How Redundancy Became A Recipe For Success

Redundancy is not something many New Zealander’s anticipated when it came to making plans for 2020, however, due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, redundancy has become a reality for a significant number of kiwis. As of November 2020, over 151,000 New Zealander’s are currently unemployed.

Among the industries to have been hit, arguably the tourism industry has been the most affected. “It just stopped, everything just stopped.” Says Donna Williams, one of 2,500 crew who worked on Air New Zealand’s international flights, that were grounded in March of this year due to the nationwide lockdown. For Air New Zealand, the financial impact of Covid-19 has been devastating – with the company reporting a loss of $454 million – and the company was forced to make around 4000 crew redundant.

Although New Zealand has since returned to alert level 1 and a Trans-Tasman bubble has allowed a limited number of international flights to resume, redundancy is still looming. “Some crew have [only] just found out they are going to be made redundant also.” Donna says, before going on to explain the feeling of being told you are going to be made redundant.

While Air New Zealand has issued redundancy payouts and the government has done its best to aid those being made redundant with financial assistance, those in a position such as Donna are faced with a choice. To hold onto the money and wait for another secure job to come along, or take a leap of faith and invest the money into something new.

Donna opted for the latter, opening a brand-new business, Gumdrops Desserts, in August of this year. “I think I just backed myself.” Donna says, of the decision.

While her many of her co-workers were given notice in March, Donna had already been preparing to make adjustments from as early as last year. Her husband, Jason, was diagnosed with kidney failure in August of 2019, making him immuno-compromised.

On the brink of redundancy, and the primary caregiver for her husband and two of her children, Donna needed to find a solution. In the back of her mind, she had been dreaming up an idea: a small dessert business, full of the flavours kiwis know and love.

“Of course everyone loves desserts. [In down periods, such as recessions] “the only people who [usually] survive are the food industry because people still gotta eat. And people look for comfort food as well.”

However, Donna laments. “For me, it could have been any business. My daughter’s thing is the desserts.” Donna goes on to explain that daughter Stevie, who had been working for one of the ground handlers at Auckland Airport, was also made redundant.

“We were both redundant, thinking…what are we gonna do?” Says Donna.

The mother and daughter duo decided to combine their strengths and open Gumdrops Desserts. Sadly, both were faced with an unfathomable hurdle when Donna’s husband, Jason, passed away early this year; right after they had signed the lease on the proposed space for Gumdrops.

Despite the overwhelming sense of grief, Donna continued to pour all of her effort into the shop. Donna says she couldn’t have done it without the endless support of her family.

 “The day after the [Donna’s husband’s] funeral, my brothers came in and did all the floors. Cause this was just an empty building.” 

As well as daughter Stevie becoming a business partner, Donna’s son, Dillon (also the marketing manager for Flex Fitness New Zealand) took on board all of the marketing and social media content to get the word out.

In August, all the hard work came to fruition, when Gumdrops Desserts officially opened for business.

Gumdrops had initially employed 3 people, however to be able to “keep up with the demand” Donna found herself hiring an additional 7 staff members, within 7 weeks of opening. One of those included Gumdrops pastry chef, who was originally brought on part-time and has now transitioned into full time employment.

Customer Julie Greenwood recounts her experience. “[The desserts] are divine, I ended up getting 6 because I couldn’t decide on which one…I ended up eating an entire sticky date pudding before thinking of sharing…that’s the thing about these desserts. There is no guilt or sadness when it’s finished. You just feel comforted.”

Donna couldn’t be happier to see business blossoming, despite the pressures of owning her own business sometimes calling for 14-16 hour days. “All of my [current] problems are good problems.”

For those contemplating starting their own business, Donna also has plenty of wisdom to share. “A lot of people, they don’t realise the amazing skills they’ve learnt from previous work experience.” While someone in the airline industry might not be able to work as a flight attendant right now, “[they have] amazing customer service skills, organisation skills. Knowledge of brand…and taking care of your brand.”

To those who might be reluctant to take the leap and jump directly into the job market, or setting up a new business, Donna says, “It’s a risk and it can be scary, but what have you got to lose? You only live once, you shouldn’t be afraid to live.”

Gumdrops Desserts is currently open Tuesday – Saturday between the hours of 1pm to 9pm.