Businessweek Extra - Boozy Brunch

Business is booming, to say the least. And John Jordan of Jordan's Winery, well known in the wine business. You turned me onto it years ago, Carol. It's delicious. We got to sample some remotely, but also getting in touch with him and getting up to speed on some of the things he's doing for his community out there in

northern California. Well, if you think about the wine industry, Jason, just over the last couple of years, between fires and droughts and then of course now the coronavirus, they have really been impacted pretty hard. And what I loved about him he is thinking about their supply Hi chain. They work with a lot of restaurants, so he's thinking about how can we help the community and keep it going and make sure it's vital on the other side of the virus. Here's more from both of them. Yeah, I

think we could all use a drink, no doubt about it. Man. And I've got to say I've seen more tweets about alcohol than I can keep track of during this health crisis. And let's not forget some liquor stores, right, They've been deemed essential in this lockdown. All right, So let's get into that with Lindsay Andrews, co founder and chief executive officer at Minibar Delivery, on the phone from Long Island. Lindsay, thank you for joining us. First of all, I gotta

say I wasn't familiar with your business. Oh I am Carol, catch up. So tell me. I don't know. I'm still a little traditional and when I buy my wine. Um, So tell me about what you guys are doing, and tell me about the activity level that you've seen since we've all been in lockdown. Yeah. So many Bar Delivery is the best way to shop for wine, spirits and beer online, sweep a web I in iOS and android app, and we connect consumers to local liquor stores. So you

put in your delivery address. You see what the local stores around you have ad to Karte check out seamlessly, I'm any bar. The stores alerted, they pickpack and deliver. UM. So we're in you know, about fifty cities across the US. But we have seen explosive growth in the past couple

of weeks since um Trump announced the lockdown. So new buyers are up five hundred and twenty five percent UM, the sales are up a hundred and thirty eight percent, and we've even seen sales growing from the March post Corona to like the first couple of days of April.

So it's still growing and still increasing as people have been you know, hopefully sheltering at home, hopefully isolating, but hopefully still you know, finding a reason to celebrate or having a Zoom call with friends to That's the other thing. Like even our own Charlie Valmer, who is responsible for making us all works you know, on a tech technology level, technological level. I think that first week we were all homes like, hey, we're doing a Zoom cocktail hour. Can

you do you want to have a Zoom team here? UM, So what are you seeing in terms of what people are drinking. Lindsay, take us into the numbers here. Yeah, so you know, mostly the top brands have stayed at the top, but what we've seen is oddly Corona Beer has um snuck into one of our top three beers. I'm not there before. UM, So I think I don't know if people are doing it ironically, but probably Corona

has kind of risen in popularity. And then we've also seen, um, there's been a decrease in sales and champagne and sparkling. I think, you know, it's not the most celebratory time, so people are drinking, and we have seen kind of wine stay steady. Liquor has actually increased. As a person, I was going to say that the hard stuff has really increased. It is, it has increased, um, and beer

has decreased. And even I've found with my own personal you know, I generally drink white wine, but now that I'm at home, i'm not going out, I've tried to mix it up and make cocktails, you know, um and apperall sprits here, a spicy margarita there. So I've definitely been mixing it up myself. So I think people are doing that and trying new things, much like they're doing with cooking, trying all these new things. You see, you know,

the sale of yeast for making bread his skyrocketed. I think people are just trying new things and have the time to you know, experiment, which is I've been trying to buy flour for weeks and I can't get it. Well, I have to say we we hoarded a little bit of flower. My wife has an unbelievable baker. She comes by naturally um and so we're having to do a lot of like outdoor exercise when we can, and like you know, get on the peloton to sort of counter

all of the good baking that's being done. In my fifteen year ALLLD doing doing a lot of that as well, you know, Lindsay. One of the reasons, one of the several reasons I was excited to talk to you, is you know, you understand the world of e commerce. You worked at WAG, You have a lot of background in sort of this this new world we're living in Fresh Direct I believe you worked at as well, So I mean you understand this sort of new world we're living in.

