Santee Company Steps Up To Provide Sanitizer Amid Coronavirus

SANTEE, CA — When businesses across the state and country shut down, a Santee company stepped up to help distribute hand sanitizer in response to the shortage during the coronavirus pandemic.

As the COVID-19 pandemic hit San Diego County, Santee-based Integrity Bottles, which makes handcrafted glassware, partnered with San Diego distiller Liberty Call Distilling Co. and assisted it with switching from producing craft spirits to medical-grade hand sanitizer.

"Since Integrity Bottles specializes in fulfilling individual orders, direct to consumer, and Liberty Call specializes in larger bulk orders, we teamed up to supply those in need and keep our companies operating at full capacity," said Zach Lewis, founder of Integrity Bottles.

The two companies have worked together for a few years. Integrity Bottles sandblasts special-edition bottles for Liberty Call, which produces bourbon whiskey. The bottles have been sold in large retail stores such as Costco and local retail stores such as Keg N Bottle.

"Once Integrity Bottles and Liberty Call partnered up to tackle hand sanitizer distribution and sales, our management team called all of our employees and let them know that we were now bottling and distributing hand sanitizer," Lewis said.

"Work during the COVID-19 emergency was strictly voluntary, as we knew that our team would be increasing their own risk while working to help others. Employees with local relatives in high-risk categories were authorized to work from home, and others volunteered to keep the shop running while helping others in need of hand sanitizer."

It was the perfect partnership. Integrity Bottles handled orders under 100 gallons, while Liberty Call handled orders up to 2,000 gallons or more.

"Liberty Call has the equipment and personnel to make large quantities of high-quality hand sanitizer, and Integrity Bottles has the team and bottle inventory to distribute to individual customers in need," Lewis said.

Lewis, a Navy veteran who went through three deployments and multiple training missions, built his million-dollar company as a "side hustle."

He and his wife started hand-engraving and sand-carving wine and liquor bottles as gifts for military functions. The response was so strong they decided to launch Integrity Bottles.

"Integrity Bottles provided my family an opportunity for a smart transition from military life to a business life, and we were able to hire military spouses, mothers ready to re-enter the workplace, and other talented individuals that have proven to be the heart of our company," Lewis said.

Business really started to boom once the company listed its products on Amazon and Etsy, in addition to local sales to military and business customers.

Integrity Bottles qualified for Amazon Handmade, Amazon's marketplace for handcrafted products. The platform enables artisans to sell their goods directly to the public.

"The Handmade team really gave us some great tools to help learn our way around Amazon and scale our distribution by using Amazon's fulfillment service," Lewis said.

The company started in a small office space in Point Loma, when the couple were still living in a small house in La Mesa. When they moved to Santee, they built an insulated structure in the backyard for sandblasting and cleaning work.

"Every day, we had employees showing up to the house to start their shift," Lewis said. "We had an assembly line wrapping around the garage, into the backyard, then down the driveway for mail pickups."

Today, Integrity Bottles employs 15 people. The company has expanded out of their garage into a warehouse in Santee.

The new location in Carlton Oaks Plaza offers a small storefront for local pickup orders and walk-in customers.

"It's a great spot for the company as we plan our growth over the next few years," he said.

Although business slowed due to the pandemic, Integrity Bottles was able to maintain sales and continue to operate amid the closures.

The business had inventory stocked at Amazon's fulfillment centers, which allowed the company to focus on taking care of its team and those in need, rather than struggle to keep up with internally fulfilling online orders, Lewis said.

"We were able to keep all of our existing staff, hire additional employees, and give back to our community," he said. "I'm so proud of our team and what we've been able to accomplish during a very challenging time."

Integrity Bottles also launched a line of COVID-19-themed products designed to "bring a smile to people's faces" during the pandemic.

Integrity Bottles and Liberty Call have donated bottles of hand sanitizer to first responders, medical teams and military personnel. They are also donating all proceeds from sanitizer and select glasses sales to ZTActive Hero Project, a Santee-based nonprofit in support of first responders, active-duty military, veterans and their families affected by the pandemic.

Lewis and his wife founded the organization in 2010 as he was training for a Naval Special Warfare selection course and she was training for the police academy. ZTActive Hero Project was initially a small running group that organized running events in parks and trails across the county.

"It is extremely important for us to give back during this national emergency," Lewis said. "We realize that we had the luck and authorization to keep working; however, many Americans are having a very rough time right now."