We were lucky to catch up with Jess Kidd recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Jess, thanks for joining us today. Are you happier as a business owner? Do you sometimes think about what it would be like to just have a regular job?

I love being a business owner.

I’ve spent almost 20 years working in different fields to figure out what I wanted to do as a career.

Most of my time was spent in customer service, hospitality and the food/service industry serving and bartending.

There was about a 6 year stint where I even had my own business as a “Jess of all trades” where I would do anything from cleaning and reorganizing to yard work and small home improvements.

For a long time however, I would work in key positions, or as a regular employee but being entrusted with or obligated to manager duties.

Through these experiences I learned my way around retail and service industry, and could work most positions from top to bottom, front of house to back.

As I grew older, I kept running into the repeat pattern of essentially being used and overworked without proper appreciation or compensation for what I was doing.

I’ve always dreamed of owning my own business one day, where I would have the opportunity to be creative as I wanted without being at the mercy of someone telling me my ideas were awful or that my suggestions would never work, despite management often taking my ideas as their own.

Not only did I want creative freedom, I wanted the opportunity to be able to build a business where I could hand select a specific team/staff that I could treat the way they deserve to be treated and hopefully create an environment people would love coming to work for.

This opportunity finally arose at the end of 2024 when a good friend and part owner of McAlpine Meadery, decided that he and his family whom opened their business in 2013, could no longer continue to operate and had made the decision to close their doors at the end of the year.

I approached him asking if there was anything I could do so that he didn’t have to discontinue operations, because I had grown to love his Mead since it was one of the few alcoholic beverages I could tolerate due to sensitivities and intolerances.

We had known each other almost as long as the Meadery had been open, and he watched all of my business ventures over the years, often encouraging me and listening as I relentlessly confided in him my dream of one day owning my own bar/venue.

After much hesitency, he pitched the idea that I purchase the Meadery and take over operations, offering to teach me the Mead making process and help as needed so he had more time for his family and full time career.

I spoke with my husband, who had unknowingly made it his peronal goal to one day buy me my own bar/restaurant.

After several weeks of back and fourth, a lot of homework and legal advice, we decided to take him up on his offer.

We signed the contract in early December, keeping it a secret until after the Meadery’s final send off show on December 27th.

We felt this gave everyone the proper closure that even though it was the end of that chapter, it wasn’t the end of the Meadery, just that things were going to be subtly changing.

We made the announcement January 1st that the Meadery wasn’t closing, but was under new ownership.

So far it’s been an amazing opportunity full of lessons and new experiences, and I don’t regret for a second the decision to invest in an opportunity to be my own boss.

Maybe check back in a few years, but as of right now, I regret nothing!

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

My name is Jess! I’ve been in the service and hospitality industry almost 20 years.

I specialize in mixology, creating concoctions and menus both alcoholic and non alcoholic.

I’m new to the Mead Industry, but have an amazing instructor guiding me on this journey.

I take my customer service very seriously, and pride myself on going above and beyond to make sure things are done thoroughly and with integrity.

I believe in treating others the way I like to be treated, and I like to be spoiled.

My goal is to always leave people, places and things in better shape than I found them.

I’m a huge advocate for networking and supporting family owned, local, and small businesses!

I’m excited for this opportunity with McAlpine Meadery, because I know first hand how great the Mead is and how much research, love and detail Jeremiah puts into his Mead.

Our Mead is all natural, gluten-free, Vegetarian and goes through a specialized process that removes 99.9% of the yeast while using almost no sulfites.

The all natural fruit bases also offer a plethora of medicinal benefits, setting McAlpine apart from a lot of other Honey Wines.

I’m excited to carry on their legacy with my personalized touch, skills, initiative and drive.

In the few short months since taking over, we’ve already expanded our region in ohio to more places in Cleveland, all the way down to Columbus and Cincinnati, where we’ve never been carried, but have customers from the Lithopolis Honeyfest and social media.

I’ve also nurtured and was able to land some pretty awesome contracts!

