If you’re connected with us on Facebook or Twitter, you may have heard snippets of these updates already, but we wanted to give you a more thorough status update on Ash & Elm. So much of our progress occurs behind the scenes and isn’t necessarily that interesting (submitting multiple tax documents, anyone?), but today, we have some big progress updates to share.
We have a location! I (Andrea) quit my job a year ago because I thought we’d find a location within three months and then get going, but finding our location turned out to be one of the most frustrating parts of our fledgling business to date. We looked many places, talked to many realtors, community development organizations, architects, and business owners, but finally found a spot that is better than we imagined. It’s on the Near-Eastside of Indianapolis, which is where we live and has always been our ideal scenario (Aaron’s commute will someday be a 15 minute walk, as opposed to his 1 hour commute that he’s been doing for TEN YEARS now). We have more space than we need for now, and a beautiful historic building to have a stellar tasting room in. Lastly, we get to be a part of revitalizing an up-and-coming neighborhood, which is something we care a lot about.
Future tasting room greatness to happen here.
We got the attention of the Indianapolis Business Journal in their Property Lines Roundup, which was exciting, and we had a successful rezoning hearing, getting approval to sell alcohol, food, and have a parking lot. Those in the know about city planning know this was a big hurdle, and kudos go to our landlord and his real estate agent for leading the rezoning charge successfully.
A Word on Alcohol Laws As I’m sure most of you know, starting a business includes a lot of paperwork. especially a business that sells alcohol. We’ve mentioned before that we needed to submit our Federal Tobacco and Trade Bureau (TTB) application, which takes about 3.5 months to process. We got that taken care of exactly two and a half months ago, so we’re hopeful we’ll be approved by the TTB sometime in November.
After that, it’s time to file our State application to the Alcohol and Trade Commission (ATC), which will take about three weeks to be approved. That means, in our ideal scenario, we could be licensed to sell our product by the first of the year. Wow! If you know either of us, you’ll know that – of course – we already have the ATC permit application completed and are just waiting to send it in the second we hear that our TTB permit is approved. We should be able to hit the ground running as soon as we get ourselves legal.
So…when are you opening? GREAT QUESTION! I wish we knew the answer. If everything goes smoothly, March. If it doesn’t, which is more likely, sometime before June. The best way to stay up to date on our progress is to like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter, or drive by our location at 2112 E. Washington St and poke your head in the door. :)
We appreciate all of the interest and excitement we’ve been getting from you all, and are excited to share a cider together soon.
