Today we’d like to introduce you to Maritza Spero.
Hi Maritza, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
The love of wine for me and my family has always been strong as we are from Chile and they produce and export a great deal of wine. My brother, my self and my sister n law found several wine gardens throughout trips to Europe and we wanted to bring the concept home to Orlando. So we found an old house in the Mills 50 district also near Ivanhoe Village.
We completely renovated it and in the back, we planted Cypress trees and hung succulents and we built a large wooden deck to give the venue a feeling of leaving Orlando for a minute and stepping into a wine garden. It has been three years now and our neighborhood wine garden is dearly loved by the community. We always have music playing, live music on the weekends, for food we have local food trucks that come offer their cuisine and for art, we use local art to decor our walls with and they are sold on consignment. Its a truly like a family/community project.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Marketing was a challenge as we did not have a huge marketing budget being a startup and having our location tucked away in a small neighborhood. We posted a lot on social media and luckily, our guest have always left great reviews on google.
As you know, we’re big fans of Grape and The Grain. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?
We offer a selection of red and white wine, some bubbles, craft beer and a Sangria & Rose Frose! We want readers to check us out if they have not been; we are open every day at five and we only close on Mondays.
What has been the most important lesson you’ve learned along your journey?
One of the lessons is in business you cannot be cheap, you must offer quality products and services. The staff must also be of a quality and high caliber as you are entrusting them to take care of your clientelle.
Contact Info:
- Email: chloe@grapeandthegrain.com
- Website: http://www.grapeandthegrain.com/
- Instagram: grapeandthegrain
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/grapeandthegrain