We’re now the official and exclusive meadery of the 2025 Scottish Games in Cleveland, because we’re scottish owned.

We’re also now an official vendor of Jungle Jim’s in Cincinnatti, which is a dream come true!

That account took several months of visits (4 hours one way) to leave samples and information, emails and follow-ups.

I want all of our customers and retailers: new, current and future to know that they’ll receive a great experience with McAlpine.

From the store front, to just relaxing and having a drink of our Mead; that we’ve put our heart and soul into this business, and we genuinely appreciate the support you’ve given us over the years and can’t wait to share the new exciting plans we have!

How did you build your audience on social media?

I’m grateful that the previous owners did a great job of building our clientele, so the audience was there.

When I took over, I noticed their social media wasn’t getting much interaction.

The Meadery has transitioned to essentially a full time music venue over the last few years, to help bring un revenue.

The first thing I did, was make a bit of a lengthy post letting people know the Meadery wasn’t using doors, but was under new ownership.

I told them our goals and thanked them for the continued support and pur excitement of them being a part of the new chapter and growth, which seemed to get a lot of engagement.

While people were interacting, I made another post 2 days later showing our first 2 deliveries to local retailers under new ownership (which were during a snow storm), tagging and thanking the business to simultaneously promote them.

This also got a lot of engagement. I continued to post about deliveries, until I noticed engagement started to lessen.

We had a bit of drama with one of our largest contracts and 2nd business to ever carry us, whom was named a retailer when the news interviewed us switching hands.

So, I decided to make a very professional post, apologizing for naming them as a retailer and being fully transparent about what happened.

People LOVED it. They came in waves of support, even prompting people to offer new places to reach out to. That post got almost as much as, if not more than the original new ownership post.

I used this opportunity to involve people by making another post asking people where they’d like to see us.

Over thr next 2 weeks, I reached out to every place mentioned, even tagging the people who had initially mentioned it, thanking them when we made a delivery.

People LOVED IT.

Some things I’ve done to increase our audience, is when people seem to be engaging and interested in helping, ask them to simply invite their friends to like the page, “because it’s 100% free, but makes a world of difference for our business” a lot will.

Also, posting specials or events to the local pages, like talk of the towns, sounding boards or local groups.

Even if it only reaches a few people, those people will tell others and it’s a snowball effect resulting in more followers.

Word of mouth is one of the best forms of advertisement.

I’ve come to the conclusion that people love to feel involved, and see the accomplishments and goals you’re obtaining.

People like to feel special. It’s great to promote your product, but I think after a while of the same content, people get bored.

How do you keep your team’s morale high?

The key is always making your team feel appreciated!

One thing I can tell you in confidence, is I’ve almost never quit a job, only the management/bosses.

Little gifts, or compliments and words of encouragement go such a long way, paired with avoiding negative attitudes and constant discipline without positive reassurance.

Something I enjoyed doing when managing was at the time of hiring, making a little questionnaire asking them silly things, like what is your favorite snack, where is your favorite place to shop, what do you like to do when you’re not at work, etc.

Sometimes after busy days, I’d buy them their favorite snacks or stress ball/fidget toy and put a thank you note with it.

When they did something awesome or for their birthday, I’d get them a small gift card to their favorite store or a gas card.

I’d also always recommend using words of encouragement or positive reinforcement.

If someone was struggling to learn a position or making mistakes, I’d rely heavy on the compliment sandwich approach.

If you’re unfamiliar, its where you recognize something they’re doing well, then when they’re feeling good, bring up what needs to be addressed and offer a solution, then reassure them they’ve got this and remind them they do a great job to avoid poor morale.

Please don’t make people feel like they’re replaceable. It manifests a vicious cycle of toxic work environment.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://mcalpinemead.com/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/meadery.mcalpine

Image Credits

Rob Jaworski with Broken Image Productions LLC

Ed Balint with the Canton Repository

Kevin Whitlock with the Massillon Independent