And I do wonder what's what's temporary and what's permanent when it comes to how we are acquiring things as as consumers, what do you see lasting when life gets back to something resembling normal. Well, I think kind of alcohol e commerce had definitely lagged other sectors and penetration, and I think, you know, people just didn't know that they could press about and then get their alcohol delivered, much like their groceries or you know, an uber car

or whatnot. Um So, now that you know, I think tons of people now know that they can get alcohol delivered, and they didn't know that before. So I think people will change their buying habits and start. I mean, it's you don't Tito's is a heavy, bulky consumable. It doesn't matter what store comes from. So it's very easy to buy online, whereas you might care where you're you know, Tacos or Burger Thai food comes from. You know it consumable,

it's a commodity. It doesn't actually matter the store. All right, I've been distracted because I've been on your website and so I'm in there and I'm checking around. Um but but a window pops up. We're experiencing a surgeon demand. It's no different when I go and try to buy groceries and I can't find a delivery slot. So if somebody goes online, um, can they get it in a couple of days? Is it a week? Like? What are we talking now? At this point? Our normal UM, we

usually deliver in thirty to sixty minutes UM. The stores have experienced a massive surge in deliveries, so now you know, our orders are running a little bit late, so it's more it's going to be delivered in like two to four hours UM. And it's definitely better since we're all at home anyway, Fresh Direct and tell them how you're doing that, could you just please um, Well they have a they have a very common um. But so yes.

So we're definitely running a little bit behind because the massive surge and orders, and our customer service staff has been amazing, working around the clock, but they've you know, they're getting the number of calls in a day that we used to get in a week. So it's definitely been a huge serve and and we're lucky, so we're hiring. We're hiring customer service people, will probably hire people um

for our corporate office to help with the demand. And we've diverted our tech team to really build tools for our customer service teams since they're so in indated with and lindsay, what are you having to do or what are you choosing to do in terms of like safety of delivery and all of those things that everyone both on the employer, employee and consumer side is obviously very concerned about. Yes, of course, so our entire team is you know, mandatory work from home, and then the delivery staff.

You know, we really encourage UM people to bring their own pen if they need design, don't hand your idea to the delivery staff, and hopefully everyone's sheltering at home, so the delivery staff are hopefully on the streets alone and not exposed. UM. So we really you know, encourage both the consumer and the delivery people UM not to exchange anything like pens or ideas or hand the bag.

Just write it down. UM. But unfortunately, alcohol is a highly regulated item, so we do need to make sure that people are getting to the right hands possibly and underage people are not taking advantage. Right. Yeah, you've got to figure out a way to see those ideas. You know that I would imagine that there is an extra step that that is different from like somebody dropping off a prime package at right at my front door. Alright, So are you holding on to all your employees or

have you hired more because of increased demand? Yeah, we hired more UM. So you know we I think this week we've already onboarded, you know, hired two new customer service people UM, and we've have offers out to more. Wow. So when you uh look at sort of speaking of supply chain, lindsay, what are you hearing from some of your partners, because you know you work with some of the biggest UM liquor and alcohol brands in the world. Are they good with with supply and what are you

hearing from them as you think about sourcing. I know you're dealing mostly with retailers, but I know you also have you know, good touches into some of the big brands. Yeah, we have great relationships with the big brands. And since they can no longer unfortunately do a lot on premise in bars and restaurants, you know, out of home advertising no longer makes sense. We've actually seen a huge influx in UM inbound inquiries for partnerships from all the major

suppliers UM, which has been great for us. And we love working with them, um, and then we have much like we've seen an increase in late deliveries, we have seen an increase and out of stocks as well, just because so many people are buying and the supply chain is just a little bit harder with um, you know, how the world is working today. So because we are Bloomberg, we're always interested in is are you guys profitable we I mean, after this turn of events, I think this

year we will be profitable. I think could be that breakout moment where we will be profitable, which is really exciting. UM. So that is our plan. Well, because we talk about you know, as a result of everybody staying at home working from home, you know, what are the things, whether it's the working from home aspect, whether it's telemedicine, whether it's education, Like, there are things we wonder what we'll

