ASC Hand Sanitizer
New Business: Industry Pivot
Context:
It was 2020, and as we all know well, COVID-19 presented new challenges for all businesses, especially small businesses. But with that, it also presented new business opportunities, particularly for companies with diverse portfolios and multi-functional operations such as ours. With Nova Scotia's borders quickly becoming some of the most strict in the country, even for traffic to-and-from its Maritime neighbours, our existing hospitality properties were (initially) seeing a decline in reservations. The sudden fluctuations in the economy and people's wallets getting smaller for luxury items, caused our premium spirits and craft beer to also take a hit at the onset.
The Ask:
What type of essential service or product can Authentic Seacoast provide customers during this global pandemic that will simultaneously help the world and our company remain profitable or at least afloat?
The Answer:
Pivot and repurpose our state-of-the-art and large capacity distillery to make, bottle and export hand sanitizer across the province and country, and fast! But this couldn't be just any hand sanitizer - it had to be the best hand sanitizer in Nova Scotia, to stand out from an exponentially growing market. Which meant it needed to be the most trust-worthy and effective for people in the face of so many uncertainties and the unknown. So that played a major part in the formula we used. And we had lots of ethanol - the key ingredient that became harder for many companies to find in the following months. Whereas we could use our distillery to create it. This idea occurred to me in the early days of the pandemic, around mid-March 2020, when the world was just entering lockdowns and families were figuring out how to live and work from home. People were in survival mode and for the majority of populations, especially folks in most of Nova Scotia, any products considered excessive were getting cut from their grocery list.
Timing:
Fortunately, we entered the market at a critical moment, right at the beginning, when demand was astronomically high. People needed essential products in their home and essential personnel needed it in their hospitals and senior homes. A friend of mine in Toronto was starting to pivot his company from portable single-shot pre-mixed alcohol products to single-shot hand sanitizer given the changing world - and asked if our distillery would want to supply the sanitizer. I immediately shared the idea with our CEO, who said yes and we partnered with my friend's company on a short-term project. It then occurred to me that oh - we could scale this. Big time, but we'd have to move fast. I pitched it to our whole team - and after thinking through the logistics together - it was a resounding YES! Our team was ready, able and gung-ho! It didn't matter what your title was - everyone agreed this would be an all-hands on deck effort!
Keep scrolling for Results below the gallery.
The Strategy:
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Identify the Customer's Core Need & Assess the Market Demand, to determine if there is a worthwhile business case.
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Assess Risk, Operation Logistics, Transportation, Product Packaging & Pricing & Staff Capacity.
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Clarify the Unique Selling Points of Your Product (more on this below) & Adaptability based on Customer.
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Execute Swiftly & Scale based on sales data.
The Result:
(See photo gallery)
We created ASC Hand Sanitizer, which quickly became the Nova Scotia Health Authority's (NSHA) preferred supplier for all the province's hospitals, senior homes, and schools. We also served our front line workers, including our local police station, fire department and community center. We had planned on creating multiple formats to serve both B2C and B2B customers, but even went on to sell 1,000 litre totes (the short square metal container in pictures) for the government! We learned how to ship the bottles to households via Shopify following the appropriate safety codes, and how to provide curb side pickup/drop off for businesses from a distance. Of course, the sanitizer in pails and totes would then be poured into smaller bottles to be used around a hospital or school etc.
Our formats included:
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Bottles: 500ml and 1L bottles with choice of screw tops or hand pumps
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Pails (Buckets with handle): 1 Litre pails, 11 Litre pails, 20 Litre pails
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Totes: 1,000 Litres of hand sanitizer (for government bodies)
Serving Government Customers during COVID-19
The NSHA entrusted us with this honour because we made sure to create the highest-quality and most effective hand sanitizer available in the province - by following the World Health Organization's (WHO) recommended formula which consisted of 4 ingredients: 80% Ethanol, 1.45% Hydrogen Peroxide, 0.13% Peroxide, and Water, for which we used our artisinal well water from the pristine aquifer in Guysborough.
While this seemed simple and obvious to us - most of our competitors were mixing coconut oil or olive oil with water and ethanol, or whatever ingredients they could get their hands on and bottling it (unsanitary used wine bottles or mason jars) to make a fast buck. But this resulted in some customers getting skin rashes or worse, the covid-19 virus, so those suppliers were kicked out of the market.
Learnings:
Our customer's health remained our top priority throughout production and we were very serious about our quality assurance. We were so happy to hear how our new product and a business we never imagined creating helped so many people during a difficult time. The new business also kept staff employed and give us a new found purpose behind our products. A certain kind of bond was certainly formed among us all - knowing we were all in the same boat with work and life. We leaned to lean on each other and helped each other laugh at the absurdity of the times. I am still very proud to this day thinking of how we all pulled together and rolled up our sleeves to make it happen.
And hey - we even looked good doing it, in our hair buns, gloves and coats, no? What a time.
Once again, as is the case with new business endeavours, I learned a lot about being nimble as a team and trusting your team and each person's strengths. This mindset has influenced all my work since, and I intend to carry with me wherever I go! You can do a lot with what little.
