Today we’d like to introduce you to Maire Murphy

Hi Maire, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?

I am Irish born and moved to the US after college to escape the Belfast troubles. Originally I worked in Marketing for a wine distributor in Boston, MA before becoming the first female to sell wine for them. I moved to California in 1999 to be with my now husband and worked for wine.com in Napa. When the VCs pulled the plug on the original wine.com my husband and I started our first business making wine in 2001. We sold it in 2006 and worked with the company that bought it for 3 years. We started our next business in 2010 and from that came the idea for CapaBunga. We made our last vintage of wine in 2013 because CapaBunga took off and we had to concentrate on it’s growth. Since then we’ve invented a product per year informed by our years in the food and wine business.

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?

Far from it. The first year we sold only to wineries to customize our original product, the wine cap, thinking that was a great way to start. Over that year, we realized they were very traditional and slow to adopt a new item that was so unique and different than anything they’d seen before. Because of their initial reticence, we were forced to cast the net wider and we signed up for gift shows in NYC and beyond which would open us up to the gift world. Our product was inexpensive and the shows, travel and rep group commission were expensive. We started out with smart booths but then ended up incurring lots of costs by overthinking the design as we grew. Setting up the booths in cities around the US was labor intensive. We hired staff to pack orders here in California, one of the most expensive states to do fulfillment in but we felt we had to be in complete control of everything especially customer service. When we acquired our canvas company in 2018 we also thought we had to take on their staff and then added in house manufacturing to our roster of skills. This proved a mistake as well and resulted in a worker’s comp claim and a lot of extra labor expense. It took until the pandemic to realize we didn’t need to wear every hat and that we could outsource some of the process so we could concentrate on what we were good at – inventing, selling and marketing.

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?

As a small business owner I wear many hats. Sales is my forte but I have also helped invent our #2 product: The Market Tote and a few of our wine accessories. I’ve learnt how to build a number of websites, how to grow our social media, and how to generate regular email marketing that converts. I manage reps around the country that sell our products and keep them engaged and interested in selling our line. I’ve set up a blog to add value to our brand meaning regular communication with our customers and fans. We like to say no-one does what we do – invent unique solutions to everyday problems but we go above and beyond in our relationship with our customers. As they’re our biggest cheerleaders and our word of mouth is strong because of it.

What do you like best about our city? What do you like least?

I live in Windsor, a small rural town in Northern California’s wine country. It is a beautiful part of the world with pretty idyllic weather most of the time. We’re not too far from the ocean which is perfect for this island born girl – I get very crazed if I don’t see the ocean regularly. What I like least about it is the cost of living. We have amazing food and wine here but it’s not cheap!

Pricing:

• Wine Caps – $5-6
• Market Totes $50
• Cheese Vaults $32
• Champagne stopper $15
• Ergonomic Corkscrews $15

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.capabunga.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/capabunga
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/capabunga

Image Credits

Mark Reyes