Distilleries Pivot to Help Meet Public Hand Sanitizer Demands During Coronavirus Outbreak

According to the Center for Disease Control, hand-sanitizer needs to be at least 60% alcohol for it to be effective at killing germs. With the recent outbreak of the Coronavirus now reaching all 50 states according to Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center, it would be an understatement to say that there has been a run on hand sanitizer.

Then there were these two “opportunists” who didn’t help the supply challenges…

Enter Distilleries

But while those two were clearly attempting to be the villains in this story, it turns out that a few distilleries are here to play the part of superhero.

Moonrise Distillery has just announced that it will begin making hand sanitizer from a combination of their Gin and aloe vera. They are willing to give away their sanitizer for free, asking only for donations from those that can give.

Old Fourth Distillery is another new entrant into the hand sanitizer arena. So is Shane Distillery and Grill and Durham Distillary.

Why Does This Make Sense?

I love this move for two reasons. First, and most importantly, it is helping people in their time of need. In my opinion, profits are important. But not as important as people.

Secondly, they are expanding their reach and core competencies by using their current expertise to move into a tangental market. Prior to this, the best example I’ve heard of someone doing this is Fujifilm. Fuji was originally known as a competitor to Kodak in the photography film industry.

Then the digital camera craze happened. Then phone cameras caught up. And their market got overrun. However, while Kodak had to file for bankruptcy in 2012, Fujifilm has thrived. They pivoted away from film and over to pharmaceuticals, LCD screens, and cosmetics. Read more about this business war / business transformation here.

What these distilleries are doing is very similar. While their industry is not dying as the film industry was, there is a clear need in other markets that they are able to exploit to their advantage.

If you’re looking for insights or ways to adopt this strategy within your organization, take a look at our InnoSpecting Framework and the work we are doing in support of ISO 56000 and the US Delegate Innovation Management. And drop us a line if we can help.