stay with us. And this is a way actually for you guys right to kind of for people to get comfortable with the idea of buying you know, alcohol online. Yes, and hopefully you know, we want to make people's lives easier and give free up their time to do the things they love, like spend time with family, go out to restaurants, you know, do their hobbies read a book instead of doing chores like going to the liquor store. Instead, let's make it easier and let them press a button

and get it delivered. It's heavy, bulky. We want to make, you know, free up their time to do their passions. All right, Well, we're looking forward to, uh maybe having a delivery to our studio when we're back in Uh. We really appreciate it. Linda Andrew's co founder CEO of Many Bar Delivery, joining us on the phone from Long Island. Uh, listen to just say, the mail room called Jason, Jason, there's some maker's mark uh and some Peppy van Winkle

that is waiting here for you. And yes, send it right up right up to the Blueberg Interactor Broker's studio. Uh No, that's it's really interesting me. Look, there will be companies that will grow and thrive on the other side of this. And you do wonder whether and that's what we were talking about, this notion that if you get used to doing that in the same way people got used to buying books, buying so much stuff from amazons,

like all these things, right, why not? Like we listen, we've a feeling there may be a mini bar headed to the master. You really so you used you've used them? I met them a few years ago. I don't use them here. They don't deliver to the burbs yet. Um. Yeah, no, I met them a few years ago. It's a fascinating concept. Yeah. And in her background, as we talked about it, is really interesting too because she's worked with some of these big e commerce UH companies, so totally understand the logistics

of it and all of that. COVID nineteen, as we know, is in discriminate. We've talked about this a lot, impacting all industries and all individuals potentially, and that includes the wine industry. Our next guest is a second generation vintner. He has a degree in economics, a law degree in m b A. He's former officer in the Navy Reserves. We're talking about the CEO and owner of Jordan Winery and also creator of the John Jordan Foundation. And UH, we are so welcome to have with us John Jordan

and John I gotta do full transparency. Um, your wine has been a favorite of my husband's for decade decades and it's become a favorite of mine. So welcome, welcome to Bloomberg Radio. Delighted to have you. I know you're on the phone in California, so welcome to Bloomberg Radio. Well, thank you and happy to be here, and glad you've enjoyed Jordan wine over the years. Absolutely, we're enjoying some right now courtesy of you. So I actually haven't taken a sip yet, but I am cheers to my to

my co host, uh, and to you. We we really do appreciate John and I just start by asking, how are you well? How are you? How's the family? Well, first of all, the wineries are winery families in good shape. Um, we're under the terms of our shelter in Place local shelter in place orders were allowed to have employees work as long as social distancing guidelines and hygiene guidelines are observed to to continue the wine making process and to

protect the inventory that we have in the building. Now, however, we are unable to see visitors and do tours and tastings, which is really really hard for all of us here because hospitality is as much part of our business as his wine making, not from a revenue point of view, but just in terms of who we are. And it's it's all of the visitors and the staff that we

have taken care of them. They're very sorely missed right now. Um, the wine industry that Sonoma and Napa are shut down to visitors, and that is to not so much to us, but it's devastating to local restaurants, hotels and wineries that depend on people coming to see them. People look at the wine country and understand that of course that wine is our biggest industry, but not too far behind is

tourism and his visitation. To have that taken away is just devastating to so many small businesses that are necessary to not only operating wineries, operating restaurants and hotels. UM. But you know, it's it's it's it's just been it's it's just a terrible blow to our economy. Well, and that's a big part that we've been talking about as well, about the restaurant industry. We've had UM, Danielle blue On

and others, just because that industry has been devastated. And you guys sell to a lot of that industry which has been shut down as well. It has you know, we sell almost we've sold almost three quarters of our wine until this is all of this happened into America's restaurants. Now almost all restaurants are gone. Fortunately you Jordan's is a restaurant that's pleased people throughout the years and brought

