00:00Robert Mondavi once said, wine to me is passion. It's family and friends. It's the warmth of the
00:08heart and generosity of spirit. Wine is art. It is culture. It's the essence of civilization and
00:14the art of living. At Jenny Dawn Cellars, we have mastered the art of living through our award-winning
00:19wine and wine education. I'm Jennifer McDonald. I'm the founder, CEO, and winemaker at Jenny Dawn
00:26Cellars. I have a master's degree in agribusiness, have taken enology courses through UC Davis,
00:32and have hands-on work experience in Napa. I spent six years learning the wine industry and proudly
00:37lead our operations. The coronavirus pandemic has shown us that more wine consumers are buying wines
00:43online and purchasing through wine retailers. Wine consumption was up 55%. I am here to tell you
00:50today how Jenny Dawn Cellars is perfectly positioned to scale our business and capture a larger piece
00:56of the wine market. Even though the wine industry is a $73 billion industry, it lacks representation,
01:04diversity, and inclusion. In fact, I am the only African-American female winemaker in the state
01:10of Kansas. We became relevant nationally. We featured in Black Enterprise, Wine Enthusiast, Essence,
01:17Health, and NPR. Our products attract wine novices as well as wine connoisseurs. What makes Jenny Dawn
01:25Cellars unique is we have handcrafted 11 premium wines that highlight grapes and fruit from Kansas
01:31and California. All of our wines are complex, well-balanced, food-friendly, and have a smooth
01:37finish. We don't add any harsh chemicals or additives to our wines, so they're a good choice
01:42for health-conscious consumers. We sell varietals like Cabernet Sauvignon, Pinot Noir, Chardonnay,
01:50as well as fruit wines such as apple, blackberry, and watermelon. Every aspect of our brand is designed
01:58to be inclusive. We expanded our offering to include shipping to 37 states. Additionally,
02:04we offer wine education in person and virtually. In 2020, our revenue increased by 300% since 2019.
02:13We made 15 cases of wine and sold 1,200 cases. Even though we had success, there were missed
02:20opportunities that totaled $320,000 in market share because we ran out of four of our wines.
02:27This let us put a new plan in place to purchase a building to scale our wine production. This year,
02:34we are projecting to double our year-over revenue. We will do this by growing our case volume. Our goal is
02:41to make 10,000 cases by 2023 and hit seven figures in sales. I am grateful to have a phenomenal team,
02:49a supportive advisory board, investors, and family. We are seeking $500,000 to grow our case volume,
02:55e-commerce, and distribution channels. We invite you to join us. These funds will help us scale our brand,
03:01promote cultural vibrancy, and enhance the art of living through wine. Cheers.
03:11Fantastic. Okay. Cheers to you all.
03:14Congrats on your success today. It's quite phenomenal.
03:18Thank you very much.
03:21So, I will kick this off and then I'll turn it over to my fellow judges for their questions.
03:28The one thing I was struck about your presentation was the wine education aspect of it. Obviously,
03:35you know, wine is competitive and people can get lost in it, but there aren't obvious entry points
03:43to learn. And so, how have you thought about the education growing with your business as it grows?
03:51Because I think that could be a really unique differentiator.
03:54Absolutely. I feel like that's one of our strongest differentiators.
04:00I've been hosting wine education classes since 2017. Those classes initially were done in person,
04:08but now we've expanded that to offer virtual classes. So, once a month, I bring a group of
04:15people together. We advertise on social media as well as our website when these classes are offered,
04:21and they can join. We ship them the wines in advance as well as recipes so that they can
04:27go through the art of food and wine pairings. Wine is an enjoyable experience on its own,
04:34but when you pair wine with the correct foods, it's a magical experience that can be shared
04:39with your family and friends. So, we're really excited to expand our in-person offering as well as our
04:47online wine education offerings as well. Great. Thank you. Tina?
04:55Absolutely. So, Jenny, it is very nice to meet you. Do you go by Jenny or Jennifer?
05:00I go by both, actually. Awesome. Well, I wanted to tell you, very nice to meet you.
