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COVID-19 Recovery, Successful Business Stories
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Vouchers for Veterans
Vouchers for Veterans is an organization that provides food vouchers to veterans that can be used to buy fresh fruits and vegetables at local farmers markets. In a normal year, the organization will hold fundraising events year-round, solicit donations from businesses, and provide the vouchers in the month of September. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, fundraising events were cancelled, and business donations were limited. Vouchers for Veterans found new ways to raise money and awareness, including social media and writing letters to their communities.
Vouchers for Veterans adapted their operational procedures while at the farmer’s market to be COVID-safe, including setting-up outside away from the farmer’s market, physical distancing, and providing hand sanitizer. The organization’s new fundraising efforts and operational procedures were successful, enabling them to serve over 200 veterans each week in September at the Rochester Farmer’s Market, providing over $18,000 worth of vouchers throughout the month.
This program has been a win-win for everyone involved – Veterans received fresh food they may not have otherwise been able to access, farmers gained increased revenue, and the revenue streams and food products remained local. Vouchers for Veterans is excited to continue their program in the coming year.
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Throwback Brewery
Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, Throwback Brewery was a primarily indoor brewery with food service. They had very minimal takeout service, and their business model was drastically changed to adapt to COVID-19 related regulations.
Throwback Brewery was able to open their outdoor beer garden during the summer, with physically distanced tables and a full-service model, leading to a successful summer. With the cooler weather in the fall, they implemented many new changes, including takeout meals and food and beer delivery services.
In the winter months, Throwback purchased outdoor fire pits. Staff would assist in starting the fires, and would leave customers with bundles of wood to keep the fire going as long as they’d like. They began offering homemade marshmallows, graham crackers, sausages, and other snacks that could be cooked over the fires. Throwback even installed a skating rink with five new bar tables. They launched a new business over the winter which produced homemade sausage, salami, chorizo, and kielbasa.
Throwback has yet to open the indoor section of the restaurant with indoor food service, though has adapted and transformed this space into their newly created products such as takeout meals, beer, and sausages. They are working on expanding outdoor capacity for the coming summer months.
York Nordic
York Nordic produces walking poles, which increase safety, confidence, and motivation for people walking outdoors. They had been operating out of Portsmouth, but moved to Somersworth in January 2020, just before the COVID-19 pandemic hit. This move allowed them to hire a full-time warehouse lead to handle all shipments, and allowed the business to purchase new equipment which increased design capacity and offered new walking poll designs and features.
The trend of people wanting to get outside more since the pandemic began has benefited York Nordic with increased sales. York Nordic has been able to partner with nearby municipalities, providing free, physically distanced demo and introduction classes to use their walking poles. They’ve also organized physically distanced walks for people with health issues, such as those in active cancer treatment, to provide a safe space for recreation and community building.
Hop + Grind
Hop + Grind was founded on a concept that blazes a trail between traditional table side and new age fast casual dining. Their “craft casual” concept has been helpful in transitioning and adapting to the COVID-19 pandemic. Hop + Grind were forward thinking and noticed the trend of customers wanting online ordering and curbside pick-up, much before the COVID-19 pandemic hit. They were able to smoothly transition from a primarily indoor dining experience to a primarily curbside pickup dining experience. Hop + Grind also cites their staff as being incredibly supportive and willing to do what is necessary to safely and successfully keep their business operating.
The Stone Church Music Club
The Stone Church is a live music venue, restaurant, and lounge in Newmarket, NH. They opened their doors in 1970, radiating positive vibes and hosting thousands of local, regional and national musical acts, from Bonnie Raitt to Phish and countless others. 2020 was booked to be a year celebrating their 50th anniversary in high style, then came COVID. Once businesses were allowed to re-open post COVID shutdown, the Town of Newmarket allowed the venue to use an adjacent parking lot for outdoor dining and musical performances. They were able to secure a temporary extended alcoholic beverage service area license from the NH Liquor Commission for the new outdoor space, lovingly called The Stone Church 'Partio'. Although these outdoor improvements are weather dependent, the Stone Church had a successful summer season of outdoor dining and musical performances. They stretched those outdoor performances all the way well into December! In an uncertain year, the community was exceptionally grateful for the safe social environment.
Come winter, the venue allowed a limited number of guests Indoors. The Stone Church Music Club invested in air scrubbers, UV filters, and PPE to provide a safe space for their crew and guests. They also expanded their indoor operations to include their former attic, where they added lounge couches, a huge shuffleboard table, and an antique bar, allowing guests to spread out more creating a safe environment. The Stone Church is especially proud of their crew and the local community who wanted to see this iconic music venue survive. The Stone Church is excited to continue providing live music to the seacoast community for another 50 years!
Oyster River Cycle
When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, raw materials needed for bike manufacturing were difficult to purchase, and shipment of bikes globally were significantly delayed. Because of this, Oyster River Cycle could only sell what bikes they had in stock prior to COVID-19, which sold out within two months.
As the weather got warmer, Oyster River Cycle began servicing bikes outside. The shop developed a new servicing model – Customers would drop their bikes off, the shop would inspect them, and technologies such as Facetime would be used to show the customer what maintenance issues were found. This allowed the shop to still service bicycles while in a COVID-19 safe manner.
Oyster River Cycle’s COVID-19 safe perspective has stayed the same throughout the pandemic. They want to be a successful business, with safe practices, and want to continue to help people get out and enjoy cycling, the outdoors, and the many amenities our communities have to offer. The bike shop continues to encourage biking as a means of outdoor recreation to explore the incredible trails and natural areas in our region.
Make It Active
Make It Active is a digital marketing, digital design, and website design company based in Dover, NH. When the COVID-19 pandemic began, Make It Active quickly stopped taking on new clients and focused all of their time and resources to their existing clients websites. Many of their existing clients were local businesses who had to shut down. Make It Active helped all of their clients convert their existing, basic webpages to online shopping based websites so that the local businesses could continue to sell their products. All of Make It Active’s client businesses have thus far survived, and many have even flourished since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.