TOUGH times breed good ideas in business, just take the Welder's Dog bunker boxes for example.
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The local initiative brings together the best of small business in a box to keep them up and running during the COVID-19 pandemic.
It's an opportunity for the community to support local businesses while staying safe and socially responsible, Welder's Dog co-owner Tom Croft said.
"Overnight we were out of business with the bars, along with all the others in hospitality, cafes and producers," he said.
"I guess we had to do something straight away, we closed our bars before we were told to because we thought it was the responsible thing to do, we could see how it was going.
"Overnight 90 per cent of our brewery market dried up, and this came together over a strong cup of coffee."
Within 48 hours the bunker boxes had a basic but workable website and a team of local producers on board.
In the first six hours it sold out 100 boxes, and another 100 have been pre-sold for next week - so the team decided to up the numbers.
In its first week the boxes were filled with Goldfishbowl wood-fired sourdough and Portugese tarts, market vegetables from Get Fresh Armidale, beef mince and sausages from Dales Downtown Meats and bacon from Jackson's Quality Meats.
All of that paired nicely with two hot chocolate packs from Aurelia's Farm, two litres of Peel Valley gold top milk, six eggs from Working With Nature in Guyra and a four pack of Welder's Dog Pale Ale.
Every week the boxes change, with a different selection of ingredients from local businesses delivered straight to the door.
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Delivered in full personal protective equipment with the outside of the box sanitised, it's a chance to still enjoy local goodies and keep a social distance.
Members of the public are encouraged to make suggestions or special requests through the Welder's Dog social media pages.