05:07Very, very nice to learn more about your company. And as I was thinking through some questions to ask,
05:13the one thing that continued to pop up is you talked about a new facility and getting in to,
05:20you know, basically fill the demand that you have. So, that left me wondering a little bit more about
05:27of the capabilities that you've placed within this facility. How does that tie to your long-term
05:34goals as far as sizing of your wines are concerned and retails of your wines?
05:40Thanks for that question. So, we have a wine production facility and tasting room currently
05:49that we have just simply outgrown. I would never have guessed that we would have outgrown it so
05:55quickly. And so, we are now looking at moving our wine production off-site to grow our case volume.
06:04Here in Kansas, we are mandated by the legislature to make, sell, and warehouse all of our wines within
06:11the same facility. So, that has given us some square footage issues. We actually had to take away some of
06:20our seating just so that we could keep up with wine production and warehousing. So, we want to move
06:26production off-site to allow for more seating in our tasting room and for allowing us to make more wines.
06:34As I mentioned in our presentation this past year, we made 1500 cases, sold 80% of those, and so now we
06:42simply need to make more wine to continue to sell more wine and grow our profitability.
06:47Thank you for that. Now, I'll kick it over to Edith.
06:54Good to meet you, Jennifer, and congratulations. My questions actually flow directly from what you
07:04just mentioned. So, you've got, your business has got several different pieces. You've got a tasting
07:09room operation, you've got production, you've got online education. How do you, one, how do you allocate
07:17your time and where do you see the emphasis going forward? And how do you, how are you planning for
07:22how you raise capital relative to your focus? I'm chuckling because this has been a 24-7 operation.
07:32I have poured my heart and soul into this business. I wear all hats. Last year, in particular, I did.
07:39This year, I have hired an amazing team. I have a full-time winemaker that's working side by side
07:48with me to grow our case volume. I knew that in order for our business to grow, I have to keep the CEO
07:55hat on and the wine education hat and the leadership and strategy hat on. But there were things that I
08:01needed to delegate in order for us to meet our overall business strategy. I've hired an amazing winery
08:09ambassador. She is helping full-time in the tasting room. And then I have a lot of key players that help
08:17on a part-time basis. So, in order for us to have ultimate success, I needed a phenomenal team. And I
08:25now can say I truly have that, which I'm grateful for. We are looking for $500,000 in capital to really
08:34help us with inventory. We need to be able to create contracts with our grape growers and fruit growers
08:42and make sure we have all of the ones necessary to make the wine to continue to sell it.
08:51Thank you. You're welcome.
08:55Well, Jenny, this has been a phenomenal presentation. Congrats on your success today.
09:00And if, unless my other judges have any other questions, we'll move on to the next pitch.
09:07Add one more.
09:07Oh, go for it.
09:09The tasting, yes, I have one more. So, in terms of the tasting room, because that seems to be a
09:14very core part of the business, do you intend to replicate and open up additional locations? How do
09:20you think about the actual brick and mortar expansion of the business?
09:23Thank you for that question. So, I strategically chose Union Station to be the flagship location of
09:33Jenny Dawn Sellers because there are other Union Stations all across the US. Specifically, there's
09:41one in Kansas City, Missouri, which isn't too far from Wichita, Kansas. Same with St. Louis, Missouri.
09:48So, we can strategically grow our businesses through Union Station. And I've actually named
09:55several of my wines in this train theme. We have a black locomotive wine, a red caboose wine, and then
10:02a Union Station wine. And so, we see that as a key part of our strategy. As I was researching the history
10:09of Union Station, Fred Harvey Diners popped up. And Fred Harvey had diners in a lot of the Union
10:18stations all across the US in the 20s, 30s, and 40s. And that was a huge inspiration
10:25for me to kind of lean on as a way to strategically grow my business in a unique and impactful way.
10:34Thank you. Very interesting. Thank you. Tina, are you good?
10:42I feel good. Thank you for answering that. Just wanted to talk a little bit about the Union Station
10:47experience. That has been phenomenal for me. I actually grew up in the St. Louis area. So,
10:53very familiar with this space. Very familiar with the wine that you're talking about. So, very excited
11:00about you and your business. Great pitch today. Thank you for answering all of our questions.
11:05Super grateful to meet you. Thank you so much. It's nice meeting you all.
11:10Okay. Bye. Thanks. We'll move on to the next page. Bye.
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