diff --git a/middleware/staticTemplate.js b/middleware/staticTemplate.js
index 1d79f0011..b7d01feb4 100644
--- a/middleware/staticTemplate.js
+++ b/middleware/staticTemplate.js
@@ -1,8 +1,7 @@
 const SettingsService = require('../services/settings');
 const fs = require('fs');
 const path = require('path');
-const merge = require('lodash/merge');
-const memoize = require('lodash/memoize');
+const { merge } = require('lodash');
 
 const {
   BASE_URL,
@@ -38,36 +37,44 @@ const attachStaticLocals = locals => {
   }
 };
 
+// MANIFESTS are all the manifests accessible by Talk.
+const MANIFESTS = ['../dist/manifest.json', '../dist/manifest.embed.json'];
+
+// getManifest will retrieve the manifest files and parse the JSON.
 function getManifest() {
   return merge(
     {},
-    ...['../dist/manifest.json', '../dist/manifest.embed.json']
-      .map(f => fs.readFileSync(path.resolve(__dirname, f), 'utf8'))
-      .map(JSON.parse)
+    ...MANIFESTS.map(f =>
+      fs.readFileSync(path.resolve(__dirname, f), 'utf8')
+    ).map(JSON.parse)
   );
 }
 
-const getManifestMemoized = memoize(getManifest);
-
-if (process.env.NODE_ENV === 'production') {
-  // Crash early if file does not exists.
-  getManifestMemoized();
-}
-
-function resolve(key) {
+/**
+ * resolve is a function that can be used in templates to resolve an asset from
+ * the manifest. In production, the manifest is cached.
+ */
+const resolve = (() => {
   if (process.env.NODE_ENV === 'production') {
-    return `${STATIC_URL}static/${getManifestMemoized()[key]}`;
-  } else {
-    // In dev mode, we are more forgiving and we always load the
-    // newest version of the manifest.
+    // In production, we should attempt to load the manifest early.
+    const manifest = getManifest();
+
+    return key => `${STATIC_URL}static/${manifest[key]}`;
+  }
+
+  // In dev mode, we are more forgiving and we always load the
+  // newest version of the manifest.
+  return key => {
     try {
-      return `${STATIC_URL}static/${getManifest()[key]}`;
+      const manifest = getManifest();
+
+      return `${STATIC_URL}static/${manifest[key]}`;
     } catch (err) {
       console.warn(err);
       return '';
     }
-  }
-}
+  };
+})();
 
 module.exports = async (req, res, next) => {
   try {
diff --git a/webpack.config.js b/webpack.config.js
index 0f2287fa9..184107491 100644
--- a/webpack.config.js
+++ b/webpack.config.js
@@ -93,7 +93,15 @@ const config = {
         use: ExtractTextPlugin.extract({
           fallback: 'style-loader',
           use: [
-            'css-loader?modules&importLoaders=1&localIdentName=[name]__[local]___[hash:base64:5]',
+            {
+              loader: 'css-loader',
+              options: {
+                minimize: true,
+                modules: true,
+                importLoaders: 1,
+                localIdentName: '[name]__[local]___[hash:base64:5]',
+              },
+            },
             'postcss-loader',
           ],
         }),
@@ -104,7 +112,8 @@ const config = {
         test: /\.(jpg|png|gif|svg)$/,
       },
       {
-        loader: 'url-loader?limit=100000',
+        loader: 'url-loader',
+        options: { limit: 100000 },
         test: /\.woff$/,
       },
       {