There is no question that the last few weeks have been unprecedented and, like many companies, WhataHoot has faced significant disruption, not least because it has delayed the work on our new distillery, which in turn has put the launch back a number of weeks.
However, like so many across the UK, we wanted to do out bit to help the country recover. So when we were approached by a number of local care homes and councils enquiring if we could turn our alcohol into hand sanitizer, we felt we had to try.
Although we had never made hand sanitizer before the process is basically a simple ‘recipe’ and distillation. So we followed the World Health Organisation formula to create an 80% solution and have managed to alter our production process to help meet the country’s increased demand for hand sanitizer.
And the demand has been incredible, with thousands of bottles being purchased and distributed across Norfolk so far. We have even managed to increase capacity for production over the weeks, so whereas we initially started with just 5ml bottles, we can now package in 5lt containers. And we have yet to see a let-up in demand, with orders coming in daily.
However, with restrictions slowly being eased, we are now beginning to focus on the future of WhataHoot and our gin production once again, as well as the launch of our Gin School, later this year!
To say this is not the 2020 we, or any of us planned, would be an understatement!