Banks Supporting Small Businesses????
February 26th, 2011
So I was watching this new show “Restaurant Impossible” on Food Network the other day. The plot is Food Network sends out one of their celebrity chefs (Chef Robert Irvine) to a restaurant that is failing miserably. In two days and with $10,000 he has to redesign the motif, revamp the menu, shape up the staff, and re-train the cooks.
In this particular episode, the failing eatery was owned and operated by a gentleman that wanted to revive his father’s Italian restaurant, which was quite successful years back. His problem…he had zero experience in the restaurant industry (he worked wholesale electronics for 20 years). This didn’t matter because he still got a second mortgage, a sizeable line of credit from the bank, and a few new credit cards to fund the doomed business venture (piling up almost $300k of debt).
What does this have to do with Senor Sangria? Money. It is amazing what a few years can do. About 4 years ago banks backed up the truck and dumped money on this guy with no rhyme or reason. No experience? No problem? No money? Here you go! Enter the self-inflicted collapse of the global finance industry, and now every bank out there puckers up tighter than a snare drum when you ask them for funds. Senor Sangria has a solid business model, a track record of growth, and a quality product that stands up to the established competition yet we are turned away empty-handed every time.
I found myself getting fired up every time I saw a commercial featuring a bank touting their commitment to supporting small business and Main Street. Horseshit. I had to do something. I reached out to Senator Menendez via twitter out of desperation, and actually heard back the next day! He referred me to a contact in D.C. that deals with small business issues. He listened to my concerns, gave me some suggestions, and encouraged me to keep detailed records of my efforts and progress (or lack thereof) to share with the Senator.
Who knows? Maybe we will get additional funding eventually. It would be great to be an example to other small businesses of how you can make your voice heard. People need to be aware of these problems. Over a trillion dollars was pumped into these banks, paid for by you and me (and our future generations). Now, they’re back to turning billions in profits and handing out billions in bonuses, while the average Joe toiling to build a business and a future gets squat.
If any of you have any sugguestions where we can get a loan we will pay you in sangria!
Welcome Shore Point Distributors To Our Senor Sangria Family!
February 22nd, 2011
In our last blog post we hinted about working with a new distributor. Now it is time to let the cat out of the bag. We are happy to announce we will be working with Shore Point Distributors . Shore Point began selling our product in February and will cover Warren, Hunterdon, Somerset, Middlesex, Monmouth, Ocean, Burlington and Mercer County. We are thrilled about bringing them on board and expect to triple our business this year with the help of their talented and energetic sales force. We interviewed a lot distributors, so when the time came to make the final decision we used a number of factors and Shore Point won by a landslide. Tony proved to us he would give our product the utmost respect and his team is already doing a phenomenal job selling our sangria. We’ve already had an emergency delivery to Shore Point because they quickly sold out of our 750 ml bottles. This is a sign of only good things to come! Please help me welcome Shore Point to our Senor Sangria Family! We are proud and excited to be working with you!
We Want Photo’s Of our Fans Enjoying Senor Sangria!
February 1st, 2011
Some close friends of ours recently sent us some pics of their guests enjoying Senor Sangria during a Christmas and New Year’s Eve Party. There is nothing we enjoy more than seeing folks having a great time while enjoying our sangria. This is how Senor Sangria began…making and bringing our homemade sangria to social gatherings. Is there anything better than that? Making and selling a product that brings people together…I think not! We want more photos like this! If you have any pictures of you/friends/ family enjoying Senor Sangria, please send them to info@senorsangria.com. We look forward to receiving your pictures and hearing the stories behind them.
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hmmm…are they excited about the corona or our sangria?
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Thanks Richie for sending this photo! Looks like your buddy is really enjoying refilling this big bowl! Is he the only one drinking from it?
Sangria Snow Cone
January 27th, 2011
With all this snow in NJ keeping us inside and having access to a lot of Senor Sangria the idea of a Senor Sangria Snow Cone popped up. With the support of some Facebook fans we thought “heck, why not try it out. I have to tell you it is very tasty!
Follow the steps below to make your own Senor Sangria Snow Cone:
Step 1 – Materials you will need
- Bottle of Senor Sangria
- Pot or pan to boil the sangria
- Glass cup
- Snow (please note wait get the snow when you are ready to build your snow cone… The snow may melt before you are ready)
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 Stuff needed to make sangria snow cone |
Step 2 – Reduce the sangria
- Pour 1 – 2 cups of sangria into the pot
- Bring the heat on the stove to high
- Let it come up to a boil
- Cook for 10-12 minutes
- It should reduce about 75%
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 You have to be patient as the sangria reduces |
Step 3 – Taste the sangria
- Along the way taste the sangria
- Remember it will be hot… so blow on it
- You are looking for the sangria to thicken up slightly
- It should taste concentrate with rich fruity flavors
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 If the sangria tastes rich and fruity then you are ready to pull it off the flame |
Step 4 – Cool down your sangria syrup
- I decided to use the snow and it worked great
- If you don’t cool it you’ll melt your snow cone
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 Use the snow to quickly cool down your sangria |
Step 5 – Pour the sangria syrup over the snow
- Use a spoon or if you are talented enough use the pan
- Feel free to lick any of the sangria off the counter that doesn’t make it into the snow cone :-)
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 Time to pour the reduced sangria syrup over the snow |
| Step 6 – Enjoy your Senor Sangria Snow Cone |
 Yum... Here is the Senor Sangria Snow Cone... |
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Some of our New Jersey Fans are still asking “Why can’t I find Senor Sangria at my local liquor store?”