a lot of pleasure. And now we're we're fortunate to be in the position to be able to offer it to people in stores, you know, whether it's a fine wine shop or grocery stores, um or you know, or or businesses that are essential. So we have an outlet for our product, but that doesn't do a lot of good for a lot of other small businesses in the area. Well, and and John, obviously you know this has not been

an easy few years for for the wine business. As Carol goes bottoms up, I'm watching her on uh and then very happily. So uh, this has not been an easy few years. And we've talked about that a lot on this show. Help us understand how the economics overall have changed, sort of synthesizing all of the fires of the droughts and everything, sort of the various things that

have been visited upon this business. Well, first of all, all of our businesses in Sonoma, NAPA have gotten very good at emergency procedures because we have so much practice UM with regard to the fires. The biggest damage, large lead to the community economically wasn't as much the fires themselves as it is the perception that Sonoma, Napa and the Wine Country had burned down because of the graphic

nature of the coverage. Now in two thousand seventeen, in particular, a lot of people lost their homes and there was loss of life. And as as much as we mourned that, the damage continued because people thought that you know, Sonoma was gone and and and there was no point in coming to visit, and that harm was longer lived and probably more profound and more deeply felt in in this community. Then the physical damage you're saying, the perception was actually

worse than the physical damage. Correct. The physical damage was in a lot of residential I had a lot of my employees, UM a few employees lose their homes in the company. We obviously helped them with that. But you know, in two thousand eighteen, most of the most two thousand nineteen, from most part people had their houses put together, and then we had another fire. The fires in two thousand nineteen,

while made great television, really didn't do. They were out in the wilderness, so they didn't really impact or they burned down one winery, but other than that, the structural damage wasn't there. But once again there was the change in perceptions which hurts so many small and family, small families businesses when it's restaurants, hotels, bed and breakfast that depend upon the visitation we have at this hour, John Jordan's he's the owner of Jordan Winery. Also ahead of

the Jordan Foundation. On the phone, UM from California. So John, tell us a little bit about the John Jordan Foundation because I was reading about it. Um, You guys do a lot of things. A lot of it's about education, but it's also about helping you know, other individuals launch small businesses. Tell us a little bit about it. Well, the John Jordan Foundation is something I started in two thousand twelve and I thought it was a productive place to put the profit put profits from the winery. We

do everything for We try to close educational gaps. Is one thing as iPads in schools where children are there a low income schools where if they're not exposed the technology early, they're behind the game. If they're not tech fluent, UM that can damage them and condemn them to being in a permanent underclass. So predominantly UM minority neighborhoods Latino here, which is what you know, we have a lot of Latino people live here. Uh that we are a pediatric dentistry.

You know, if you go to an emergency room, you can get medical care, but not dental dental care. So if you're eleven twelve years old and you have your adult teeth and they're falling out, you're not only in pain,

you're vulnerable to illness their self esteem issues. So we are committed to closing a lot of that, especially with pediatric dentistry education, UM English is a second language, and then micro loan training and micro loans for those individuals that may not have a lengthy formal education to gain the skills and knowledge they need to be able to

start their own small business. So we're proud to have worked with several organizations throughout the West to to try to grow an entrepreneurial class of people that other that may have grown up never thinking they would own a business.

And then lastly, we try to address those unfortunately all too often occurrences here locally where businesses and individuals are displaced through natural disasters, right, and and the notion of and this sort of dovetails with some of the stuff we were talking about before the break and in terms of you know, helping people with meals and whatnot at

a time. And there's a lot of that going around, uh, going on around us here in New York City as well because at first responders and people displaced it you're doing some work there too. Yes, what we try to do is look at problems holistically. Often there are multiple dimensions and multiple injuries that derive from UM a calamity of some sort. In this case with business and being shut down. You have lots of people being hurt. You have people lost their jobs that may now be food insecure.

You have restaurant people the rest businesses that are now failing, particularly restaurants, and they may never be able to reopen and provide people job in the future. It's a vicious cycle.

