Jon Kreidler - Tattersall DistilleringPivoting from Making Spirits to Hand Sanitizer | |
 | Jon Kriedler joined Rotarians to share how he partnered with other distilleries to create a coalition to make World Health Organization approved hand sanitizer to help fight COVID-19 in Minnesota. Jon gave an overview of how they pivoted to making hand sanitizer. When they first started it was quite easy to source pharmaceutical grade ethanol and it quickly became an issue as other entities jumped into seeing this as a way to make money. Currently he has to purchase by the tanker load rather than by gallons. Jon was very pragmatic in how he is looking at his business and the restaurant and bar business. An interesting notation is that hand sanitizer is considered a topical drug and falls under certain regulations. He shared that some companies are purchasing a lesser quality petroleum grade ethanol and using that in making hand sanitizers. If you smell petroleum, it is not pharmaceutical grade! Jon shared that he sees restaurants opening first and at 25% capacity. Bars will be the last to open. He forecasts that 50% of current restaurants will not be able to reopen and will have to closer permanently. He shared how he is taking care of his employees, but paying for the health insurance, ensuring they have a job when the distillery can re-open, and by offering COVID-19 antibody testing to his employees. For more information on Tattersall Distilling, click here. |
