• ​Peter Cooper-Ellis, Hidden Springs Maple, Putney, VT
• Roger Brown, owner of Slopeside Syrup, Williston, VT
• Mark Bove, owner of Bove Brothers Milton, LLC, Milton, VT
• Calley Hastings, owner of Fat Toad Farm, Brookfield, VT and President of the Board of Directors of the Vermont Specialty Food Association
• Don Holly, Director of Technical Services at Rhino Foods in South Burlington, VT
• Adam and Bushell, SQF practitioner at NPC Processing, Shelburne, VT
• Cyndi Harron, owner of Simpson & Vail, Inc., Brookfield, CT
• Allyson Myers, Director of Sales and Marketing at Lake Champlain Chocolate, Burlington, VT
• Allison Wright, owner OWL Energy Bar in Brattleboro, VT
• Mark Elvidge, owner of Vermont Nut Free Chocolates, Colchester, VT

Interview of Peter Cooper-Ellis, owner of Hidden Springs Maple, Putney, VT

Hidden Springs Maple processes maple syrup from a family farm. The products are sold on a retail store, wholesale and online. The company has approximately 10 employees, with some seasonal variations in the number of employees, and they have adjusted by keeping the production line running, although with some challenges to implement distancing and emphasizing hygiene practices. The impact of COVID-19 on sales has been mixed. They have closed the retails store and have lost most of the sales to restaurants and to some food processors. However, the company is having a significant increase in Internet sales. They have recently obtained a third party food safety audit (SQF certification), which has allowed the company to increase the stringency of their good manufacturing and cleaning and sanitation practices, which are now indispensable in the current circumstances.

Interview of Roger Brown, owner of Slopeside Syrup in Williston, VT

Interview with Mark Bove, owner of Bove Brothers, Milton, VT

The company started four years ago to bring to Vermont the manufacturing facility. There are 8 to 10 employees working. The company was “family friendly” until this outbreak and we gave regular tours of the facility, but not anymore. The company is very serious about the safety of the employees and admin people. Employees now wear masks and gloves inside the facility. Only two people are allowed in a locker room at one given time. Employees keep physical distance during lunch and they change shoes to come into the facility. The company has a solid supply of ingredients and packaging materials and they have been very busy manufacturing. They feel they are busy, but busy for the wrong reasons.

Interview with Calley Hastings, owner of Fat Toad Farm, Brookfield, VT and President of the Board of Directors of the Vermont Specialty Food Association

This company manufactures goat milk caramel sauce and have four employees, including the owners. The company is going through a slow time of the annual cycles. A month ago, the company started stocking ingredients and packaging material, some coming from China. There has been a decrease in sales of retail stores and a reduction in the sales to restaurants and bakeries. Web orders are going up while Amazon orders are steady. People appear to be more concerned about staple foods than specialty foods at this time. The company built inventory last weeks ago and are now only selling. If they start proceeding, only two employees will be there at any given time. Other companies are going through a variety of different issues. Those with e-commerce are the one seeing an increase of sales. Others are staggering production. Everybody is reviewing their resources and assets to see how they can keep manufacturing and keep a business going on.

Interview with Don Holly, Director of Technical Services at Rhino Foods in South Burlington, VT

The company dropped from about 200 employees to about 150 employees. The company outsources most of the ingredients and supplies from within the U.S. The focus of attention now is on the community and employees, to ensure that they are doing the best for their employees. The major challenge is to predict how many people will come to work next day. This company is BRC (food safety certification from the Global Food Safety Initiative), manufacturers ready-to-eat products, and have very stringent cleaning and sanitation practices. The production schedule has been adjusted and the company has enforced social distancing, which requires sometimes changing of habits. Even curtains and physical barriers have been implemented. What will change? What will be the new norm? These are difficult questions to answer at this time.  

