A drink-sharing idea which has helped connect friends separated by the pandemic is now the winner of two national awards, including one from Dragons' Den star Theo Paphitis.
A Toast In The Post was launched online by David and Jane Charnley, both 47, after their work in the events industry was hit by the Covid crisis.
The service invites people to send a favourite tipple through the post to those they can't be with, alongside a personalised photo-message card, so that they can celebrate special moments together even when they're apart.
It was inspired by an idea that Jane first had two years ago when she could not attend a close relative's funeral so instead sent the family his favourite drink and a treasured photogaph to celebrate his life.
"The idea has been with us ever since," she said.
But Jane was running a wedding table-plan business and, together with David, an exhibition stand business called LoveExpo so it was only when Covid brought the hospitality industry to a standstill that they focused on translating the idea into a new business venture.
And it proved an immediate hit.
A Toast In The Post - comprising alcohol miniatures in recyclable packaging - took off and the pair, who studied together at the University of Sunderland in the early nineties and now live in Lancashire, sold more than 6,000 drinks in eight months.
After its first six weeks, it won Dragon’s Den star Theo Paphitis’ national Small Business Sunday award.
It has also won a WOW - Women of Wednesday - award, set up by Jaqueline Gold of Ann Summers, as well as praise from Britain’s Got Talent star Amanda Holden who was sent a toast for her 50th birthday.
Jane, who studied business computing at Sunderland, said: “Coming out of lockdown, online sales are very much here to stay and it’s lovely seeing a rise in engagement and wedding greetings returning.
"We also have more and more companies enquiring for corporate gifts, sending hundreds of colleagues A Toast in the Post to celebrate the successes of their workforce."
She and David, whose Sunderland course was environmental studies, have worked in the events industry for more than 20 years but, with their usual work not yet recovered, they are celebrating the fact they have achieved something positive from the pandemic.
And, says Jane, the business is helping keep the nation connected "through sending personal sentiments when people couldn’t be together".
David added: “It’s been a whirlwind six months, seeing daily orders triple from our original expectations and trying to keep up with demand for people wanting to let loved ones know they are thinking about them in these difficult times.
“But seeing sales grow and winning a national award by a well-renowned Dragon’s Den entrepreneur certainly makes all the long nights of packing worth it.”
