Belle Isle Moonshine is expanding capital to help it increase its direct sales to the customer, which has become a big part of its business. (Photos by Belle Isle Moonshine)
It wasn’t until two years ago that Belle Isle Moonshine started shipping bottles of its delicious drinks directly to customers.
Nowadays, it is better to deliver products to people’s homes than a third of the distillery industry in Manchester.
The company expects to continue to grow with an additional $ 3 million, which means improving its online retail business and earning money by expanding its dining room.
Belle Isle began shipping products directly to customers in the spring of 2020, a move that was facilitated by a rollback in state ships in Virginia rather than a pandemic. The company plans to further rely on online sales with more promotions and two new customers to improve online sales awareness and increase sales.
“Our website that we launched in 2020 has revolutionized and transformed our business, and therefore by turning that stream and continuing to provide a better experience for our customers. we will continue to add resources to that stream, ”founder Vince Riggi. said. “One of the good things from the disease is that we can start shipping directly to the doors of customers in Virginia.”
Vince Riggi
Riggi said 41 percent of Belle Isle’s business is in direct sales to customers. The company ships its moonshine and canned cocktails to 41 states. It gained an out -of -state seat through advertisers by 2020.
Part of its growth strategy is to reach out to Virginia customers in markets such as Hampton Roads and Northern Virginia as well as out -of -state customers as it expands. to his delivery business right before he visited the Richmond area.
“We’ve really started to gather the skin of what we can do with our e-commerce business out there (Virginia), so there’s a lot of opportunity and potential to grow there, while continuing state regulations on change and growth. (direct-to-customer) new benefits, “the company said in an email.
Belle Isle also plans to spend an undisclosed amount of money on refurbishing its distillery. The new test room will be built in the foothills of Belle Isle’s 14,000-square-foot facility at 615 Maury St.
Although the project is in the development stage, Riggi said the tasting room is designed to be about 1,000 square feet and is larger than the current tasting room.
“This is a huge addition to the current process,” Riggi said. “Opening the test room will not only provide a better understanding but also introduce people to the product line in a better way.”
The new dining room is expected to open later this year. No planning agency or major deal was elected in the past month.
Riggi said Belle Isle plans to hire new staff in the offices but has not yet decided on the exact number of new hires. There are currently 12 employees.
The company is in the process of expanding its product list. Prior to the illness it had made new releases every year but is moving to release a quarter to a quarterly time every month.
New additions to the Belle Isle line include Cherry Lime Drive canned cocktails and Yuzu Ginger moonshine.
He released his canned cocktails in 2019, and Riggi said he opened up the company to new customers and allowed him to set up a retail store outside of ABC stores.
“Cocktails can create a ton of imagination because one of Belle Isle’s districts is to make cocktails more accessible, as well as educating customers to use our products. products to make cocktails, ”Riggi said. “What allowed us to act as a brand was what gave us a way out of the ABC stores.”
Riggi declined to comment on the trade -off between moonshine bottles and canned cocktails.
The $ 3 million budget is expected to be completed by the end of the year. He earned $ 1.3 million on his goal just like last month.
Riggi refused to see any fans in the circle.
Prior to this recent financial round, Belle Isle had raised about $ 12.2 million over the year, according to SEC filings and previous BizSense reports.
Belle Isle was released in 2013. It moved to its current distillery in 2015, and later expanded there. Riggi said there were no immediate plans to find a new job.