Talking about social entrepreneurship is great. But talking with social entrepreneurs and hearing their thoughts directly is better. In a new segment on this blog, I will be contacting and interviewing social entrepreneurs to get insight into their businesse models, risks, successes, failures, dreams, and beliefs.
Below is a short interview with Brian Ellison, founder of Death’s Door Spirits. He founded this company in Wisconsin, named after the water passage between mainland Wisconsin and Washington Island (in Lake Michigan). Death’s Door produces Gin and Vodka, proving that social entrepreneurship does not have to be dull, and also that any business (not only charity) can take certain steps to positively affect their community. He takes pride in using local ingredients and he explains how that decision affects his business.
-Why did you choose to use local wheat for your spirits?
We didn’t choose the wheat for the spirits, we chose the spirits for the wheat! We had been working with two farmers on Washington Island, WI to grow wheat for use at a local hotel on the island (www.thewashingtonhotel.com) and it became evident that:
1. the farmers could grow really good wheat
2. the farmers could grow more wheat than the hotel could use
3. there is no money in wheat flour or bread loaves
So, we started a search to find products that we could develop that could tell the story of the island and the farmers, while bringing a strong return back to the players involved. Beer was a natural fit, being Wisconsin, so I went and met with a local brewery and they began producing beer (www.islandwheat.com). It was so popular that the brewery ended up having to do a $1.3m addition to the brewery just to keep up with demand. From there, it was a couple years of research, studying, experimenting and finally deciding to bite the bullet to come out with Death’s Door Vodka, named after the passage of water between Washington Island and the Wisconsin mainland (www.deathsdoorspirits.com).
-What are the benefits or drawbacks of using local ingredients?
The benefits of using local ingredients is the satisfaction of taking a product from ground to glass. We know everything that happens to it along the way and can answer any questions to anyone about how it was handled. Local ingredients, or I should say specific sourced ingredients, give us the integrity of our product that is necessary to differentiate what we are doing from others in the marketplace. It helps to have your ingredients coming from not only a local source, but a source that is rich in history and deep in story. Anyone else trying to do something like this should understand that a product sourced from a described political boundary is far less sexy than a product sourced from a defined geographic region.
The drawbacks to using local ingredients is simply the time and energy spent in actually getting the raw material in a usable form. It often feels like 80% of our effort is taking the wheat from the field to the distillery, and only 20% of the effort is actually distilling and selling the finished goods. This may be a bit of an exaggeration, but it is enviable at times to see products made from catalogue ordered raw materials- it just seems so easy. But, at least for me, that’s exactly why I love doing what I do- if it was just taking commodity grain and making commodity products, it wouldn’t be much fun, and there certainly wouldn’t be the same level of passion.
-What are your thoughts on the role of business owners to their community?
As a business owner, I think our roles are multi-faceted. For one, we need to recognize the impact our decisions have on those around us. The outsourcing jobs that a small business provides to a community are critical to the overall health of a local economy. Its not enough that I have a few employees, but also that I use local legal counsel, a local bookkeeper, etcetera. Obviously, by the nature of our business, we need to be very conscious of our role in the community, as sometimes the alcohol industry is looked at as evil. By focusing our efforts with a triple bottom focus of environmental protection and restoration, community support and interaction, and economy vitality, we try to remember that we are stewards on multiple fronts. Never more than now, as the economy crumbles around us, do this approach seem important, as neighbors try to help each other out in tough times. By being good citizens, good neighbors and good people, we maintain our sales because we have personified our business and given it mission beyond clamoring for the almighty dollar.
-Do you consider yourself a social entrepreneur? If so, how?
I guess I am a social entrepreneur, I mean, it is critical to our success that we have an exceptional product made from local grain, a strong story that connects the consumer to the farmer, and a focus on bringing money back to the community we work in, so it can continue to survive and thrive. I don’t know if the first person that ever crafted the term “social entrepreneur” ever intended it to include a booze company, so if it offends anyone to think of us as social entrepreneurs, I certainly won’t argue with them. Our plans are to keep expanding our company to include more products and more stories in our portfolio- working with other farmers and producers to create truly exceptional products that have a tangible social and environmental benefit.
Brian shows that even a “booze company” can be a blessing for a community by crafting a responsible business model sensitive to its effects on a community. Anyone for a drink?
