DALLAS — The coronavirus outbreak is no bigger a hurdle than any other that Sarah Shadonix’s team has faced.
The direct sales winery has moved five times in two and a half years and has adapted to the changes that growth has brought to Scout & Cellar, said the founder and CEO. Shadonix said the company grew more in April 2020, than they did in all of 2019.
“It's unbelievable,” Shadonix said. “So you can imagine the operational impact that that’s had because obviously COVID was unexpected, this was unexpected.”
Her team has had to work through some supply chain issues. The company has had some issues getting corrugated boxes and some delays in getting dry goods early in the outbreak, but it has had minimal impact on production, she said.
“We're feeling the squeeze of growth but also the needs of COVID,” she said.
As the outbreak’s effects stretched on, Scout & Cellar was able to diversify its supplier pools and work through some of the backups it had run into. Shadonix said the company had also learned to plan ahead and react better.
Scout & Cellar’s growth is emblematic of a jump in alcohol sales nationwide during the coronavirus. The winery is in even better position because they do not have a presence in brick-and-mortar stores.
Online alcohol sales soared in March and April, with a 477 percent growth year-over-year in the week of April 25, according to Nielsen.
As people have been furloughed or laid off, Shadonix said many are looking to Scout & Cellar as a way to make money.
“There's opportunity with Scout & Cellar, and people are leaning into the opportunity,” Shadonix said, “or people that maybe we were a side hustle for some of them, that we’re a full time-hustle supporting families.
The growth that has been spurred in the wake of COVID-19 has accelerated the manufacturing and release of some of the products that were already on the roadmap for the company, Shadonix said. These products would be targeted for those who don’t have $35 or $40 to spend on a bottle of wine, she said.
“This has always been on our plan, but to try to be as inclusive of more demographics,” Shadonix said. “…We're just trying to do it faster because we want to meet people where they are. And that isn't necessarily the same place as it was three months ago.”
Note: This story is part of the Dallas Business Journal’s Small Business Big Mission project. Starting in March, the local business-to-business newspaper followed nearly a dozen small businesses to track the way they coped, pushed and pivoted during the uncertainty brought on by the coronavirus pandemic. For information about local, state and federal aid, visit the Business Journal’s Small Business Resource Guide.
