A waitress who lost her job during the coronavirus pandemic has kickstarted her own career as a businesswoman and baker after turning one of her lockdown hobbies into a lucrative business venture.
Mona Route, 27, was let go from her server job at an airport in Melbourne, Australia, when Covid-19 hit in March 2020, and the newfound time on her hands left her feeling "so bored", the Daily Star reports.
With nothing else to do, Mona decided to take up baking as a hobby to pass the time and soon found herself trying out experimental dessert recipes - which eventually led her to start her own cookie business.
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The former waitress told news.com.au : “I was so bored. That’s when I started baking.”
Mona's loaded cookie recipes became her "cheat meal" when she was on her mission to lose weight, and the massive snacks are made up of baked cookie dough that surrounds a sweet filling such as Malteser spread or melted Kinder Bueno that oozes out when you bite the cookie.
The cookies quickly became a hit with her family and friends, and when her dad suggested she start selling the sweet treats, the woman set up Mona's Treats with 15 unique cookie flavours to choose from.
The keen baker created an Instagram account and spent $500 (£282) on ingredients for her first industrial-sized batch.
At first, Mona was selling around 30 to 40 cookies a month, but she now has a monthly average of a staggering 450 orders - leaving her waking up at 2 am to keep up with demand.
During the height of lockdown, Mona was selling as many as 700 cookies a month but has since slowed production down so that she can work her new frontline job while keeping up Mona's Treats as a side hustle on her days off.
Mona currently makes an impressive £1,700 every month from selling cookies in addition to her main occupation, and has turned over £14,000 since she started up.
The cook, who runs her business from her parents' kitchen, is even hoping to transition into baking full-time when she can reach 1,500 orders a month.
She said: “Hopefully one day I can do this in a commercial kitchen.”
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