A small bakery owner in the southern United States has been left “overwhelmed” by the community response the business received following a Facebook post about a cookie—first losing customers over the Pride-themed cookies, but then selling out.

On June 3, Confections bakery in Lufkin, Texas posted a photo of love heart-shaped cookies decorated with rainbow icing in a show of support for the LGBTQI+ community during Pride Month.

“More LOVE. Less hate.” The caption read.

“Happy Pride to all our LGBTQ friends! All lovers of cookies and happiness are welcome here.”

However, by the next day the small business had lost dozens of followers and had a large order cancelled as a direct result of the post, with co-owner Felicia Tetu saying in a follow-up post that her “heart is heavy”.

“Today has been hard. Really hard.” Ms Tetu wrote.

“We lost a significant amount of followers because of a rainbow heart cookie we posted.

“We received a very hateful message on our business page cancelling a large order (5dz) of summer themed cookies for tomorrow morning (that we just finished decorating) because of a rainbow heart cookie we posted.

“My heart is heavy. Honestly I never thought a post that literally said more love less hate would result in this kind of backlash to a very small business that is struggling to stay afloat and spread a little cheer through baked goods.

“So. If you love our cookies we will have an over abundance of them tomorrow. Hopefully tomorrow will be better.”

What happened next restored the three owners’ faith in humanity, as customers came out in droves—lining up down the street—to support the bakery.

As well as selling out of stock and receiving donations, Confections gained thousands of new followers on its social media accounts as the story went viral.