Starbucks asked them to make hand sanitizer. Their answer: "Give us 24 hours"

Record ID: 1549427

  • Title: Starbucks asked them to make hand sanitizer. Their answer: "Give us 24 hours"
  • Date: 28th April 2020
  • Summary: NEUCHATEL, SWITZERLAND (FILE - MARCH 25, 2020) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF HOSPITAL STAFF IN PERSONAL PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT (PPE) USING SANITIZING SOLUTION DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC
  • Embargoed: 13th May 2020 00:27
  • Keywords: COVID-19 Health Soapbox Starbucks coronavirus hand sanitizer hand washing hygiene small business soap
  • Location: CAMBODIA / WASHINGTON D.C. + OTTAWA, ILLINOIS, UNITED STATES / NEUCHATEL, SWITZERLAND / MUMBAI, INDIA /
  • City: CAMBODIA / WASHINGTON D.C. + OTTAWA, ILLINOIS, UNITED STATES / NEUCHATEL, SWITZERLAND / MUMBAI, INDIA /
  • Country: USA
  • Topics: Health/Medicine
  • Reuters ID: LVA005CBEQ4P3
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text:EDITORS PLEASE NOTE: THIS EDIT CONTAINS ONE WHITE FLASH IN SHOT 8
    As the global economy slips deeper into recession, a few businesses like Amazon and Netflix are doing well amid the pandemic. Aside from those giants, some business of a vastly smaller scale are managing to stay afloat and, in some cases, to thrive as never before. A local soap business in Washington D.C. shifted gears to mass-produce hand sanitizer for hospitals and for big businesses like Starbucks. It has also gone from shipping 160,000 units of hygiene products a month to close to 3 million. And it is hiring.
    "The whole history of how Soapbox got into making over 7 million units of hand sanitizer, and we might make more, we probably will make more, is we've been working with Starbucks for the past 18 months about changing their liquid hand soap over to Soapbox so that together we could make a huge donation pledge. And they call us up, pretty much at the end of February, and said, hey, do you guys make hand sanitizer? ...And we're like, you know, give us 24 hours, we'll get back to you," Soapbox CEO and Founder David Simnick said, adding that he hasn't slept more than five or six hours per night since the coronavirus outbreak gave his business a whole new meaning.
    It took Simnick a day to get back to Starbucks and confirm that three of their usual factories in Indiana and Illinois had the capability and necessary licensing to manufacture hand sanitizer. They are currently working with six manufacturers across the United States, two of which are post-COVID additions.
    "One of the reasons that Soapbox was able to respond on this so quickly is that almost all of our manufacturing happens right here in the United States, which we pay a premium for. But that responsiveness, in order to immediately change gears and supply our partners was incredibly valuable when all of this started happening," he said.
    It might sound extremely relevant right now, but a decade ago a passion for soap and hygiene really wasn't that appealing to people, explained the 32-year-old from Naperville, a Chicago suburb.
    Simnick's passion for hand washing comes from his work as a contractor for USAID in the field of hygiene. That inspired him to launch Soapbox ten years ago after graduating from American University, at first making soap in his kitchen with some friends who are now part of the Soapbox team.
    "I think, you know, a lot of people choose their battles. Mine was, I think that no child should die from diarrhea or acute respiratory illnesses. And that's incredibly relevant today. But I've always been really passionate about this. And I and I just I I very passionately believe that something as simple as having access to clean water and soap is a is a fundamental right," he said.
    Every single purchase made at Soapbox generates the donation of a bar of soap to someone in need through charities and food pantries in the United States, and through partnerships with NGOs in up to 65 countries around the world.
    "Over the past 10 years, we've been able to donate 10 million bars of soap. And this year alone, we're going to be able to donate another 10 million," Simnick said.
    Simnick conceded that the opportunity the pandemic has opened for his business feels strange, yet his decade-long mission feels justified. "We've been telling people to wash their hands for over 20 seconds using the CDC method or the World Health Organization method for the past ten years. So we feel a little vindicated."
    (Production: Gershon Peaks / Temis Tormo / Kevin Fogarty)
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