Hundreds flock to Kansas City distillery for hand sanitizer amid COVID-19 outbreak
Hundreds of people flocked Thursday to a Kansas City distillery to buy hand sanitizer amid the new coronavirus outbreak, causing police to manage traffic and management to ask buyers not to shout at staff.
J. Rieger & Co. began producing hand sanitizer as more people in the region have tested positive for COVID-19. But Andy Rieger, the distillery’s president, said he did not expect hundreds to show.
“This is very tell-tale as to what is really going on and where the shortages exist,” Rieger said.
On Twitter, the distillery told purchasers waiting in a line in their vehicles to not swear at employees.
“For the love of god, stop yelling and cursing at our staff,” the distillery, located at 2700 Guinotte Ave. in the city’s Northeast Industrial District, said in one post. “We are doing everything we can.”
The distillery told people not yet there Thursday to come Friday, when it planned to have thousands of more bottles available.
Officers assisted with traffic issues that stemmed from the “hundreds of people flocking down” to the area, Sgt. Jake Becchina, a spokesman for the Kansas City Police Department, said in an email.
“It was a little overwhelming,” said Ryan Maybee, the distillery’s vice president of sales and hospitality. “There was a lot of demand for it.”
People showed up at the distillery as public health experts warned that the COVID-19 outbreak in the Kansas City region could be as severe as Seattle’s within two weeks. Seattle has reported 1,187 cases and 66 deaths as of Thursday.
The Kansas City metro area has recorded 27 confirmed cases and one death. As of Thursday afternoon, Missouri had recorded 28 cases and Kansas has reported 36.
The distillery sold about 600 two-liter bottles Thursday. It hopes to be able to produce hand sanitizer faster so people can buy it in unlimited quantities, Rieger said.
Many customers were thankful the distillery began producing the hand sanitizer. Kansas City residents Donna and Philip Leap, who bought the last bottle Thursday, were among them.
“It means the world to us because our neighbor is home-bound and is on oxygen,” Donna Leap said, “and we need to have this in his house as well as our own.”
The new virus has strained the distillery’s business, Rieger said. Restaurants are not buying alcohol and liquor stores are trying to deplete their inventory, he said.
“We’ve lost 100% of our revenue,” he said.
The distillery pivoted its business model to selling hand sanitizer in two days to try to keep the lights on. Reiger has guaranteed his 95 staff members pay for the next two weeks. The company was also feeding its employees.
“Our biggest regret is that we didn’t act sooner,” he said.
Also Thursday, Missouri Gov. Mike Parson said incarcerated people in the state would begin producing hand sanitizer. More than 2,400 gallons of hand sanitizer will be produced every two days, he said.
This story was originally published March 19, 2020 at 6:54 PM.
