A bottle and a canister with hand sanitiser produced by the Kyrö Distillery Company for local health services are pictured in Isokyrö, Finland.
HELSINKI - Adjusting to the impact of the new coronavirus a Finnish gin maker has found success with a small wooden kiosk in Helsinki, although customers aren't queueing up for a taste of gin, but precious hand sanitiser.
The kiosk in the trendy Kallio district is the work of craft spirits maker Kyro Distillery, who decided to try and produce the much-needed disinfectant after its gin and whisky sales dropped off a cliff when bars and restaurants were shut as Finland entered coronavirus lockdown in March.
"We were in a bad situation, we'd already announced furloughs," Kyro CEO and co-founder Miika Lipiainen told AFP.
The 35-person company, which has been running for six years, decided to turn their knowledge of producing alcohol to address the widespread hand sanitiser shortage, which hit shops and care facilities across the country.
The kiosk opened last week, stocked with the first batch of 1,200 bottles.
"We figured it would last easily two weeks, it went in three days," Lipiainen said.
The success of the project allowed Kyro to re-employ all of its furloughed staff, as well as bring in extra workers from outside.
Lipiainen said that at first Kyro was overwhelmed with demand, and began prioritising the orders from health centres and elderly care homes.
"We're now slowly getting on top of it all and there's been massive interest from bigger shops and retail chains as well," he said, adding that they are also now sending a small amount of the product to Germany.
The high demand means the company will continue making hand sanitiser for the forseeable future, Lipiainen predicted.
"Let's keep it going and see where it takes us, but I'm really hoping that we will get around to selling whisky as well," he said.
