(Editor’s Note: Technical issues caused the introduction to be cut out of the recording. The text is shown below.) 

Kate: Hello, this is Kate from the Kane Area Development Center, serving as a PA Wilds Ambassador for the Wild Are Working series. I’m here today with Sam Cummings and Tom Jones from C.J. Spirits. Welcome, guys. We’re glad to have you with us to share how you’re pivoting your company among these uncharted times. So thanks for being here.

Sam: Thank you.

Tom: Thanks for having us.

Kate: Yes. So why don’t we go ahead and start by describing your company. What is and who is CJ Spirits?

Tom: CJ Spirits is craft distillery. We make vodka, gin, rum and whiskey. We were number eleven in the state of Pennsylvania. The craft spirits are fairly new to Pennsylvania. It was 2012 when Pennsylvania first issued these distillery licenses, and we opened in April of 2014. So it’s just been six years for us now. We started off with just vodka and gin, and over the years we have [grown to] 13 different products now. We’ve expanded into rum, spiced rum. We make a leek vodka which is one of our best selling experiences; it’s a seasonal spirit for us. We have a little bar area. We serve cocktails, appetizers, sandwiches. We have a little outdoor patio area. We have some live music from time to time. You can check us all out on Facebook: CJ Spirits.

Kate: Yeah. You two are the owners and founders of it. How many people total do you guys have working there?

Tom: Well, right now we probably have, part-time, you know, including Sam and myself, we probably have … six or seven, depending on the season.

Sam: Not as many right now.

Kate: Right. Yeah, that’s true. And we’ll definitely get more into that. But, before that, why did you guys decide to open up a business in the PA Wilds?

Sam: Well, we’re both from Kane and we grew up together. We’re friends from middle school on. And we’re thinking of a different kind of a business and want to do something in this area. And a lot of businesses, I mean, everybody knows the population’s dropped. We thought it was a feasible business because we could service the town and it would be very good for the town, but it didn’t solely rely upon the town. Which, we do get very good support from the town. We are very happy with the townspeople. But we also have a satellite store in Pittsburgh we sell out of. We sell out of one other state right now. Before this  started, we were getting ready to try to move into four or five other states. We’re in ten state stores. We’re looking to expand that. We had some plans set up in the beginning of this year before the pandemic took over. But it’s nice for the town. And I think since we’ve opened, several other little businesses have opened. And it’s really been good for the town of Kane. And we’re happy that we could do it where we both grew up. 

Tom: Even though we don’t get the foot traffic like some of the bigger places in the cities and so forth, this is actually a really nice area with the tourism, with the Allegheny National [Forest], [the Kinzua] Reservoir, you know, the PA Wilds, all the outdoor activities, hunting, fishing, camping…. There is a lot of people that come to the area, you know, in and out, maybe do not live here, but come here. So that’s that’s nice.

Kate: So you get to know a lot of people in the town, but also people who have the camps and who are coming up just to go for a day hike. They come upon you and come in and have a drink and fall in love.

Tom: Without a doubt. And we’ve met so many great people over the years. And it’s been a really cool experience.

Kate: One of the things I love about CJ Spirits in particular is the water that you use.

Sam: Springwater.

Kate: That’s very specific, right?

Sam: Yeah, we have a spring that we were able to tap into, and we use that for making all of our product.

Tom: Pure Allegheny Mountain spring water. We’re very fortunate cause right out of the water, it’s ready to go for you to distill. It’s the perfect pH balance and so forth. A lot of good distilleries that Sam interned at or took classes at, you know, when they cook their mash, the first thing they do is they add a big beaker full of hydrochloric acid just to get to the pH level. I mean, so they’re using city water in it…  We’re very fortunate where we live that the water is perfect for what we’re doing.

Kate: That’s awesome. So you’ve been in business for a while… you have these plans for this year, and then all of a sudden COVID-19 hits and there are these restrictions. What did you guys do to pivot your business when those restrictions came up?

