Detroit tour company pivots during pandemic to make hand sanitizer

DETROIT (FOX 2) - In the midst of the COVID-19 crisis, people at the Detroit Bus Company are busy making gallons and gallons of hand sanitizer.

So how does a tour bus company make such a massive pivot?

Detroit Bus Company making hand sanitizer now in Corktown

The product is in such high demand, they're making it seven days a week in Corktown and they're shipping it all over the country.

"We got the news that we couldn't operate any longer, because obviously it's a shared space. It's a small area with 45 other people. And so when we got the order we shut down right away, as is our duty, but we have a small business to run," said Andy Didorosi. "And so we have 38 employees, we have a huge facility and we have all this stuff."

So the company literally transformed itself into something else. They started out making small batches last month, and in a matter of weeks, the operation got very big.

"Just two days ago, we received a tanker truck of supplies because we just had to scale it up. The demand for this is so big, there's so many people that need it right now."

The product is in such high demand, they're making it seven days a week in Corktown and they're shipping it all over the country. 

Didorosi says they're making the sanitizer according to the World Health Organization's formula, so it's more liquidy.

"You can see it's really thin in there and what this does is it gets into the cracks and pores of your hand far better than a gel does. This is like what a field surgeon would use to clean his hands if he was without soap and water."

It's different than what people are used to, but Didorosi believes it's a better product.