Mints & Honey is a café and party venue founded by two sisters, Canna and Dorothy. They started their business as a floral design studio. According to the Mints & Honey website, Canna and Dorothy are “two passionate people inspired by nature and flowers [who] desperately wanted to do something fun and creative.” They eventually launched Mints & Honey in San Carlos in 2015.

Like many businesses in San Mateo County, the owners of Mints & Honey were surprised by the announcement of the county’s shelter-in-place order, effective March 17. Canna and Dorothy decided to remain open and adapt their business to meet the needs of the shelter-in-place order. Dorothy said, “Canna and I both believe we have to stay open to bring a sense of normalcy to our community. For myself, I need my latte every morning. We didn’t know what to expect and how to adapt, but we truly believe even though [we are] a small business, we can offer help and make some impact.”

The Mints & Honey team set up an online system overnight to continue to serve their customers. As the café continued to stay in business, Canna and Dorothy started to connect with customers who were wondering what they could do to help Mints & Honey. Dorothy and Canna said, “We also have a bunch of customers who work [on the] frontlines and told us that even though they worry that they will bring the virus [to their homes], this is what they signed up for and they are ready. What they said really touched us and we were inspired to do something special for them.”