January 26th, 2011
We still have a lot of folks in New Jersey asking when their local liquor stores will be carrying Senor Sangria. We hear you loud and clear and our sales force is working very hard to make sure we give our dedicated customers what they want! As we begin 2011 our goal is to double the number of locations in New Jersey that carry Senor Sangria. We are really excited about this target and we are on a mission to make it happen. If you have a favorite local store that you want us to pursue, please send us the details. We thank you for your patience and look forward to 2011 being a very prosperous year for our company!
Job Opportunity at Senor Sangria: Sales Reps for Northern NJ and South Eastern NJ
January 17th, 2011
As we reflect on 2010 and look forward to 2011, I am happy to say Senor Sangria had a great year. We have substantially increased our footprint in the state of New Jersey and our fan base is continually expanding. Thank you to our loyal customers and followers for that. In 2011, we still have a lot of work to do and our goal is to double the number of stores in New Jersey that carry Senor Sangria. To help us reach this goal, we are happy to announce that we are still looking for sales reps to cover Northern NJ and South Eastern NJ. We are looking for someone who is energetic, socialable and enjoys entertaining. If you are looking to make some extra money while having fun, we have a great opportunity for you. Please send your resumes to info@senorsangria.com. I am excited and looking forward to hearing from you!
2011 New Year’s Resolution
January 5th, 2011
Since everyone seems to be putting together a list of New Year Resolutions, we at Senor Sangria felt inclined to follow suit. Now keep in mind we’ve never put together a list like this in the past for the business or our “personal” life. So it will be interesting to see what happens at the end of 2011 when we review the list.
Feel free to leave a comment if you think there is something we need to add…
Here goes!
- Increase online communication… Using FaceBook, Twitter and other outlets to share what’s going on with our company
- Listen to our customers… Find out what our customers are saying about our product
- Make our sangria available by the gallon… A few folks have suggested we add this as a resolution
- Bring our white sangria to market… This is something we’ve been teasing everyone about for the past 6 months
- Own the NJ sangria market… Basically when people think about bottled sangria in NJ we what them to think of our name
- Create more videos… Yup… that means you’ll see me more often… I don’t know if that’s a good thing…
- Create Senor Sangria Swag (t-shirts, hats, etc…) for people to buy online
- Double the number of locations in New Jersey that carry Senor Sangria
Ok… I think that’s all for now… We are giving ourselves till the end of January to come up with more items or adjust the existing list…
Holiday Wishes
January 3rd, 2011
Every business during November and December receives letters and holiday cards from their vendors wishing them a great holiday season and a Happy and Healthy New Year. This year we had a company who is currently not a vendor of ours reach out and send us a card that stood out. Inside their very fancy card (which I forgot to take a picture of) was an ornament.
Below is a picture of the ornament (it’s the yellow one hanging on the tree). I thought this was a fantastic way for them to send their love to us. I can’t tell you the number of folks that I’ve shown the ornament to and I’ve shared the name of the company with.
If you are ever looking to have any sort of “Point of Purchase Display” build or desgined… the folks at Metailine Products (www.MetalineProducts.com) are the way to go!
Senor Sangria Makes Music????
October 30th, 2010
One of the cool parts about being an employer is meeting folks that balance various priorities in their lives. One of our sales reps, Jared Wohl, is a great example. He’s part sales rep, part musician. He and college buddy Joe Bonasorte put together N.O.O.E in the Fall of 2008 after a few informal jam sessions “felt right”. The two quickly embarked on adding bassist Justin Rudolph. After drummer Kyle Gagliardi was brought on, they set out on the road and have been performing ever since with appearances at The Stone Pony, Sullivan Hall, and The Battle of the Bands at Starland ballroom.
Another cool employer perk is when these lives intersect. It just so happens that Jared also manages some of our promotions as well. During one of these events, he ran into radio station advertising executive Lindsay Klein. First off, she really liked our Sangria…so much in fact that she wanted Jared to have his boss – me –contact her to talk about a promo (sweet). Secondly (in no order of importance) she also took a listen to N.O.O.E.; and, in reading her blog Home Grown Spotlight, she’s already a fan!
Best of luck to Jared and N.O.O.E! Check out their MySpace page to learn more and hear what the buzz is about!
