Yo Guy,
I tried to add to your responses but ended up writing my own. Not because I didn't like what you had to say but because I wanted to think it out for myself without seeing your answers to the questions.
Cheers,
Will
Target market: The hipster/young professional/cool people our parent’s age crowd that resides in the Ballard/Fremont/Capitol Hill, neighborhoods of Seattle. In my time working with the wine and food industries, I’ve been disgusted by the elitism that surrounds these ancient traditions. So a big thing for me in this enterprise is bringing wine back down to humbler roots. In countries like France and Italy, good wine is inexpensive and an everyday kind of thing, not at all a status symbol like a Lexus is in America. Obviously, poor folk from the inner-city aren’t going to be able to afford our product, nor will they be interested in it, and older, richer clientele will be attracted to our product, so I’m fine with striking a balance between the two: the hipster/young professional market. Why is this such an important point for me? Well, by reducing prices we are doing something different, unheard of even, in America. Sure, you can go to the store and buy 4 dollar bottles of wine but the shit sucks. Thin and lifeless. By working in bulk, and on account of the high-quality, inexpensive wines currently being produced in Washington State, I think we have a good chance of providing a very affordable product. Which I define as between $4 and $25 per liter. Also, by having low prices, the wine bar/distribution co-op becomes a place people come back to more and more. The cheaper the wine, the more people drink, and the more money we’ll likely make. I want people to walk in and go, “damn! this place is really cheap,” because that will leave a lasting impression and get people talking around town. As it stands, I’ll go to a wine bar in Seattle but it’s a special occasion kind of thing. I want people to feel free to drop in all the time, and feel welcome, especially because wine is an intimidating thing due to all the elitist bullshit that surrounds it. Think of the Hop Vine, Green. We feel like a part of the Hop Vine family and that’s how I want people to feel at the wine bar, too.
Product and service: The idea for this business came from a wine bar I visited in France: you could bring in a glass/plastic bottle, a nalgene even, and get it filled for half the price of sitting down and drinking in the establishment. There was also a small menu with happy-hour type foods. The place was bustling with toddlers, old fucks and hip young French cats. I think we can make a lot more money by distributing, but the only kind of distribution I want to deal with is the local, bring-in-a-bottle-and-we’ll-fill-it type of thing. No shipping. Why? Because another important point for me in this business is selling Washington wines and Washington wines only, for ecological reasons as well as to support the burgeoning wine industry in the state; shipping all over the country would work against the idea of locality. Obviously, if this constraint limits our profit, I’d concede by including Oregon and California wines, too. I want the wines to be in barrels, the varietal and vintage written on the barrel front in chalk, which will definitely contribute to the rustic charm I’m going for, and will undoubtedly bring people in the door. The co-op idea is one that still needs conceptualization: do we have people invest in wine shares? I don’t know much about how a co-op works, but I like the idea. Any thoughts, Colin? In terms of service, we’ll need servers to work the floor (servers the same as our target clientele). Also, we’ll need someone to man the barrels for those who are coming in to fill bottles.
Competition: Green addresses this question fully. I’ll add that by selling inexpensive, quality wine, we separate ourselves from the Woodinville scene and establish an independent, unique business. I think the Woodinville market is far enough away from Seattle as to not pose much threat to the business. Not to mention that our target market is different than theirs. A lot of people like wine for the fact that it’s fancy and don’t want to be served wine by some dude in chuck taylor’s and ripped jeans. Those snooty people will stay in Woodinville.
I tried to add to your responses but ended up writing my own. Not because I didn't like what you had to say but because I wanted to think it out for myself without seeing your answers to the questions.
Cheers,
Will
Target market: The hipster/young professional/cool people our parent’s age crowd that resides in the Ballard/Fremont/Capitol Hill, neighborhoods of Seattle. In my time working with the wine and food industries, I’ve been disgusted by the elitism that surrounds these ancient traditions. So a big thing for me in this enterprise is bringing wine back down to humbler roots. In countries like France and Italy, good wine is inexpensive and an everyday kind of thing, not at all a status symbol like a Lexus is in America. Obviously, poor folk from the inner-city aren’t going to be able to afford our product, nor will they be interested in it, and older, richer clientele will be attracted to our product, so I’m fine with striking a balance between the two: the hipster/young professional market. Why is this such an important point for me? Well, by reducing prices we are doing something different, unheard of even, in America. Sure, you can go to the store and buy 4 dollar bottles of wine but the shit sucks. Thin and lifeless. By working in bulk, and on account of the high-quality, inexpensive wines currently being produced in Washington State, I think we have a good chance of providing a very affordable product. Which I define as between $4 and $25 per liter. Also, by having low prices, the wine bar/distribution co-op becomes a place people come back to more and more. The cheaper the wine, the more people drink, and the more money we’ll likely make. I want people to walk in and go, “damn! this place is really cheap,” because that will leave a lasting impression and get people talking around town. As it stands, I’ll go to a wine bar in Seattle but it’s a special occasion kind of thing. I want people to feel free to drop in all the time, and feel welcome, especially because wine is an intimidating thing due to all the elitist bullshit that surrounds it. Think of the Hop Vine, Green. We feel like a part of the Hop Vine family and that’s how I want people to feel at the wine bar, too.
Product and service: The idea for this business came from a wine bar I visited in France: you could bring in a glass/plastic bottle, a nalgene even, and get it filled for half the price of sitting down and drinking in the establishment. There was also a small menu with happy-hour type foods. The place was bustling with toddlers, old fucks and hip young French cats. I think we can make a lot more money by distributing, but the only kind of distribution I want to deal with is the local, bring-in-a-bottle-and-we’ll-fill-it type of thing. No shipping. Why? Because another important point for me in this business is selling Washington wines and Washington wines only, for ecological reasons as well as to support the burgeoning wine industry in the state; shipping all over the country would work against the idea of locality. Obviously, if this constraint limits our profit, I’d concede by including Oregon and California wines, too. I want the wines to be in barrels, the varietal and vintage written on the barrel front in chalk, which will definitely contribute to the rustic charm I’m going for, and will undoubtedly bring people in the door. The co-op idea is one that still needs conceptualization: do we have people invest in wine shares? I don’t know much about how a co-op works, but I like the idea. Any thoughts, Colin? In terms of service, we’ll need servers to work the floor (servers the same as our target clientele). Also, we’ll need someone to man the barrels for those who are coming in to fill bottles.
Competition: Green addresses this question fully. I’ll add that by selling inexpensive, quality wine, we separate ourselves from the Woodinville scene and establish an independent, unique business. I think the Woodinville market is far enough away from Seattle as to not pose much threat to the business. Not to mention that our target market is different than theirs. A lot of people like wine for the fact that it’s fancy and don’t want to be served wine by some dude in chuck taylor’s and ripped jeans. Those snooty people will stay in Woodinville.
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