Southern Indiana Business July-August 2020 | Page 8

CONSIDER THIS
Getting Back to
Normal 2.0
By Valerie Zell
When a worldwide pandemic leads to lockdown and your business
model is based on in-person, group activities, what do you do?
You think fast. And you get creative.
“Our model is based on events, classes, birthday parties,” said
Liz Martino, general manager and culinary director of MESA Kids
Cooking School in New Albany. “We didn’t feel comfortable having kids in, so we
went to a strictly online model” that included video classes and recipe kits that kids
could pick up curbside and follow at home.
It was a huge change for the burgeoning business, and it happened almost overnight.
The school held its last workshop on a Saturday, Martino said, shut down to customers
on Sunday, and were putting out videos within 24 hours. Their online model also
included take-home recipe kits to accompany the videos, as well as other make-at-home
treats. Those were offered via delivery or curbside pickup.
“We started working right away,” she said. “We hammered out ideas and pricing,
and we had things up and running.” That’s not to say they were confident every step of
the way. “We were frightened, but we knew what service we could provide, so that’s
what we went with,” she said.
For Martino and other business owners, the need to act immediately wasn’t an
option. But what many are finding is that the measures they implemented on the fly
in order to either protect their workforce — or even just remain afloat — are good in
the long run, too.
8 July / August 2020