UNINCORPORATED LAKE WORTH, Fla. — The Valvano's new business in unincorporated Lake Worth is quickly getting known for its giant cookies.
"We have a lot of kids from next door that come over after their practice and batting lessons and have our cookies," said Maria Valvano.
Sweet N Savory Gourmet Gifts offers 14 different varieties. "They're bigger than the palm of your hand," said Maria.
The business is giving them away to the kids hoping to get the word out about their new business which sells online gourmet gift baskets with custom messages and logos.
Jerry Valvano is co-owner with his wife. "We sell cheese and charcuterie, we sell gourmet cookies," he said.
It's a new business based on the couple's last business.
Maria said, "We started brainstorming what can we do with what we know."
"We tried to stay in business but all the distributors shut down," said Jerry.
The coronavirus caused them to shut their doors at their warehouse in Boca Raton because their clients weren't buying anymore.
They sold gourmet desserts, "To food distributors that then sold our pastries to big venues like hotels, country clubs, sports arenas anywhere you'd have a large gathering or large event," said Maria.
The family took a hard hit financially. They just bought their first house in Wellington before the pandemic.
"We lost everything and now we had to reinvent ourselves," said Jerry.
"We have everything from gifts, to corporate gifts, to anniversaries to birthdays, we have a little bit of everything. It's a gift company so it's for anyone," Maria said.
The couple admits marketing to consumers online isn't their strong-point.
"I can barely use the credit card machine," joked Jerry.
But he's still putting in long "sweet" hours every single day to get his new business up and running.
"We have to do what we have to do in order to get back on track again on where we used to be," said Jerry.
