ISO Inspiration - Delicious Ways to Support Businesses doing it Tough

* UPDATED 16 September 2020 *

My heart aches for our beloved hospitality industry and our small businesses - the beating heart of Melbourne - as lockdown continues.

Please do what you can to support local business and those doing it tough at the moment - be it paying it forward, making the most of the incredible takeaway options available, gifting food & wine, organising staff or client online cooking or tasting experiences etc. It's not only the restaurants and cafes - but the farmers, artisan makers and suppliers too.

Here's 13 of the many innovative options available which will make Iso life infinitely more delicious.

1. Atlas Dining brings their Round the World menus to you. Weekly cuisine themed ingredient boxes accompanied by video cooking tutorials with head chef Charlie Carrington.

2. Now's the time to enjoy one of Australia's best restaurants with Attica at Home. From family style lasagne to a ten course date night! Plus cool merch designed by local artists. * Embla is also doing a beautiful weekend menu, designed for you to finish at home. Last week's lemon meringue pie ice cream was to die for !

3. Game changing delivery service founded by acclaimed chef, Shane Delia, Providoor is booming ! Bringing a world-class dining experience to your dining room table, Providoor is delivering menus (and cocktails) from some of Melbourne's best restaurants (including Entrecote, Supernormal, Pastuso, Movida, Sunda and Flower Drum). This new concept sees cold, carefully packed meals delivered, for you to heat and finish off at home. Charging only half the commission of Uber Eats and competitors, Providoor aims to provide a long term lifeline to the Australian restaurant industry.

4. Her mother is legendary chef Elizabeth Chong. Her grandfather invented the dim sim. Angie Chong, born into Chinese food royalty, herself has opened her own restaurant in the 70's. Pre-Covid, she was running her acclaimed dumpling workshops in her Alphington home, sharing the recipes she learnt as a child. So excited that she's now taken these workshops ONLINE ! https://thehumbledumpling.com.au/

5. Whilst we're talking dumplings - it's always handy to have a stash in the freezer. Plant focused, fine diner, Shu Restaurant, is delivering boxes of exquisite dumplings - as are Oriental Teahouse.

6. More wine needed? Home to some of Melbourne's favourite wine bars comes new business Diggin in the Cellars. And from former Attica sommelier, Good Pair Days - an interactive wine journey where your palette (and budget) are hero.

7. Industry secret - Little Bertha normally only sell to the best cafes - but now you can enjoy their baked perfection (and essential goods from neighbouring businesses) direct !

8. Popstic was an event based bespoke ice-cream business pre-Covid. Here's a little from owner, Som, "Popstic has never been about money for us. It is our life. It is a labour of love & it makes us really happy to feed people, to create thoughtful desserts & to have a sense of freedom as small business owners. We want to show our little boy that anything is possible." It's a win-win : impeccably made, fun sorbets & ice-cream for you, a business sustained.

9. Now's the time to join a cheese club and support Australia's artisan cheese makers https://www.mouldcheesefestival.com/mould-cheese-collective/

Plus these guys know how to put on an event. They've created virtual tasting experiences - inviting teams to explore, meet, learn, drink and of course, eat some of the best cheese money can buy. Presented by REVEL (the team behind cult wine event Pinot Palooza), in collaboration with award-winning cheesemaker Nick Haddow of Bruny Island Cheese Co., MOULD seeks to connect audiences with artisan Australian cheesemakers and show them a good time while demonstrating the incredible quality and breadth of our cheese industry. Chat with Arron for more info : arron@revel.global

10. Visit Victoria has launched campaign, #ClickforVic - an opportunity to get the best of Victoria delivered to your door. Collaborating with Providoor (as listed above), Co-lab Pantry (another shining example of Covid innovation) and the Victorian Country Market.

11. Deliciousness comes in many forms. Florists - and growers - are hurting with no event orders or weddings. Bring some joy into your home office by supporting local florists - and locally grown blooms & foliage. (A few of my favourites include GeorgieBoy and Vasette).

12. Temporary visa holders have a particularly hard road because they have no access to JobKeeper or JobSeeker & many of them are restricted in the kind of work they can do. Dani Valent's compiled a list of micro businesses created by visa holders, designed to get them through to COVID-normal- support them here: https://danivalent.com/news/visaholderhustles

13. The event industry was the first out of action and will be one of the last back into the market. Event production company Stella & Co have launched IsoDate which has been a hit - rebooting workplace culture in the work-from-home era. The Event Builder has created a new business, The Kids Builder - building play gyms, learning towers and more. SpaceCube pivoted quickly, using their sleek infrastructure solutions to support temporary testing and health units, creating new Click & Collect solutions for retailers and aged care visitation cubes. En Pointe Events has been busy creating online content for clients to share with their communities, curating DIY craft kits and working on Covid-safe experiences for clients. Cookes Food, Blakes Feast and Clover Culinary Projects are all creating beautiful menus for you to enjoy at home. AND the Placesettings hire crew have been redeployed to assist FareShare with logistics and deliveries.

For the kids? Alice in Frames is doing family friendly cook-alongs and has created a fun foodie podcast to listen along to. A favourite event supplier of ours, See Make Play, has pivoted from craft workshops - to crafty boxes filled with goodness to keep the kids occupied at home. And FizzKidz bring science inspired DIY fun into homes with their activity kits.

Alone but not apart. This is just a glimpse of the incredible innovators and business owners working around the clock to keep their businesses alive. Let's help them thrive.