Hey everyone! It’s been a few months since I last wrote a blog about how things are going at the cidery, so I thought we might be due for an update. I want to share a bit about some big projects we’ve been working on so far this year (Part 1), and then wax poetic about growing a business and the ups and downs that big growth can bring about (Part 2 - coming soon).
With no further ado, here’s what’s causing some of our current growing pains (but GOOD growing pains).
Our Cider Subscription Service. After we started shipping our cider in early 2020, adding a subscription service quickly became the next goal for that segment of our business. During COVID, so many people bought cider to get shipped to their homes; it was really heartwarming. Because we’d furloughed most of our staff in March/April/May, I was the one who would go in and fulfill these orders, and I can’t tell you how many times I saw an old friend of mine from college, or a friend of my parents, or a cousin or aunt or uncle buying our cider. It truly meant so much to me, and I’m so glad I got to connect with these people, even in a small way like putting ciders into a box and writing a quick thank-you note, during the tense early days of COVID.
We started working on the subscription program a few months later. There were so many fine details to figure out; Jackie, who is running the subscription program, spent so much time on the phone with VinoShipper, asking how to make it possible for someone to gift a subscription, or to change their address, or to swap out a cider that they didn’t want. We had a goal of getting 250 subscribers in our first year.
In February, before we had even sent out our first box, we went to a panel discussion at CiderCON about how to make a successful subscription service. Two of the presenters were other cideries who were best in class - they each had roughly 250 members. Jackie and I were surprised - we hadn’t sent out our first box and we were getting close to those numbers.
Fast forward just a couple of months and friends, we have OVER 400 subscribers! We’re truly shocked and so happy that people around the US are getting a chance to try our Ciders of the Month. We pour a lot of effort and love into those ciders, so seeing the Instagram stories of people excited to open their boxes in Alaska and Maine is so wild!
2. Farmer’s Markets. Another thing we learned during COVID was that Farmer’s Markets are a good way for us to reach new customers. We signed up for the Fishers Farmer’s Market in early 2020, before the pandemic hit, and we were so glad that we did - we were able to exceed our regular event sales in a year when literally every event was canceled.
So, in true Andrea fashion, I decided we should expand on the program in 2021 and signed us up for 5 markets throughout the state. And then Jackie signed us up for three more. That’s right. Every Saturday, we are at 8 different farmer’s markets, from Fort Wayne to Bloomington. We had to hire about 30 part-time event staff. We had to buy a cargo van to transport cider every Saturday. We had to get six new branded tents and POS systems and a couple storage units and just after we finish one Saturday and take a breath, we have to get ready for the next, for TWENTY-TWO WEEKS IN A ROW!
To be honest, we may have bitten off more than we can chew here. It’s going great, we’re selling tons of cider to tons of new fans and I couldn’t be happier. But we’re literally running out of cider, even though we just upgraded our equipment and added on staff so we could grow our cider production. We’re having to make some hard choices, like who gets cider first (our tasting room customers, our farmer’s markets, our subscribers, or our many wholesale accounts throughout the state). When I try to prioritize that list, I come up with 5 different groups as our number 1 priority and then decide we just have to make more cider, somehow.
3. Moving our Tasting Room/Opening a Restaurant. Oh, this little thing? The one we’ve been working on for three years now? Yeah, it’s happening, and it’s happening FAST. Everyone hates moving, and with good reason - you have to decide what you want to move and what gets trashed, it’s messy and dirty and sweaty and stressful. When it’s a business that’s moving, you have to add on the layer of closing for a couple of weeks, pulling staff who are already busy to help with moving/painting/building stuff, communicating with your customers that soon, they’ll have to go somewhere else to get your cider, updating all of your business paperwork with a new address…on and on it goes.
Part of our move includes majorly expanding our kitchen - from the literal space and equipment, to the staff and the menu. You may have heard, but there is a major crunch in the industry right now for kitchen and front-of-house employees, so finding the right staff is tough. But the new space is going to be SO GREAT! It’s big a beautiful and light-filled and spacious, and our food is going to be amazing, and we truly can’t wait to have the move finished and the space open to you all because it’s a major upgrade. Please visit us!
I’m going to stop here. As you can see, we’re working on a lot. And there are a few BIG things we’re still holding back on sharing from you, so stay tuned for those.
But, I can’t end without saying that this kind of growth, while challenging and tiring and a bit of a logistical nightmare, is really, really exciting, especially after 2020. We feel so honored to be in the place we’re in, representing what cider can be when it’s made in Indiana. Thank you, and stay tuned!
