Introducing our new gold-top ½-cup glass jars…..
Counting our blessings in the early fall of 2020, having survived the stay-at-home mandates, closed storefronts and curbside pickup, with our staff back at work and our newly updated website carrying our small family-owned business, we thought we had survived the worst of the pandemic. However, product shortages and problems within the USPS soon demanded our attention. Since so many of us were ordering on-line, packaging material would become sought after and scarce, specifically cardboard. From June through December, our gift-box manufacturer announced major price increases and delay after delay in our holiday order (finally delivered in January 2021). We scrambled and our loyal customers stuck it out with us throughout the year, offering so-much-appreciated kind words and support. Although some were disappointed in our out-of-stock signs during the holiday season, customers continued to rally behind us and kept us busy.
The gift boxes, too late for 2020, were one less thing to worry about in 2021, which was a good thing since our focus soon switched to transportation issues that year. The Port of Oakland was backed up for months on end, and our July 2021 shipment of lovely Italian jars was not looking promising. First delayed due to manufacturing issues, then held up at the port, we wouldn’t see them until January 4th, 2022. Again, our customers stuck it out with us, and we scraped through the holiday season.
Learning our lesson, the hard way, we decided to order a full year’s supply of jars in January 2022 for a March delivery, a big deal for a company our size. Unfortunately, with a new variant of COVID and supply chain issues still wreaking havoc plus the war in Ukraine blocking its rich resources to be shared with the world, glass and metal were now in short supply, and manufacturing plants could not keep up with demand. Our Italian jars did not make the cut and would not be produced in all of 2022.
Scrambling again, we were on the hunt for a new container, and on a short timeline! Our current supplier could not help us, and call after call, email after email, we were told of the glass and metal shortage. We tried tins, which disappointed. We were and still are averse to plastic. We had our hearts set on the gold standard: a glass jar with a metal lid forming a tight seal to protect our wonderful aromatic spices.
Finally, April’s showers led us to a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow! After months of scouring for a replacement glass jar, we found a warehouse in Chicago with a limited stockpile of glass jars we love! These ½-cup jars have the same diameter as our Italian jars and a similar look with straight edges.
The next hurdle was finding a metal top with a plastisol liner. Pickings were slim, but we went for the gold… You’ll love our new top: a continuous screw top with a plastisol liner and a ridge to allow stacking, and it’s a lovely gold color.
Change is not always easy. Shortly, we will no longer offer two sizes of jars; our new jar holds approximately ½-cup of spice, falling in between the sizes of our regular and large jars. We will also be offering Plus 50 Pouches, which will contain 1.5 times the quantity in our gold-top jars and our 1½-cup bulk bags. Once we phase into the new jars over the next couple of months, our remaining Italian jars will be used in gift boxes and special offerings through the end of the year while supplies last.
We hope you’ll be as pleased as we are with our new gold-top jars!
