’98

Psychology

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My brother, Galen Conte ’92 (business), and I run Gerbs Allergy Friendly Foods. As an online business, this pandemic and the demand of online shoppers on Amazon.com suited our business model perfectly. The end of February was when I first discovered something was up—our online sales increased 10%. By the end of the first week in March, we had mandatory overtime in place with our entire staff, and sales skyrocketed to 25% over normal spring flow. By the second week in March, we were deemed an essential business by the state, as well as by Amazon, because we produce safe, healthy, and allergen-free foods. Sales eventually increased by 500%, forcing us to put in long hours 7 days a week. Our team members are the unsung heros. Between March 2 and Easter, we did not shut down—we did give the team a day off—obviously—on Easter Sunday. We follow the strict guidelines from the CDC, and have plenty of soap, bleach, antibacterial, and KN95 masks. Our families have risen to the occasion, for our long hours have posed such a demand on our home lives. Throw in distance learning—often my 7 and 10 year old children are set up in different areas of the office working on their subjects. We all miss our everyday life; we miss what everyone else is missing.