Facing a New Reality
In a span of just 48 hours in March, Luciano Ciorciari’s company, Food Related, lost about 95 percent of its business due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It was a stressful time for the Founder and CEO of the Schertz-based company, a wholesale food supplier whose clients include many of the top restaurants, hotels, and catering businesses in Texas. But Ciorciari was determined to keep his staff employed and his business running to continue serving the local community as the company has done for the past 24 years. He came up with a plan to adapt his business model to meet the current needs of the community and is hopeful to see Food Related come through the crisis stronger than ever.
Food Related is just one of many local businesses demonstrating creativity, resilience, and community spirit as they change their product offerings or find new ways of doing business to adapt to the changing economic climate and way of life. For Ciorciari, this meant adding new products, starting a direct-to-consumer retail business, and offering home delivery and curbside pickup.
All About Safety
For CalTex Protective Coatings, Inc., another Schertz-based business, the COVID-19 pandemic presented an opportunity to add additional products to their line of sealants and protective coatings sold to automobile dealerships throughout the country. With dealerships selling fewer cars, sales of CalTex’s regular products were down, and President and COO Rande Hawkinson says they saw a need for two products that the company was already well equipped to produce. The first is an antiviral/disinfectant product that was initially designed for the inside of automobiles but can be used on any hard surface.
The second is a new hand sanitizer. These products are sold under a private label to their current dealership clients. Using the New Solutionz brand, they have now made them available directly to consumers. The New Solutionz CLEAN line of products includes both the disinfectant and the hand sanitizer and is available to the public through their website, which should come as good news to the many residents who may have had trouble finding these types of products amid shortages at local stores.
Activewear manufacturer Rainbeau is another company that has quickly adapted its business to make a product that CEO Marc Bussin never expected to produce – face masks. As a clothing manufacturer, Bussin already had the necessary equipment and material. He wanted to do something to give back to the community while also enabling the company to be classified as an essential business so that it could continue operating and preserve jobs for employees during the shutdown. Although Rainbeau is headquartered in San Francisco, they have a large presence in Schertz, in the form of a distribution center that currently employs 54 individuals locally, with plans to increase to approximately 120-130 over the next four months.
Embracing Change
The degree to which these three companies have had to adapt their operations has varied, but all agree that they had to make some significant changes in a very short time period.
According to Ciorciari, Food Related had to adapt nearly every aspect of its business, including changing its business model, updating its website, putting new safety protocols into place, and adding hundreds of new products, all within about five days.
“It was either adapt or turn the lights out and go home,” says Ciorciari. “We had people working some very long hours, but everyone wanted to pitch in and be a part of this extraordinary team effort.”
Today, the company’s retail business is running smoothly, and Ciorciari says his goal is to provide the same quality products and services to individuals and families as the company does for the top chefs in Texas. Customers can now visit the website to purchase everything from pantry staples like eggs, pasta, and flour, to paper and cleaning products, meats, and even gourmet treats and desserts. Curbside pickup and home delivery are available for local residents, and orders can be shipped to those outside the local area. Food Related has also partnered with several local restaurants to donate items to those in need as part of their Love Drop-off Campaign.
For Marc Bussin, the immediate effect of the pandemic and the ensuing shutdown wasn’t nearly as damaging to his business. He founded Rainbeau in 1980 and says that he has seen his share of recessions but has found that his products tend to sell particularly well during tough times.
Over the years, we’ve found that during difficult economic times, people tend to go back to basics,” he said. “That’s what we produce at Rainbeau – basic comfortable clothing at an affordable price.” The company sells its products to large retailers such as Wal-Mart and Academy Sports and Outdoors but also has a plus-size line of clothing available for purchase on their website.
The company’s face mask production started as a way to help the company gain essential status and continue operations, but equally important was his desire to give back to the communities that have supported his business. Initially, Bussin says that the face masks were not for sale but were strictly for donations to first responders and other organizations that needed them. Bussin estimates that nearly 4,000 of these have been donated to organizations in Schertz, including the Fire, EMS, Police departments, and a local emergency medical organization. Soon, however, the company began receiving requests from individuals who wished to purchase the masks, so he decided to make them more widely available and is planning to donate 100 percent of the proceeds to food banks and other charity organizations.
The New Normal
As they look toward the future, these organizations say that the changes they have made in response to the COVID-19 pandemic appear to be here to stay, at least for the time being. CalTex President Rande Hawkinson says that his organization plans to keep producing its New Solutionz CLEAN disinfectant and hand sanitizer product lines for the foreseeable future. He credits these products with helping the company avoid laying off any of its current workforce.
“This is a new normal and I think people will be more aware in the future that we are able to provide these types of products,” said Hawkinson. “We like to do anything we can to help our employees and the local community.” CalTex plans to incorporate the new products into their regular programs for automobile dealerships as well as making them available for purchase to individual consumers.
For more information on these businesses or to purchase products, please visit Food Related at foodrelated.com, Rainbeau at rainbeau.com, and CalTex at newsolutionzdirect.com.
The SEDC is dedicated to providing relevant resources to our Primary Job Employers as they navigate the impacts of COVID-19 pandemic. If you know of a Primary Job Employer in need of assistance, have them visit schertzedc.com/coronavirus and contact us at (210) 619-1070.
For more information on the City of Schertz Economic Development Corporation (SEDC) and its mission to support Primary Job Employers in the community, visit schertzedc.com/mission-focus/.