Thriving in a pandemic

For many new businesses, a global pandemic would be a death sentence.

But over the past few months of the COVID-19 pandemic, some have defied expectations and done more than merely survive. One such business is new Ivanhoe-based shop Gotham Doughnuts, which has thrived since its opening just weeks before coronavirus restrictions set in.

Since February, in the north-eastern suburb of Ivanhoe, the streets have been as quiet as they’ve been in years.

Card and gift shops, a Crust pizza franchise, beauty salons, ice cream shops, op shops and more: closed.

"The business next to me is Cosi Duci, the ice cream store, and Victor, the owner, he's been there for, like, 15 years. And he was telling me, like, from the start, ‘yeah, the streets are really quiet, like, I haven't seen them this quiet in years’. But I was kind of, like, opening a new business. I was excited. So I was like ‘nah, nah, nah, don't worry, like, it's all good’.”

That was George Tsalikidis. The owner of Gotham Doughnuts. He's twenty years old.

Gotham Doughnuts opened on the last Friday of February. As George put it, when people knew about coronavirus but “it wasn’t really that big of a deal yet”.

“Oviously we were contemplating whether we should still open or not seeing as we don't have a regular customer base yet and maybe people will be scared to come out. I don't want to say I was nervous, more just unsure what was going to happen,” he said.

The first few weeks after opening were normal.

“At the start, we had probably five or six tables, so we had seating inside and outside and that was good. We got a lot of kids after school coming down with their friends and sitting down, getting a doughnut, a milkshake or whatever,” George said.

On March 25th, social distancing restrictions set in that ordered Victorian hospitality businesses to only open for takeaway.

“Obviously we had to take all that seating away. We had to regulate the amount of customers that were allowed in the store at one time. Also the staff members - it's just me and one other. We've got yellow tape around all of our displays. So it keeps that 1.5 metre distance between us and the customers.”

A customer standing behind the yellow tape on the floor of Gotham Doughnuts.

A customer speaking to staff from 1.5 metres away.

Maho, the staff member at Gotham Doughnuts who has worked with George through the pandemic.

Regardless of the restrictions, the business has thrived.

“Each week it's growing, which is really good. I'm really happy with how it's going right now considering the pandemic that's going on," George said.

Why was this doughnut shop in Ivanhoe so popular in spite of the global crisis?

One factor is Gotham Doughnuts originally had a largely takeaway business model, so they haven’t been as affected as businesses that are dine-in oriented.

Another, is the tendency for people to turn to comfort food such as doughnuts in times of crisis.

Melbourne-based doughnut business, Goldeluck’s Doughnuts, is also thriving through the COVID-19 pandemic. Its founder, Phillip Kuoch, turned his focus to the business’ online store and delivery services. He told SmartCompany his online store had grown “like 1400%” in a month.

According to dietitians, it’s not surprising to see doughnuts being such a popular choice during times of stress, uncertainty and inactivity.

"Heightened stress, anxiety, or just being around food more, is likely to lead to more, I guess, what people call 'comfort eating'."

"It's totally normal human behaviour to choose to eat something to either comfort yourself or for any reason other than hunger.”

- Dietitian Zoe Nicholson, Love What You Eat and The Moderation Movement.

“Initially it was surprising to find that people are still ordering out. And not just at the doughnut place, but at other fast food places as well."

"But then, if we dive a little bit deeper into human behavior and nutrition, we're living through a pandemic. And just as we used to when we were kids, when we're adults, we also regulate our emotions and one way of doing that is through food."

- Dietitian Sarah Why, the Good Food Clinic.

"What I'm talking about is emotional eating for that regulation. So when it comes to emotions, we can be eating because we're bored, because we're anxious, because we've got low energy, low mood, we can also eat these high palatable foods because we're happy. We're spending a little bit more time with our family. We link food with good memories as well."

"So that might be one of the other reasons why families and individuals are going for doughnuts.”

- Dietitian Sarah Why, the Good Food Clinic.

Now, George is allowed to have people back sitting out the front and inside the store.

Those that are left of Victorian cafes and restaurants are starting to make the first steps back towards ‘normal’ trading. He is looking forward to building off his success through the pandemic, and expanding the business further.

“Keep implementing new things into the shop, new doughnuts, new menu items. There's a lot we can do to just keep expanding, keep growing, and keep supplying good tasty doughnuts.”