We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Adam Acevedo . We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Adam below.

Adam , looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Alright, so you had your idea and then what happened? Can you walk us through the story of how you went from just an idea to executing on the idea

In my fourth year at USC Upstate I came up with the idea of starting Summit. I found there was a lack of accessibility for event bar catering services in the Upstate area of South Carolina, I decided it would be a good idea to throw my hat into the industry and start this company. A bar service company that provides a turnkey bar catering service to people throughout the Upstate of South Carolina. Having a lack of knowledge on how to start a business in the event industry I began doing research and making my plan to start this business. I came up with a pricing model for the service and launched a website for the company (Summitbartending.com). Three months into 2019, we were open and ready to start booking events. Once we had established an online presence it was time to figure out the most important part of starting a business which was how to get people to find us and start making money. From there I began to build relationships with venues throughout the twenty-three counties in the Upstate of South Carolina. The first year was difficult because there was a period between meeting and partnering with the venue owners and our marketing material going through their funnel to get the client to inquire about our service. Eventually with time we started booking events. The idea from the beginning was to scale this business to where do not become overbooked so we can service ten events in the same day being able to allow our clients to have access to us was a very important strategy in the beginning stages and I have built the company based around that idea servicing 150-200 events per year and partnered with over 50 venues throughout the Upstate of South Carolina.

Adam , before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

Summit Bartending is an event bar catering company that services events throughout the Upstate of South Carolina. We are a service that provides our clients with limitless options on their events bar catering experience. We have a variety of packages that we offer that can be customized to fit anyone’s budget. From small weddings to large corporate events, we do it all! Whether is just staffing bartenders for your event or providing both alcohol and bartenders. We have something for every person and every budget! The problem that we solve for our clients is providing them with the knowledge and experience needed to provide a correct bar for their event. Most people do not get married or plan events every day, so we are there to help guide them through that process while helping them save money and time. Being convenient and accessible to our clients is one of the core values that we have at Summit which I believe has allowed our company to scale and grow throughout these past few years since we opened our doors in 2019. The main thing that we want our clients to know is that we are there to make sure their event is done correctly with amazing customer service and stress-free experience so they can focus on planning other areas of their event and having one less thing to worry about when they pick us to provide the alcohol for their event.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

Starting this business in 2019 was a challenge in itself but going into 2020 we had to face Covid-19 which looking back was a struggle in itself, but we managed to get through it. The key point where I noticed a pivot in the business was when the business model that I came up with in 2019 started to come to fruition in 2021 when the world opened back up and we had 150 events on our twelve-month calendar year. At that point the business had been built and it was time to start acting like a business owner rather than the founder. It was a big change in pace for the company having up to 10 events in a given week all at the same time on the same day in 10 different places throughout the Upstate. So, I had to make new hires and come up with a new plan to handle how much the business was scaling and the year had its ups and downs, but we made it through all 150 events and it really did prepare us for the same result this year. But being able to see the business come from something that was an idea I had in college to servicing 150 events in one year was a pretty great feeling and I was excited to take on that task.

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

The most effective strategy for growing our clientele was honestly doing events. We would have 5-10 events per weekend, and it seemed that we would book more events once people saw our production, product, and quality of service. With that came more business. But we would not have reached that point if we did not spend the first year driving to hundreds of venues and meeting with those venue owners to give our marketing material to clients that were booking their venue for their events. Once we had reached a good number of venues referring our business, the clients started coming in. Four years later we have over 50 venues throughout 23 counties in the upstate of South Carolina. That plan has been one of the key components to making our clientele number what it is today.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.summitbartending.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/summitbartending/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SummitBartendingSC
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/summit-bartending/