We were lucky to catch up with Abbi Wills recently and have shared our conversation below.

Abbi, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. We’d love to hear about a time you helped a customer really get an amazing result through their work with you.

We received a phone call from a Mother of the Bride and the first thing she said to me was “I know this is a hail Mary” “but do you have availability on” and she gave the date. Immediately my heart sunk as I know I had a HUGE event that day with St Jude. I hate to say no to anyone. Especially someone really needing help. All the sudden my brain switched to fix mode and asked her more details and low and behold it would actually work. So we ended up doing 2 events in one day for the first time. We worked the Amazing St Jude event then we cleaned up grabbed some gas station food on the way and made it to the wedding reception in WI just in time for when the guest were good and thirsty. This event we served really yummy signature drinks and the St Jude event was non alcoholic kegs. We had to get pretty crafty to pack the truck and trailer for both. It was a really LONG day but so worth it to be able to be their “hail Mary”. The Mother of the bride sent a message a few weeks later that said ” Everyone LOVED you guys, I cannot Thank you enough” ” 5 star highly recommend”. This was so meaningful to receive!

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 Abbi Wills and I am a Mobile Bar owner along with my Husband Adam Wills! Our business is run out of our home just north of the Twin Cities. Our Mobile bar trailer is just like and Ice Castle (Ice fishing house) but the front half is the bar we serve out of and the back is a lounge. The trailer opens from both sides and the back for guest to get their drinks. We had the idea to create this business but when we did we knew we wanted to be different. Most mobile bars are made out of horse trailers, vintage campers or Air Streams. As we were setting up our business and seeking out to see who could help us build the trailer we were deciding on the company name. After much debate with our 2 kids we settled on The Minnesocial. At that point we decided to go all in on the MN theme and in true Minnesota fashion an Ice house seemed rather fitting,

The way that it works is you pick a package that fits for your event, we have a beverage and event consultation, we come to your event location, you provide the alcohol, and we bartend for the duration of your event.

We do events like:
Weddings
Corporate Parties
Graduations
Milestone Birthdays
Employee appreciation
Wedding/Baby Showers
End of year Sports parties
Really any reason to party!

We can serve just beer and wine or signature drinks with fancy garnish! We can also do a Bloody Mary/Mimosa Bar or even just a Sweet Treat bar with Root Beer floats or Ice Cream Sundaes! We truly listen to our client and help them make their event a success.

The Minnesocial is a family business, we include our kids Lyla (15) and Marshall (12) in every aspect. They are learning and growing along with us. At many event’s you finds at least 2 of us behind the bar! Of course the kids only help serve non alcoholic items. We truly have a blast at each and every event it is so much fun to celebrate with our clients!

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

When Adam kept saying I know this can be a business’, I know this can be a business I said well lets figure it out!! So I started in any and all research I could find. My first stop was the State Of MN to find out the Liquor License piece, I was told there NO you cannot do this. I thought to myself…is that a challenge? So I then called our Lawyer that we have for our other business yes we have 2 business’! Crazy huh? Anyways the lawyer did a ton of research and showed me all the laws and things that can and cannot be done. In the end we found that we could not get a Liquor License with out a brick and moarder. Well we didn’t want that so what could we do? Well we can serve to private parties, where they purchase the alcohol and we bring the trailer, the bartenders, and any and all items they would like along with their drinks. We often bring soda, garnish, and mixers to accompany their alcohol of choice.

If I would have just listened to the fist guy at the State of Minnesota we would never have created The Minnesocial. I persevered didn’t take know for an answers. I pivoted to a different way then we originally thought we could run the business but made it happen. In my research i also found a really amazing mobile bar community where I have learned so much from them. This community for the most part views you as community not competition. This business model is working really great and the client doesn’t get upcharged for the alcohol. It truly is a win win!

What’s been the most effective strategy for growing your clientele?

So far we have found the best way of growing our clientele is, in person networking. Any time we can get out there and show off our awesome bar is when we get the most return. Social media is great however for this industry you have to get out there and get your name out there.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.theminnesocialbar.com
• Instagram: theminnesocial
• Facebook: the minnesocial

Image Credits
Jeannine Marie Photo