And what people don't hear about so much is a lot of the farmers and vendors and purveyors that supply those restaurants they're getting hurt do so through a program called Cinema Family Meal the Foundation UM we've of a funded an effort to open seventeen restaurants, and that allows them to keep a small staff of of of servers and chefs busy, pay their bills so that they can

stay open in the future. In exchange, they provide um meals to those who otherwise wouldn't be able to eat, and this also keeps some of those farmers and vendors

in business. We're attacking a problem from several different directions, and that's what we really try to do with the Foundation is identifying those gaps which maybe aren't sexy or or positive, to get a lot of press and attack them, and then try to look at other problems on several dimensions and be creative in the solutions we we support. I love this so much because I was just talking to somebody in our town and my wife is actually

working on a project later to this here. I live in just a little town, sleepy hollow, and in just north of New York City, and there's an effort to do exactly the sort of thing you're talking about. Because we talk so much about supply chains, John, and this is a supply chain. Ultimately, you know you're talking about farms and restaurants and it also is about a workforce that we need to figure out a way just to

sort of bridge us across to this new Norman. If we can keep these restaurants open and keep people employed, and restaurant owners I think are doing an amazing job at figuring out these creative ways. Obviously they're social distancing involved in things like that. But if you can keep people fed, keep people employed, and sort of keep that chain going, just hold onto it for a little while to again on the other side, it's such a as you say, you know, these are complicated problems that we

sometimes I think underestimate the complexity there. To be sure, it is what you see here, you know, historically and for whatever reason you know you people would good as employees are on one side of offense and businesses are on another, as if there's some bright line between them. And what we're learning America is learning here is that

we're all all intertwined, that businesses are people. When businesses get hurt, people get hurt, and businesses have a concurrent responsibility to their employees because a business is only as good as the people that work there. We're all in this together, and I think if there's any good to come to this crisis is that perhaps reminds us of

that truism. Well, and I also think, you know what I'm thinking about the government's stimulus, the federal government stimulus efforts, John, I mean also a reminder that when we come down to it, despite you know, it's the big companies that are often in the headlines, and we talk so much about the publicly health companies, it's small business. Ultimately, that is what America is all about, and that ultimately really

keeps the economy going exactly. You know what what doesn't get a lot of press is that small businesses actually bigger than big business. Smaller businesses in the sub five hundred employee category employ more people than the so called you know, than the companies that are traded on the Dow, for example. So small business, smaller businesses really are the bulk provide the bulk of jobs, and the and the and the and the bulk of provide more wealth and

uh resources than people. What other way since But but small business really is the bigger part of America, and it defines who we are, right because it's aspirational, So listen to be fair, because I am enjoying your cabernet right in front of me. And I know you guys make just two wines, but they are two magnificent wines. And I gotta be honest, if you just made the one the cab I do fine too with that. Just got about a minute and a half here, tell us

a little bit about the wine that we're drinking. Where our cabernet is made in a French style. It's not a big California over oaked, high alcohol um dominant type of windes gonna overpower food. It's designed to make a chef look good, but it's a restaurant jeff or a home cook, and it's got a little, it's a much it's lower in alcohol, so you can have two or three glasses and enjoy it and enjoy your food. The chardonnay is a Russian River Appalachian and it is a bright, acidic, crispy.

It is not one of those big over oak butter balls that you traditionally associate with California. So our wines are really more of an homage and carry over from French French winemaking styles than they are what you would traditionally associate with California. So they're a little surprising in that regard, and that was Lindsay Andrews, founder and CEO of Mini Bar, and John Jordan's of Jordan's Winery. Loved

those conversations. And you know, for most of us, good to have a drink every town again through this quarantine. Gotta say, by the end of the week, I am more than ready all right. You've been listening to Bloomberg Business Week Extra, and be sure to tune into Bloomberg Business Week Radio Live Money through Friday at two pm Wall Street Time on Bloomberg Radio. I'm Jason Kelly and I'm Carol Masser. This is Bloomberg