Our Response to COVID-19
Stay safe, stay grounded, lead from the heart, and protect those that are most vulnerable
To Our Valued Community:
As the coronavirus COVID-19 affects our communities, our work to bring you immune-boosting, nutrient-dense, fermented drinks continues – and feels ever-more important. We are vigilant; heeding all federal, state and local health advisories; and adjusting efforts to safeguard the health and safety of our team. To date, we have taken the following precautionary measures:
Supporting Our Customers: To make our drinks more readily available, and accessible from the safety and convenience of your home, we opened an online store offering free delivery for customers within the following Asheville and Greenville zip codes, and shipping direct to addresses in NC, SC, GA and TN, and available through Amazon.
Continued Communication: We are closely monitoring the situation, and regularly providing all of our team members with the most up-to-date safety guidance, as recommended by the CDC and other health officials.
Additional Paid-for Sick Time and Expanded FMLA Leave to Team Members: Team Members have been asked to exercise increased precautions to safeguard their health and the health of their community, including staying home if they have any symptoms of illness or do not feel well. In accordance with the new Families First Coronavirus Response Act all of our Team Members have access to up to 80 hours of Paid Sick Leave and Expanded FMLA Family Leave benefits of up to 12 weeks of paid time off to care for a child that is out of school or has lost their childcare provider due to stay home orders.
Buchi Self Quarantine Policy: To further support our Team Members during this challenging time, we created additional Self Quarantine Policies which allow Team Members to take up to 4 weeks off (3 weeks of unpaid time and 1 week of paid time (if accrued)) to self quarantine. In full, a Team Member could self quarantine for up to 1 month and return to their position at Buchi.
Revised Hours for our 1st and 2nd Shift Packaging Team Members: We have changed the work schedule for our 1st and 2nd shift Packaging Team Members to create downtime between shifts so we can perform additional sanitation procedures, and to further support our efforts of social distancing.
Prioritizing Good Hygiene Practices: We are providing continuous reminders about good hygiene practices and supporting our Team Members with necessary resources. For instance, every Team Member logs their temperature before entering the brewery (ensuring they are not running a fever), wears a face mask and gloves, washes their hands regularly, and operates within a distance of 6 feet from one another. We also provided hand sanitizer for each team member.
Increasing Routine Cleaning: In line with our longstanding commitment to provide a safe and clean work environment, we have increased the frequency of cleanings, paying close attention to high touch areas.
Suspending All Beverage Sampling In Stores: As this situation has evolved, we have taken increased precautions related beverage sampling in stores, including our decision to stop the practice until further notice.
There is nothing more important to us than the health, safety, and wellbeing of our customers and Team Members. While this moment brings human tragedy, it is also providing a planetary opportunity to pause, exhale and lean into a new way of being - a recovery that replaces the broken and extractive systems with nutritive and regenerative pathways to wellbeing - for all. At this moment, we believe our human family can create new agreements between ourselves, our community and our home (the planet). Prior to this moment, it was easy for humans to say "No, we can't house the homeless," or "No, it's not profitable to source from these farmers." Within a blink, we (humans) are starting to say "YES." We believe we can source into the "YES," indefinitely. How we respond to this invitation, will determine everything.
You are welcome to dive deeper into how we’ve been communicating new policies, procedures and keeping our close-knit community of team members, investors, retailers and partners abreast of what’s going on in the world. Below you’ll find a link to each email communication we’ve sent to-date. We will continue to update it with new communications as they are sent out and invite you to share with others and leave comments.
Stay safe, stay grounded, lead from the heart, and protect those that are most vulnerable among us.
– Buchi