Adam and Bushell, SQF practitioner at NPC Processing, Shelburne, VT

They manufacture raw and ready to eat products meat and poultry for restaurants, retail and other food manufacture. Currently they have about 50 employees that are working on site and others working remotely. The company has implemented practices to ensure employees monitor their own health and stay home if they are sick. A good portion of the sales prior were directly to restaurants. But most of that is closed now. However, the company has picked up retail as well as food manufactures to offset the drop-in sales to restaurants. Currently, several employees who are self-quarantined for showing signs of sickness. The company has met with the crisis management team and put in place controls to limit the affects that COVID19. The worst-case scenario for the company is shut down. There are fifteen hand sanitizer stations around the facility near the entrances. Nonessential personal is not allowed in the building such as truck and deliver drivers. Signs have been put up and boot wash stations were installed. A cleaning company was contracted to have more cleaning support. Production is still Monday through Friday and nothing has affected the company with supplies so far. The company was in the middle of an expansion which has come to a halt.

Cyndi Harron, owner of Simpson & Vail, Inc., Brookfield, CT

This company imports teas from all over the world to make and sell blend teas. They have between 8 to12 employees depending on the season. The company is reliant on suppliers from other countries and pre- stocked supplies from China and India when this first started. They have been affected by this greatly but they are not planning to increase their online advertising. The wholesale portion, half of the business, is pretty much shut down, but the company still maintains its e-commerce business, with an increase in gift sales. Most employees still come to work, and everyone wears masks and gloves in their own dedicated areas. Some employees have decided to stay home. Most of the work now is to wait and keep forecasting the future, which is a hard thing to do at this time.

Allyson Myers, Director of Sales and Marketing at Lake Champlain Chocolate, Burlington, VT

This company manufactures chocolate products on a seasonal manner. The company has 140 employees in high season, and 100 employees in off-season. The company was preparing to go in down-season, so they shut down most of the operations, except for some special orders. The factory store in Burlington is still open. Using e-commerce, they quickly adjusted to provide orders online for customers. As easy in January they were aware of COVID and even asked employees returning from Asia in February to self-quarantine. Some delays may appear in the next few months on the provision of some supplies, but any potential transportation delays may impact the company more in fall. They are an SQF Level II facility, so mock product recalls and mock business crisis management activities are done at least once a year. These exercises have prepared the company to quickly organize a crisis management team and organize the practices to implement. From March 13, all administrate employees have been working remotely. Reconfiguration of equipment and work surface to accommodate the physical distance. 

Allison Wright, owner OWL Energy Bar in Brattleboro, VT

This company manufactures gluten, soy and dairy free energy bars. At this time of year there are two employees because of the slower quarter. The facility is in a larger complex with other businesses and entries to the building and to this facility in particular are now close.  The sanitation routine has increased as well. Because the business is primarily whole sales, the company has seen considerable reduction in sales. The local Co-Op continues to support local suppliers. The company did a thorough inventory and placed orders for at least the next two months when they saw the supply chains would be impacted. The company luckily is still able to be open, and while sales are low, more products are being added to the online store to increase shipping sales. Although the company may feel a little behind on e-commerce, they have already added new products on the online store and will take advantage of the long shelf life of their products.

Interview with Mark Elvidge, owner of Vermont Nut Free Chocolates, Colchester, VT

This company produces peanut and tree nut free chocolate and confectionary items all over the world. This time of year, there are usually 39 employees, but currently there are 20. The factory is in a larger building where practicing social distancing is not hard and sanitation areas have increased. The company is still open but is considering reducing production to four days and having fewer employees during those times. Because the business is primarily mail order direct to consumer, they have increased their ads on food allergy websites in order to continue sales. Right now, their mail direct to consumer is essential as most people would prefer having the product directly from the factory to their hands. Because most suppliers are serving the essential businesses, they have not run into an issue with supplies yet. The company feels that if they did not have an online direct to consumer before this time, they would not be as fortunate, along with other companies who are getting less attention from buyers.