Day 233 – Writing on the road

On the road!

I am writing this while riding shotgun on the way home from a tasting event we had tonight.  I am sitting here in the passenger seat under a million stars in the clear Eastern Washington sky. Amy has the hammer down so I am sure we will be home in a jiffy as long as the man is not looking for the white BMW bullet going over the mountain pass tonight. Tasting events like this are a great way for us to promote our brand and have a few hundred people tasted Eve’s Apple Pie. Tonight was a fun even as most of them are and especially because Its 5 was the only distillery there.

This was the North Central Washington Wine Awards Show. It was a bit odd to have us there but we are a local distillery and they said we could attend for free and sell booze! Those are hard things to turn down. Let me see, we are the only Distillery at the event, you are not going to charge us for the space, and we get to sell at the show? Can I have two places please?!

Normally at tasting events like this they only want us to bring a couple products. In tonight’s case they only wanted us to bring two from the distillery. We told them we were bringing 3 and then snuck a fourth in. We seriously have so many good products I do not know how they only expect us to choose two!

Eve’s Apple Pie was the big seller tonight and that is great. I cannot tell you how cool it is to stand in front of someone tasting Apple Pie for the first time. I could not be more proud as I see the look of pure pleasure come across their face and then they tell their friends. That is also a common occurrence at these things for us. Someone will walk over and tell us, “My friend said I was supposed to come over here and tasted the apple pie.”

If you are reading this blog and you have not had our Apple Pie, shame on you! I posted a link the other night to have it shipped to moist places. Taking my work for how good it is no substitute for trying it yourself. I will give you my unconditional guarantee right here. If you are a reader order a bottle. If it is not delicious I will refund every single penny. It is really that good.

I have gone to enough of these events to have the confidence to make an offer like that. Almost everyone loves Apple Pie and most of those think ours is great. Even the old guy tonight that told me how he gets his straight from the bootlegger in the hills of Skagit County, asked for a second sample.

We have another event in Cle elum next week then the wine walk in Leavenworth and the Holiday Trade Show in Spokane in September.

This is our big push for the year. Apple Pie is definitely a fall drink. Please help us spread the word to help get this small local business actually paying the creators a salary! You can go to our Facebook page and just share the page on your wall or buy a bottle online and share some Apple Pie with some friends.

Share our story the same way you would share about that great new Thai restaurant down the street or that great deal at Costco. Support local and us!

Cheers!

Day 78 – Hey Starbucks, your a corporate bully!

So the main focus of this blog is my journey during this year as I push through and try to earn my first million dollars. The million dollars is just a goal as one needs to have a target if he want to hit it. It is a blog about my struggles and triumphs along the way. Some days are good and some are bad. I have been very honest about the fact that this blog is actually an accountability tool for me. It forced me to think every day about what I have done or left undone. Even more so I have to write that down in a very public format.

From time to time I may stray off subject a bit, as I am about to do tonight. Rest easy that it is still business and applicable to the larger picture. The life of a small business owner.

If I was going to open up a local grocery store I would no doubt be looking for the items that would draw customers to my store over the ones they are going to now. I mean lets face it everyone is getting along fine right now without my store. People make decisions on things like value, service, quality and convenience. They are willing to pay a bit more for some of these things but, hey a can of tuna and a bottle of mustard is the same where ever you go but the price may be different for a smaller grocer. His overhead is higher and he cannot buy in large quantities, so his price is most likely higher. The other passion that people have right now is small and local. It makes everyone feel good when they know their dollars are going right back into the local economy.

All that being said, if I had a great small local grocer that I wanted to open up and I chose my location next to a Walmart, everyone would think I was nuts. There is no way that I could compete on a day to day basis. Yes I would have people that would come for the good quality stuff but for the most part when they need a bag of dog food and some shampoo the big corporate store is going to win.

On the same account if I had a great shop and  Walmart decided to open up right next door on the adjoining property that would cause some outrage. We see it all over the country where a big national store will come in and within months the surrounding local places are closing or at least having a very hard time to keep the doors open. In most instances its just in the same small city not RIGHT NEXT DOOR! Most would consider this to be a corporate bullying move. A blatant attempt to steal business from a smaller local business knowing the effect it will have on that small business.

Yes there is room for competition and quality SHOULD win out over roll back pricing but over and over we see that it doesn’t. As much as we want to support the small guy when given a choice we go where the best value is. It may not be Walmart but it may be Albertsons. We have to be financially responsible with our own finances and the emotional benefit we get from supporting local just doesn’t work in our checkbooks.

We have a local espresso stand that got its start right here in my town. Its first location was a parking in front of an auto parts store. Recently Walgreens bought the property and the owner of the espresso stand had to move. He bought the property next door and moved his business. He did not just move the 25 year old building over to the new location, he built a brand new beautiful building on the location. He also remodeled the existing building on the property and leased it out to a subway franchise and a small tobacco and smoke shop. He did such an amazing job on the property he was recognized by the City Council and received an award for his beautification efforts in the old downtown corridor.

In the front of the new Walgreens that is being constructed where the auto parts store used to be, another structure is being built. I found out today that it will be a Starbucks Drive Thru location. This is literally 75 feet from this local Marysville espresso stand that has been here for over 25 years. RIGHT NEXT DOOR! They are so close that there may be traffic issues between the two stands.

I have said for a long time that Starbucks is the McDonald’s of coffee. They offer an okay consistent product at an inflated price. They are so big that they have actually changed the meaning of traditional espresso drinks. Go to an authentic Bistro and order a caramel macchiato and you will see what I mean. They are a large corporate entity that has deliberately set out to bully this small business and trying to take money out of his pocket. Even though they are a Washington company they are not what I would consider buying local or small. They are a publicly traded company that answers to stockholders.

The thing that stinks is that the City Council had to know 6 months ago when they gave this man an award for his buildings and recognized him as someone who contributes in the community. They had to know that Starbucks was building right next to him, permits and planning knew a long time ago. Shame on them and shame on Starbucks for such a poor decision.

I will not be buying another Starbucks cup of coffee . . . ever!