Response to COVID-19
We are living in very difficult times, and we’re so thankful you’re sticking with us. As the situation with COVID-19 in our country and around the world has evolved, we’ve taken more precautions to create a safe work environment at our production facility, support our employees’ rest and care, and work closely with our supply chain partners.
Our company is based in St. Louis, MO (here are the city’s plans). No matter what happens around us in terms of policy, we are dedicated to maintaining and improving our original safety measures until our community has wide-spread testing, treatment, and vaccines available. We will continue to be responsible toward our staff, our neighbors, and you.
What we’re doing:
- Individually pledging to maintain social distancing outside work;
- Providing PPE to our tea babes, including masks and hand sanitizer;
- Decreasing time between routine hand-washing to every 30 minutes;
- Ensuring all staff in the warehouse wear masks and gloves at all times;
- Limiting staff presence at our facility to production and fulfillment staff only
- Telecommuting;
- Keeping sanitizer and cleaning supplies at every workstation;
- Ensuring hourly or as-needed sanitization of surfaces, in addition to maintaining Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) in line with the FDA;
- Adopting a contactless USPS and UPS pick-up at our warehouse; and
- Eliminating our in-person local deliveries until further notice, and offering contactless will-call pick-up.
The safety and health of our staff and community is extremely important to us, and we appreciate everyone in our Big Heart family adhering to our protocols in addition to the city's guidelines.
For transparency, here is the original letter from our founder, written March 17, 2020 (these are the protocols that have been in place since COVID-19 emerged in the USA):
Dear friend of Big Heart Tea Co.,
Our tea is here to make you feel good. To boost your immune system, lift your spirits, and make you feel loved. So we’re gonna be completely transparent with you right now.
Our small but mighty team of 5 women work to bring you tea from our 2,000 square-foot facility in St. Louis, MO. This is a time when our small size is an asset. We warehouse, blend, and distribute tea all over the country to neighborhood coffee shops and locally-owned retailers. We care deeply about managing a clean supply chain, and that includes our own production practices.
Big Heart Tea Co. is a tea manufacturer regulated by the Missouri Department of Health, the FDA, and our organic certifier, Oklahoma Department of Agriculture, Food, and Farms (ODAFF). We always pass our annual inspections, because we are nerds for following the rules. We maintain daily cleaning and sanitation logs that document Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP).
We are doing even more now:
- Decreased time between routine hand-washing to every 30 minutes
- Added masks to our Fulfillment team SOP, in addition to Production team
- Limiting staff presence in the office and warehouse to a maximum of 2 people at a time
- Individually pledged to maintain social distancing outside work
- Keeping sanitizer and cleaning supplies at every single workstation
- Adopted a USPS pick-up at our warehouse, as opposed to delivering to a station ourselves
- Eliminated our in-person local deliveries until further notice
We hope you are feeling secure, and are here for any questions you may have!
Big love,
Lisa Govro
Founder, Big Heart Tea Co.