It took only weeks for Froggy’s Fog, the Columbia-based maker of fog machine fluid and synthetic snow using environmentally safe chemicals, to transform its operation to meet the nation’s demand for hand sanitizer.

As the spread of COVID-19 slashed into its customer-base including major players in the entertainment industry like Disney, Universal Studios, Six Flags and Busch Gardens, the local operation  began reaching out to state and national leaders in an effort to receive the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s stamp of approval to begin the manufacture and distribution of hand sanitizer.

Within days, they were cleared to start manufacturing and did so handing off the first batches of their new product to local schools and emergency responders in late March shortly after local schools closed in an effort to prevent the spread of the virus.

Now, six months after the fist confirmed cases of the coronavirus were identified in Middle Tennessee, Froggy’s Fog is expanding its operations in Maury County to keep up with the demand for its new product, the Simply Sanitizer formula.

The local company is expanding its manufacturing operations to a warehouse in Mt. Pleasant. It has also moved into two additional warehouses to store its products with plans to move into a third.

By introducing the hand sanitizer, Froggy’s Fog has retained its staff of more than 30 employees and hired an additional 20 to keep up with demand for its new product.

When the 30,000 square-foot Mt. Pleasant facility becomes fully operational, Froggy’s Fog plans to expand its total of employees by an additional 30 positions, reaching a total staff of 80 employees.

“There was a huge need and we had the ability to provide for it,” said Graham Howell, an account executive for Froggy’s Fog who emphasized the company is working hard to ensure that their hand sanitizer remains a safe and reliable product. 

“This is a product that saves lives,” Howell said. “It is extremely important and we recognize that. Through a reliable supply chain, our product is going to be superior in quality to everything else out there on the market. If we stick to that — we will be able to sell sanitizer for a very long time. We want to be a reliable trustworthy source and we will continue to be as long as we do this the right way.”

Howell said the company’s quality control and system procedures greatly surpass that of other products currently offered on the market.

He also emphasized that the local company continues to strictly follow the guidance set forth by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, as well as the Centers for Disease Control and the World Health Organization.

“Our consumers can have faith in what they are putting on their hands,” Howell said. “At the end of the day, that is what matters.”

In the wake of recent recalls and warnings issued by the FDA, Froggy’s Fog emphasized that its Simply Sanitizer brand of hand sanitizers is made only with domestically sourced active ingredients and is developed in accordance with the administration’s guidelines.

The FDA recently published a list of products tested to contain methanol, or wood alcohol – a substance often used to create fuel and antifreeze that is not an acceptable active ingredient for hand sanitizer products and can be toxic when absorbed through the skin as well as life-threatening when ingested.

Froggy’s Fog was not on the list.

The company ensures consumers that their Simply Sanitizer does not contain any of the harmful ingredients that some major retailers and distributors have found as a result of importing hand sanitizers made by foreign companies.

“At the end of the day, getting sanitizer to those who need it most is our biggest concern,”said Adam Pogue, the CEO of Froggy’s Fog. “Shortfalls in the industry’s supply chain have been an unacceptable setback for the average consumer. Not only that, but people place a lot of faith in these products to protect themselves.”

A new bottling machine at the Mt. Pleasant warehouse will help the company meet a daily production goal of 100,000 gallons of product on a daily basis feeding national retailers like Amazon and flagship suppliers such as Lowe's.

The company also sells its hand sanitizer directly to school districts across the country from California to New Jersey and throughout Tennessee.

It also is now selling the distribution units used to safely share hand sanitizer in heavily trafficked spaces.

“We did this to help,” said George Zima, vice president of sales and marketing for Froggy’s Fog. “We wanted to help local businesses. Really for us, we did not release the product as quickly as we could have because we wanted to make sure we were running in line with the FDA's guidelines.”

When fully equipped, the new Mt. Pleasant facility will primary serve as a production site for the company’s legacy products while the company’s long-running production facility located on Rutherford Lane in Columbia will be used to continue making the bulk of its new hand sanitizer.

The company also recently launched a gel that is comparable in chemical makeup and viscosity to other industry leading brands that are producing gel hand sanitizer with ethanol (also known as ethyl alcohol).

“It’s great that companies like ours are wanting to help,” said Megan Humphrey a staff member who spent the afternoon packing one of Froggy’s Fog legacy products, a chemical compound that is designed to give off smoke and help municipalities identify the locations of leaks in their water and sewer systems.

One of her coworkers Brice Sloan was also busy preparing bottles of hand sanitizer for shipment. 

"I think it is wonderful," Sloan said. "We have come a long way since we first started making it."

When fully equipped, with a new bottling and packaging system the facility in Mt. Pleasant will give Froggy's Fog the ability to offer sizes from 2 ounces up to 250-gallon totes.

The company was previously only able to package the product in gallon sized jugs, using the bottling system at its Rutherford Lane location.

“We are ramping up production to meet the needs of numerous industries such as health care facilities, first responders, and major retailers,” said Pogue. “We’ve had great feedback from those we’ve helped, and we intend to supply as many consumers as we can as a reputable and ethical manufacturer.”

The company would not disclose the total investment cost of the new facility, but leaders said the company plans to continue offering both its legacy products and hand sanitizer for years to come.

"We are fully committed to growing as there is a need," Howell said. "If that means going from one plant to two as we are now, or if we move to three or four, the commitment is to this community and we are going to stay here and we are going to manufacture here. As long as there is a need in the community for hand sanitizer we are going to figure out how to make it, and we are going to make it the safest and to the highest quality."