocolate Mill at Mt Franklin, just outside Daylesford, owner Nicki Straton says they would normally welcome about 1500 people a week, but that has “dropped off immensely” since restrictions came into effect last week.

But it is not all bad news — they are getting increased traffic online. Nicki says they sent 20 parcels of chocolate on Monday morning, and another five that afternoon.

“People are buying for each other, for themselves and buying Easter products as well.”

The Chocolate Mill opened in 2003, and Nicki and her husband, Adrian, have owned it since December 2013.

They import Fair Trade Belgium chocolate, and use it to handcraft about 100 different designs of chocolates, and make about 12,000 chocolates and truffles a week.

Easter treat: A milk chocolate Chubby Bunny from The Chocolate Mill.

Nicki says they had been looking for a small business in the country when they saw the business advertised online. The couple had both come from regional Victoria — Nicki from the Yarra Valley, Adrian from central Victoria — and Adrian had worked at Nestle as a confectioner for 12 years.

“He knew chocolate inside and out,” says Nicki, whose background is in finance. But she also loves food and hospitality, and it is she who makes the chocolates’ fillings.

“We were in East Doncaster in Melbourne. We came and sampled the product, absolutely loved it, and said ‘we can do this’. So we moved to the country and six years later we’re more than happy.”

At the moment, on top of their regular stock, Nicki says they would normally sell about 6000 Easter products.

That includes their range of eggs, made with moulds with beautiful designs, and the Chubby Bunnies, which come in milk, white, dark and vegan varieties.

Another item that has just been introduced in the lead-up to Easter, but one that will continue after it, is the Quarantine Survival Kit, a box that contains all the best of the Mill’s products — rocky road, milk licorice bullets, marble bar, coconut crunch bark, milk fruit and nut, and milk hot chocolate.

It was just one of the big changes introduced to the business last week. The Chocolate Mill’s shop and cafe are open, for now, but the cafe’s hours have been reduced to 12-4.30pm (and takeaway only), while the shop can have a maximum of five people inside at a time.

But in terms of online orders, “we’re getting many more online orders than we ever have before”, and they have reduced the cost of postage from $15 to $10.

Nicki says they have been sending out notes with each of their orders, saying thank you to their customers for their support.

“Obviously there are people out there who are losing their jobs, losing hours,” she says.

“Some people think chocolate is essential,” she laughs, before adding, “we are still here, still employing people and we’re doing the best we can to make everything affordable so people don’t miss out.”