Mum of five Nikki Jordan-Watts used to write little messages on her kids' packed lunch boxes saying: 'Made from L'il Mama's Kitchen With Love'.
Now that same loving message is going out every day across South Devon on her L'il Mama's Vegan Kitchen food delivery boxes as business booms.
L'il Mamas Vegan Kitchen has grown so fast during the pandemic that Nikki's whole family are all now involved in either the cooking or delivery side of the business.
It all started after Nikki went vegan five years ago and couldn't find any good takeaway food. Originally she and her daughter Siobhain planned to cook at music festivals from a large green tent.
But the popularity of their food meant they had to buy premises in Paignton's Palace Avenue and now they can barely keep up as orders flood in from all over South Devon.
They have taken on a new cafe next door called Oasis and have their own app and the biggest choice of vegan food in the area.
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Reviewers go mad for L'il Mama's' kebabs, vegan lasagna, burgers, curries, stews and pizzas and one said: "Vegetarians have been waiting 40 years for something like this in Torbay."
Nikki said: "I would describe it basically as world food - I just take ideas from around the world and we find new ways to make a vegan version."
Her daughter Siobhain said that at first they would even have to make their own vegan mayo and cream cheese from ingredients like cashew nuts: "But it's getting easier all the time - new vegan cheeses are coming on the market and it's not as labour intensive."
L'il Mama's has faced criticism about the speed of deliveries and Nikki admitted that people do sometimes have to wait, because everybody wants their food delivered at the same time.
"I do feel quite bad that people have to wait," she said. "There was one person in particular who got quite negative and I am sorry. But all of our regular customers know that it's not fast food and they are patient and understand we can't deliver to everybody at 6.30pm."
One couple order their food at 5pm, before they get their children ready for bed and bath time, then they get ready for bed too - and their L'il Mama's arrives for their evening treat.
Siobhain said: "When it's such a small amount of people here it became a bit crazy when the first pandemic hit and everybody started ordering. We are delivering to Torbay, Newton Abbot and Totnes - but we had to say no to orders for Ivybridge, it's just too far."
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Nikki explained how she was just a housewife who loved good home cooking and couldn't believe how fast the business grew.
"We started from home but then we joined Just Eat and that was when it started to go mental. We were at the top of the Just Eat list and all of these orders started coming fast and it was crazy. We had to take on more staff and I had to get all of my children and my husband involved.
"At first I just wanted to do food that could be pre-ordered the day before. But people started wanting same day delivery.
"The name came from when I used to do packed lunches for the boys and I used to put little notes in, saying 'Made from L'il Mama's kitchen with love' - and one of the teachers said that would be a great name for a business.
"Now we still write the same hand-written note on all the boxes, because since the pandemic we know that a lot of people are at home on their own."
Nikki became vegan five years ago after watching shocking films about animal cruelty - and she's never gone back.
"When I saw what was happening to animals I just thought 'Wow this is not what we should be eating' and I became a vegan overnight. Now the demand for vegan food is definitely going up fast.
"My four sons and my daughter and my husband are all involved now and we are training new staff."
Now Nikki dreams of syndicating the L'il Mama's recipe for success - and she and the family dream of one day after Covid-19 when they can pack up the big green L'il Mama's tent and head back out on the road for music festivals. Nikki said: "We all miss the festival - I like going outside!"
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