Sam: Well, when it first came out, it was almost at the exact same time where they were shutting down the businesses and where they were going to allow distilleries to start making hand sanitizer. So just for the first couple of weeks, we were doing bottle sales. We were doing some take-out food and we were getting ourselves authorized to make hand sanitizer and sell it. And as we transitioned into that, at a certain point, we decided we’d stop with our takeout food and figured — with the hand sanitizer bottle sales — we were able to survive, and we thought it be better to channel people back into restaurants that really, really could use a takeout business. So we are in an email chain with most of the distilleries in the state. And as this stuff started coming up, we got into it early and got registered with the FDA, which was that was part of the hardest part of the process. And we were able to start the hand sanitizer. After we did, the supply chains were extraordinarily hard to get the raw materials to make hand sanitizer, to get bottles, to get caps. So as we’ve gone through this, we’ve shored up our supply lines and we’ve been able to pretty much have hand sanitizer in stock all the time now. And [as far as] the bottle sales, one of the hardest challenging things was keeping our inventory stocked at the same time because we’re not a real big place. So when we’re making one thing, it’s kind of tied up a lot of the space. So to try to keep product on the shelf here and in our store in Pittsburgh and making hand sanitizer was probably the most challenging aspect of it so far.

Kate: Right. Because you’re making the hand sanitizer. But then the state stores have closed, so everyone’s looking to get liquor and beer distilleries like yours. And so that really was a big business for you, too.

Sam: Yeah. And it worked out. I would say, especially for ours, where there’s a lot of different types of distilleries out there and some make just moonshine. And some make a product or two, where we actually make whiskey and gin and vodka and rum and spice run. So we make a lot of the mainstream products that people needed. So we were you know, we were getting customers coming in from Warren, and Bradford, and St Mary’s. I mean, we had had some that drove up from close to Pittsburgh to get stuff.

Tom: Several actually.

Sam: Yeah.

Kate: Wow! And so one of the main things that you were talking about, though, is this hand sanitizer. When you first made your initial batch, how did you roll that out? Who did you give it to? How did you let people know about that?

Sam: The very first batch that we made, of course, we did most of our stuff through Facebook and in newspapers we advertise. But the Kane Rotary Club made a nice donation to us. And I own a funeral home, too, and I donated from the funeral home. And the first five hundred bottles we made, we gave it out to first responders, the hospitals, nursing homes. Yeah, the first three hundred we did the first day and then two hundred more after that. We gave [it] out for free. And later on, another company, Clarion Sintered Metals from down in Ridgway, donated or purchased two hundred fifty bottles to hand out to the first responders in the Ridgway area too.

Kate: That’s awesome. So it started with the first responders, the people that we know really, really needed it the most. And then after that you sort of started selling it. Where are you selling the bottles?

Tom: Well, we have it available here at a distillery. Initially, the demand was so, you know, tight — with a lot of the nursing homes and health care people and trucking companies and so forth that needed it — we really didn’t have a lot of excess. We are finally just now getting to a point where we have … some back for the consumers to come in. And because that’s of the utmost importance is everybody staying healthy during this thing. But we’re at the point now where we actually have some inventory and we’re able to go out to some of the retail outlets. Save-A-Lot in Kane is carrying it, and they are distributing it through their four other stores as well, I think in Galeton, and Port Allegany, and Bradford, if I’m not mistaken. And we’re now reaching out to a lot of other retail people as well to gauge interest in that regard.

Kate: Yes, so people can stop in because, right now, you still allow it. What are you allowing? How are you distributing your product now? What [are] your operations [like]?

Tom: Well, here’s the distillery, we are open Monday through Saturday from noon til 5:30, and on Sunday, just from 11 to one. So we’re doing it out of here, and then we’re making deliveries as far as Warren and up towards Erie, down into Elk County.

Kate: You kind of hit on this a little bit with, like Facebook and the newspapers, but what are the ways that you are keeping in touch with your customers and how is that working?

Tom: Social media, you know, mainly between Facebook and Snapchat and trying to, you know, just get the word out. Word of mouth. I mean, we’re very fortunate that, just with our business in general, you know, word of mouth goes miles and miles and miles for us. And sometimes I’m amazed that people come up with how they heard about us and, you know, and through who. So we’re very fortunate, you know, in that regard.

Sam: And we get a lot of people with the town of Kane, you know, you’ll get the regular people that come through for us and for Bell’s [Meat & Poultry] and for  Flickerwood [Wine Cellars] and Logyard [Brewing]. And, you know, they’re making the rounds. So they come from wherever, make a day out of it, and come to all the places.

Kate: Yes. You’re one of the stops for many people.

Sam: I hope so.

Kate: Yes. Are there any operational pivots or things that you’ve done differently now during this time that you’ll continue to do once everything is back to regular hours?

Sam: Well, we’ll probably pivot back to regular hours, get back into food service more. We spent this time doing some other stuff, [like] putting a new driveway into our property…. We had an outdoor covered patio, but we came in and got some drainage issues cleaned up, and we made a patio beyond that. And we’re putting a firepit in. We kind of think that going forward, even when they lift the restrictions and social distancing, I think it’s going to be important to a lot of people. So we’re gonna make our outdoor area much larger and more usable, maybe get some picnic benches and chairs that are truly outside where people can come and have a drink, enjoy the atmosphere and they’ll feel comfortable.

