Case Study: Distillery turns craft hand sanitizer to meet local demand

Elena Kornoff, Surf City Still Works, Covid Recession, Food, Mixergy Fan, Non-Tech, Physical Product, Women Founders

Joining me is a Mixergy listener who has been distilling spirits in Huntington Beach. The distillery was doing so well that earlier this year they were hiring and starting construction on a bigger facility. Then COVID hit and everything came to a halt.

But then something else happened. They started getting emails, tons and tons of emails, asking for hand sanitizer.

So they pivoted to meet the local demand. Elena Kornoff is the co-founder of Surf City Still Works, a Huntington Beach distillery. I want to find out how she came up with the idea and how things changed after COVID.

Elena Kornoff

Surf City Still Works

Elena Kornoff is the co-founder of Surf City Still Works, a Huntington Beach distillery.

Andrew:   hey, there, freedom fighters. My name is Andrew Warner and, uh, I interview entrepreneurs about how they built their businesses for an audience entrepreneurs.

Joining me is a Mixergy listener who has been, we’ve been emailing now for a long time. And when I discovered that she makes whiskey, I told my assistant, she had got to buy it. Did I end up buying a bottle of whiskey or vodka? Do you remember it? It was whiskey, right. And the reason I say that is because you surprise me and you gave me a little bottle of four of your different
spirits, I guess is the way you say it.  I never cracked it open and here’s why it became one of my prized possessions in the office. I would keep it in the office. The fricking bottle looks beautiful. And so anytime somebody would come in, their eyes would be naturally be drawn to the bottles. And then I’d get to talk about you. And I get to say how you’ve got this thing. Now you’re a Mixergy...

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