Everywhere you look just now in the food and farming sector, you will see businesses adapting and increasingly working together to keep going and also provide customers with fresh food and other supplies.

In little more than a month, Simon Ross’ Ballasalla-based bakery business has been completely turned on its head.

Although he made a small amount of retail products, sold through select outlets such as the Good Health Store in Castletown and Cornerhouse Coffee in Port St Mary, his business model was all about supplying cafes and restaurants with speciality burger buns, ciabatta and focaccia.

Simon explained: ’We were 85% geared to supplying the wholesale market. Now it’s gone 100% the other way.

’The restaurant business has completely evaporated, overnight.’

For Simon this was a double blow: his wife, Mel, owns the Alpine Cafe which of course has also had to close.

Ross Bakery has been able to survive but this has meant not only changing their distribution model but the entire product range too.

From making around 80 tin loaves a night, Simon and his team are now baking 300 and also making ’hundreds’ of Portuguese custard tarts - which are proving to be the ideal treat for customers in lockdown.

This has clearly been a big change from making buns and speciality breads.

Simon says: ’Our night was set up in a certain way and it was busy and hectic but we were on top of it and I’ve had to reinvent the way we work. Buns require a much smaller amount of dough so where we were doing one or two mixes a night now we’re doing three or four.

’So nights are a lot longer and a lot more complicated.

’Every night we’re learning new skills and the team has really stepped up.

’It’s been exhilarating and exhausting.’

Despite all this, his business has been transformed in a very short space of time.

Simon said: ’I’m amazed at how quickly it’s changed around and it’s thanks to other people changing their businesses around too.’

One of these is Ballakelly Farm, who we reported on last week, who include Ross Bakery bread in their regular deliveries.

Another is Close Leece Farm, in Patrick.

They have had to close their popular farm shop and cafe but they have been kept busy delivering an expanded range of products, as owner Tracey Ridgway explained: ’Alongside our usual extensive range of Manx products, including our award winning salamis, chorizo, bacon and sauages, we have added the non-Manx essentials of life - everything from toilet rolls to tins of beans, beer, pasta, fruit and veg and everything in between.

’It can all be ordered and paid for via our website.’

Tracey added: ’We have seen a huge surge in demand for our eggs, along with Laxey flour and yeast as everyone seems to be homebaking at the moment. The fresh fruit and veg boxes are also proving popular.’

As with all the other businesses involved in the new food supply chain, for Close Leece Farm it was a case of ’needs must’.

Tracey said: ’As we are primarily a working farm we had to adapt our business model to ensure a regular income so we could continue to buy feed and look after our animals.

’We are extremely grateful for all our customers’ support to help us continue during this difficult time.

’We are constantly adapting: up until this week the shop was open for people to shop themselves but increasingly people want home delivery so we have taken the decision to close the shop to personal shoppers to concentrate resources on delivery or click and collect.

’I and the whole Close Leece team can’t wait until the day we can open our cafe again and welcome back our regular customers and hopefully we will meet some new customers that have found out about us during this time.’

Brabag was in the home fuel business , delivering logs to customers, but last week James Hampton, who owns brabagfuels.com, delivered almost 400 Ross Bakery loaves and Portuguese custard tarts.

James said: ’Brabbag has been my hobby business since 2008. Just a couple of nights a week delivering logs in the winter usually.’

When the current crisis started, he emailed his regular customers to see if they would be interested in having groceries delivered and the response encouraged him to contact local food producers.

In addition to bread he soon had suppliers for potatoes, milk and other items. He has also stripped and racked his van, purchased an 8ft cold room, a mobile chiller unit and a new commercial freezer.

With 5am starts at Ross Bakery, James is now doing 20-hour days.

He said: ’On a busy night in the week before Christmas I might expect to do 25-30 drops in one evening on the logs. On Thursday last week I did 84 drops in one morning on groceries.

’I had to take down my existing online shop and replace it with a web form in order to keep up with orders, and I’m now desperately trying to find a way of linking the online shop to the accounts software. Once that is done I will be able to do more.’

James admits that what he has done has been a community-spirited response to the crisis rather than a well thought-out business plan.

He said: ’I’ve not set a minimum order or a mandatory delivery charge as I realise some folks will be really struggling right now, and some folks are totally stuck.

’I don’t know if I will be able to carry on after the worst is over.

’I didn’t really spend enough time working out if this was viable as a business before taking orders, but right now it feels like the right thing to do, keeping people fed and keeping local producers supplied with orders.’

Andy at Cornerhouse Coffee is also delivering Ross Bakery products - 250 loaves and rolls last week - and they are also available from The Good Health Store in Port Erin who are still open for business.

Simon Ross said: ’It was really tough when we lost most of our business overnight but thanks to people like James and Andy, and many others, we have been able to diversify. I actually feel really privileged to be able to make bread for people during these times.’

l www.cornerhousecoffee.im, www.brabagfuels.com, www.closeleecefarm.com