Research via the Craft Spirits Data Project teaches us that, in the USA alone, the number of people employed in the craft distilling industry got significantly lower. In just one Covid-ridden year, the number dropped by over 43%. From 30,000 people being employed to only 17,000!

Laying off people is a way to reduce costs. Given the challenges many distillers face, as they are being confronted with government measures that limit their opportunities to generate income, a cost saving strategy makes sense. Often, craft distilleries find themselves in a "all hands on deck!"-situation.

Off course the total workload doesn't become less, laying off people, meaning that it's usually company ownership that need to fill in the gap. Production support staff gets laid off, and the owners - confronted with limited sales opportunities being available in the short term - take over production related tasks.

This choice works in the short term, but in the long term it's the owner that needs to make sure new sales opportunities are developed. They are responsible for a strategy aimed at growing the company. An owner stepping into the production space basically results in cost reductions short term, but this decision also leads to turnover decrease in the longer term. Not sustainable. Not sustainable, unless you have an iStill.

Given the high level of automation, the ease of control, and the low maintenance and cleaning requirements our amazing technology gives you, an iStill saves you a little over 1 FTE (as in one fulltime employee) per year. As a business owner, you can have the iStill focus on production, where you invest your time in creating new sales opportunities. How's that for making your distiller pandemic proof?

For more reading, please see: https://istillblog.com/2021/11/10/istill-disruption-distilling-before-staffing/

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