We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Brooke Hester. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Brooke below.
Brooke, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Let’s start on the operational side – do you spend more of your time/focus/energy on growing revenue or cutting costs?
I think they both matter. Costs should be efficient – it’s important to know what is necessary versus what is “nice to have”. I have a forward looking plan for costs/spending over the years and although there are costs that you must spend to support your revenue-building, I want to see that taper off as a percentage of spend. (Or become more efficient!)
Our revenue growth is determined by many factors, including the ability to produce wines at least two years in advance of the need. I spend quite a bit of time planning that full circle from grape to bottle to customer. Harvest only happens one time a year so we rely on our forecasts to drive what we can produce. And then work hard to make sure we have the demand for the product!
Brooke, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
My husband, Randy, was itching to be involved in the winemaking process and wanted to change his career path—he was working in wine sales and I was working as a financial analyst at Reliant Energy in Houston. In 2006, after being married a year and after many long talks (over wine), we decided to leave Houston behind and make our way to Napa Valley. We set a 10-year goal to learn as much as possible from the best mentors we could find, so we could later move back to our home state and transfer our knowledge to the Texas wine industry.
Over the years, the 10-year plan shifted and reshaped, as plans often do, but our focus never wavered. In 2014, we made our first Texas wine under the C.L. Butaud label, an homage to Randy’s great grandfather Clet Louis Butaud. The plan was always to get back to Texas, and in 2017 we relocated to Austin permanently.
When developing our Texas wine label, we decided to approach it differently from many other wineries in Texas. Through my work at Patz & Hall Winery (Sonoma, CA), we learned the business model of finding and sourcing fruit from expert growers, and how to share a winery space so that we can work toward investing in our own space and equipment.
Our philosophy is simple: create high-quality wine that proudly utilizes 100-percent Texas-grown grapes to highlight the State’s unique terroir, combined with expert, low intervention style winemaking.
We spent 11 years training and learning in Napa Valley, a very competitive and established wine region, which was a challenge, but it also gave us a valuable perspective—from winemaking to wine business—on the industry. Take that experience, mix in some great stories and our love for Texas, and you get some delicious wine!
Do you have any insights you can share related to maintaining high team morale?
When managing a team, I focus on two things. One, treat my team how I want to be treated. And two, be able to do every job that I ask someone else to do. As simple as this is, I believe it maintains employee morale and it fosters loyalty to the company/role/brand.
I feel it’s important to manage from the trenches and not just point and boss. When providing feedback to my team, it’s important to explain the “why” behind my ask so they can take the information, understand the thought process, and be more proactive and efficient in the future. Leading with thoughtfulness, flexibility and kindness has helped me create successful and happy teams.
What else should we know about how you took your side hustle and scaled it up into what it is today?
I still maintain my side hustle!
For the last twelve years, I have had a full time job in Finance in the beverage industry while also running the wine businesses I own with my husband. When we started our first brand in 2011, it was necessary for me to have an outside job. We built our business with our own savings and no investors and we had to pay the bills too.
As my career grew, my responsibilities with our wine business also expanded. I learned to be efficient with my work, prioritize tasks and work effectively. Randy and I work with a fabulous team at the winery and in our tasting room and the support they provide allows me to continue my success in my career as CFO of Garrison Brothers Distillery.
Contact Info:
- Website: clbutaud.com
- Instagram: @clbutaud
- Facebook: @clbutaud
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brooke-hester-1504022/