We were lucky to catch up with Nicole Todd recently and have shared our conversation below.

Nicole, appreciate you joining us today. What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?

Cider definitely found us, no one plans to be a cidermaker when they grow up. In 2011 after years in the wine and beer industry I found out I was gluten sensitive and couldn’t drink beer anymore. During that same time we looked at a property to buy in Watsonville that had 2 acres of mature apples trees. It was harvest time, and while we did not buy the property, I did make my husband go back at night and pick the apples. We used these to make a batch of cider for the brewery my sister and I worked at, people loved it! So we did it one more time, helping ourselves to the harvest going to waste.
We found out later that in California, it is a winemakers license and not a brewers license to make cider. So, the brewery owner bought us a traditional, hand crank, wooden apple press and kicked us out to start our own business.
We grew slowly and consistently, always selling out of everything we made, people really like having a local cider option. Especially in Watsonville, called Apple City, the apple capital of the world 100 years ago. In 2019 we opened a tasting room in Watsonville, just six months before the pandemic. There has been a lot of pivoting and adjusting on the products we make to ensure we have a nice variety to offer something for everyone. So here we are in Apple City, still Crushing It Since 2013.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

Being a local and woman/sister owned business, it is important for us to support other local businesses too. In our case that means local apple orchards. 100% of our apples, pears and quince are grown within 5 miles of our tasting room, supporting many other local farms. We are also a certified green business and carbon neutral, by helping take care of the planet we can pass on the message of sustainability and people can feel good about enjoying our products.
We are both self taught business women, learning from good examples we had in the industry and learning from others mistakes as well. We are never afraid to ask questions, make a good industry contact or shy away from trying something new. We are constantly pivoting our offerings to meet the demands of our customers. We listen and incorporate feedback to improve our business.

Any advice for managing a team?

Being a family run business with Nicole, her sister Natalie, and Nicole’s husband Felix, all full time at the cidery, it can be tricky to do business and life together everyday. Family dynamics always come in to the business and at family functions, we are always talking about the business, it doesn’t ever stop. Sometimes it can be complicated to keep business separate from family feelings. Ultimately, our trio works well together because we all respect one another and each have something different to offer the business partnership. Each day starts with a heartfelt good morning and ends with a loving good night and thank you. The in between times can be heated, but always resolved with respect and empathy.
Throughout our years in the beverage industry working for others, we have had a lot of good bosses and a few bad ones too. We learned how we would like to be treated and now that we have staff, we are trying to also lead with respect and kindness. It does get tricky, with a small business, your staff are also your friends, but you have to maintain a standard that you expect from them. By always thanking and acknowledging our staffs hard work, they continue to thrive. Our staff turnover rate is zero. Finding the right fit for the job, and treating them well, makes it easy to keep a healthy crew.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

There are two main parts to our resilience story.
Covid, everyone had to survive this, but we had just opened a tasting room to the public six months before. It was going great, people were finding us and we were getting busy. When the pandemic shut everything down, we had to pivot in uncharted territory. We worked twice as hard for a quarter of the money, but we stuck together as a family, played to our strengths and survived. This is where the second part of our resilience comes in, we do everything ourselves. We are built and not bought, if something needs fixing, we do it, if we need to increase our production, add new products, remodel the bathroom, build a new bar, deliver to a wider area, we do all of this ourselves, without hiring out. We know this is not a reality for everyone, but you never know if you can do something yourself until you try it.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.santacruzciderco.com
• Instagram: @santacruzciderco
• Facebook: @santacruzciderco

Image Credits

NATALIE HENZE