Slim pickings: Cold Hollow puts the brakes on wholesale cider sales

Oct. 2, 2021  |  By Lisa Scagliotti

Cold Hollow cider will still be available for purchase at the cider mill and via mail order. Courtesy photo

Cold Hollow Cider Mill whose jugs of apple cider are ubiquitous from Costco to corner markets across the region announced Friday that it is suspending its wholesale cider sales immediately and indefinitely. 

The mill is being forced to make this decision for the first time in 45 years, company owners Paul and Gayle Brown said in a press release. The reason is the continuing and growing supply-chain obstacles plaguing many industries since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. “We can’t get jars for cider jelly. We can’t get sweatshirts. Now we can’t get apples,” Paul Brown said in an interview in between customers at the mill’s busy retail store on Route 100. 

Paul Brown is owner of Cold Hollow Cider Mill in Waterbury Center. Photo by Gordon Miller

“Extraordinary circumstances never before seen in the apple business are driving the decision,” the company statement said. 

“In the current environment, the growers we’ve had great relationships with for over 40 years just can’t find workers to pick the apples,” Brown said, explaining that the mill relies on about a dozen main suppliers of apples from New York state where workers to harvest this year’s apple crop are in short supply. 

In addition, the mill finds itself significantly short-staffed going into some of the busiest weeks of the year. Cold Hollow’s retail store and cafe are one of the region’s busiest stops for tourists, particularly during fall foliage season. Across from the building that houses the store, mill and bakery is the company’s luncheonette and hard cider tasting room.

And although the operation which usually has 40 workers is down eight key employees now according to Brown, the tourists so far are showing up as expected. “We’re getting 20 [buses] a day,” he said. 

Cold Hollow Cider Mill uses a vintage rack-and-cloth press to make its cider. Visitors to the mill can observe the process. Courtesy photo

Trying to keep up with fulfilling wholesale orders for large supermarket chains like Shaw’s and Hannaford and warehouse club Costco is adding to the strain on the staff, many of whom are working six or seven days a week, the Browns said. 

Cutting back on production should help take some of the pressure off employees, they explained. 

Paul Brown said that the mill will continue to produce fresh cider, hard cider and specialty food products for sale at its store that’s known for its cider, cider doughnuts, baked goods, and a wide assortment of Vermont made products, clothing and gift items that make it a popular spot for visitors and locals. “We need as much as we can get,” he said. “But it’s brutal trying to get fruit.”

In addition, Cold Hollow will shift efforts to online sales. “Our mail-order business has grown 60% during covid,” Brown said, noting that apple cider is their “number-one mail-order item.” 

How do they ship cider that is usually found in grocery store coolers? “We freeze it into a solid block,” he said.