Kate: So you’re going to continue to give the option of space because it might take some time to get back into it. Well, what I’m so excited [about] is that you’re in the perfect location to really see the stars.

Sam: Yeah.

Kate: There’s not a lot of light pollution where you are so it’s going to be awesome to have that fire pit.

Sam: Yeah, we’re excited for the fire pit. I think it’ll be nice. And one thing we’re trying to put together now, we’re working on. You know, reunion weekend in Kane is a gigantic weekend, which I know a lot of places have canceled the reunion. Some have not. But we’re working to put together a slideshow from all the classes going back 50 years. And we ordered a big — woah, what happened there? You there?

Kate: Yep. You’re good. I see you, I hear you.

Sam: All right, hold on. We gotta get back over. Something clicked off on our end. Sorry. We ordered a big 10-foot wide movie screen and a projector. We’re going to fix up a huge area outside where people could come to watch the video clips of all the different people in different classes and have plenty of space to enjoy themselves without them being right on top of everybody.

Kate: That’s so cool. You’re doing some creative things for sure. Are there any silver linings that you’ve seen in this time?

Sam: We’ve got a lot more people in here than we normally do, and we hope that continues, and once they’ve tried our product they’ll come back. I was talking with my girlfriend about this, but sometimes you don’t get people to your place because they simply haven’t come there. And if you never go somewhere or do something, you’re not comfortable doing it, but when you get forced to go somewhere, it becomes more comfortable and more normal to go there. So, hopefully; we’ve seen a large uptick. A lot of people that have never been here before have come in. And hopefully that would be the silver lining, where they’ll continue to feel comfortable and come out here, and once we get food coming, maybe, come out and get a bite to eat and enjoy the place.

Kate: Tom’s a good chef. I hope they do. They’ll miss out if they don’t come try his food.

Sam: That’s true!

Kate: Are there any programs or resources or organizations that really helped you?

Sam: The Distillers Guild was very big to us, to get the information going in the right direction. We’ve had a lot of stuff offered to us. We were in a little bit different position than a lot of businesses because of our situation where we were at when the state stores closed and being authorized to make hand sanitizer. We weren’t in the position that might have needed as much help as some other businesses to weather the storm. So we’ve had many offers from, you know, PA Wilds has put stuff out there and, of course, the local government has put things out there. We kind of always took the approach, you know, leave it for the people that really need it right now. So we’ve just kind of done our own research and tried to pick up our presence online and drive a little bit of business here.

Kate: Awesome. So, last question. Do you have a moment of humanity or inspiration that has helped you through these tough times? Or these unpleasant times?

Tom: I think what’s really gratifying is the outpouring of support, you know, through the community. You see it not only with our place, but all the local businesses. I mean, the community knows that these businesses are hurting and the efforts that they made to order out or stop out or just, you know, words of encouragement or letters of encouragement, it’s really it’s really gratifying to know that the people of our little community have our back.

Kate: Yeah. That is one of the great things that can come out of a hard time like this. So I’m glad you’ve seen that. Is there anything else that you guys wanted to share before we wrap up?

Sam: No. I just encourage people to keep supporting the local businesses. And if you haven’t been out here, stop out. Check the place out. And hopefully we get through this relatively soon and life can get back to at least somewhat normal.

Tom: It’s nice to take advantage of, you know….  I think a lot of people really realize in this downtime — because they’re not able to go out and go to the stores, go to the restaurants, or go to bars — what a wonderful area we live in, many say right in the heart of the Pennsylvania Wilds. And there’s so many opportunities right in our own backyard that we just take for granted. So I know a lot of people will be getting out and about and really appreciating the area, which is very cool.

Sam: Tom even went down and biked on the Westline biking trail.

Kate: Oh, nice, especially with spring being here now.

Tom: My knees still hurt.

Kate: Alright, so people can find you at your website and on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter: CJ Spirits.

Tom: Yep, CJ Spirits.

Kate: Well, thank you guys so much for your time. For all you guys watching, the question and answer from this interview and other resources for small businesses in the PA Wilds can be found at WildsCoPA.org. There you can also apply to share your story. Thanks again. Take care and we’ll see you all later.

Tom: Thank you so much for having us!

Sam: Thanks, Kate!

Kate: Bye!

Sam: Goodbye!