David and Phoebe Watts received A Tasty Surprise recently when their fine food and florist store was named the winner of the Moree Thumbs Up Thumbs Down Essential Business Appreciation Award for June.
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The award is particularly timely, just a few months ahead of A Tasty Surprise's 10th birthday in August.
The local business first opened its doors in August 2010, after the Wattses recognised a need for high quality gourmet produce in the district.
Since then, there have been lots of changes.
"We started out primarily offering food products and some homewares and as time has moved on and the demand from our customers, we have moved into bigger and better premises offering food, homewares, giftwares and floristry," Phoebe said.
"We have started to send a lot more hampers around Australia recently and this has enabled us to showcase the Moree district."
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Having always lived in Moree as part of a local farming family, Phoebe said she particularly loves being able to go to work and chat to locals and visitors who call in to the shop.
She also enjoys having her children be a part of the business and helping out when they can.
A Tasty Surprise was nominated for the Thumbs Up award by Desley Towers, who only had positive things to say about the family-owned business.
"A Tasty Surprise always has top quality flowers that last for weeks, a huge range of specialist foods and supplies, although they have had big restrictions on supplies during COVID-19 you would never know," she said.
"Great service from all the family/staff; they pack and send whatever to where ever for the personal Moree touch."
Phoebe said she was thrilled to be recognised with the award and not only thanked Desley for the nomination, but thanked all their loyal customers for their support, particularly over the past few months and years.
"We always try hard to please our customers and it is lovely to hear from our customers how much they enjoy our products and appreciate us, even when it has been difficult to source things this year," she said.
"We would also like to thank our loyal followers for their continued support over the years and to everyone who voted for us. We do not do what we do for this recognition but it is nice to know that the service we offer is appreciated.
"We are very blessed to have a very loyal customer base, who continue to support our business. The support shown by the community during the past couple of years during the drought and then into COVID has been wonderful.
"We have tried hard over the years to offer Moree and district something that is not easily sourced elsewhere.
"We believe that Moree has a very good offering of small unique retail businesses and this is often highlighted by visitors to our store who make the comment how nice the shopping in town is. We are very proud to support many events in the district through our sponsorship."
Although COVID-19 has proven to be a challenging time, Phoebe said A Tasty Surprise has been fortunate to remain open, as people have been spending more time in the kitchen.
"We have seen people start to cook more and experiment with new recipes," she said.
"I am pleased we have been able to support the community during this time, providing flowers and food to their families and friends, particularly around Easter and Mother's Day when visiting was limited. We offer a free delivery service in town so that has been taken up by a lot of customers."
Nominations are currently open for the July Moree Thumbs Up Thumbs Down Essential Business Appreciation Award. If you want to nominate a local business who is COVID SAFE and has excellent customer service go to www.facebook.com/groups/688681601261419/