We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Caroline Pennington a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Caroline, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Let’s start with the story of your mission. What should we know?

In 2018, my husband and I were traveling for our anniversary. I ordered a glass of rose’ by the pool and it was served to me in a small plastic cup. I thought to myself……..there has got to be a better way to enjoy your wine! When we returned, I searched the internet trying to find a solution. I wanted to find something that would keep the wine cold and also safely resemble a wine glass to drink outdoors. That is when the idea for ChilledVino* was born.

I wanted to create something that people could enjoy their wine in an outdoor setting, and also not feel pressured to drink as fast as possible. We created a chilled wine glass that is specifically designed to keep your drink as cold as possible for longer whether you are indoors or outside by the water.

Our chilled drinkware is BPA free, and we only use packaging that can be recycled. To learn more about our products and how they can keep wine cool, please feel free to connect with us! Our products are perfect for the beach, as a bachelorette gift, or however you want to enjoy wine. Cheers!

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

The idea for ChilledVino came about in 2018 and the actual product was made to life and launched in 2021. The process of designing a product, finding a manufacturer and selling it to a community full of wine lovers all during the pandemic was one the hardest things I’ve ever done and I wouldn’t change a thing. It was important to me to find a plastic that was BPA free and also would be clear to resemble an actual wine glass. I wanted the product to be outdoor friendly and I also wanted to make sure the product would perform and keep your beverage cold. Using packaging that could be recycled was also super important to me too.

I created this product to provide a solution for my fellow wine drinkers that like to drink wine outdoors, but don’t like to feel like they have to chug their wine or cocktails. It will keep your beverage cold for up to an hour. No more warm wine. ChilledVino holds up to 8 ounces. Just place in your freezer upside down for 4 hours and VIOLA! Take out and enjoy!

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

ChilledVino was brought to life during the pandemic! The worst time ever to launch a product. In 2020 I finally identified a manufacturer, which was a hard task. I called on hundreds of manufacturers before finding one that decided to take a chance on me. That was a long and arduous process. I knew ChilledVino was a great idea, but I couldn’t get it out to the world without having a manufacturing partner.

So after we found a manufacturing partner, then we went through the process of starting to ship inventory. And this was in the height of the pandemic when shipping rates were through the roof. So not only did I pay premium pricing, but everything was delayed on delayed.

Finally, I received a small amount of inventory and was able to launch ChilledVino in July 2021. This was mostly to friends and family. Since then, ChilledVino is now on Amazon and in the hands of thousands of happy customers!

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

One lesson I’ve had to learn as an entrepreneur is learning when to pivot and learning when to outsource.

On pivioting: If something isn’t working…. time to make a change. One example here, I hired a marketing company to help with my website, social media and overall branding. After meeting after meeting, I finally decided to terminiate my contract with them. They were not getting my vibe and listening to who exacty my audience was at the time. It was an expensive decision to pivot and start over with another marketing firm. Basically starting from scratch on the marketing front, but well worth it.

On outsourcing: I’ve learned over the past couple of years what I am strong at and what I need to outsource. For example, in the beginning I was doing all of ChilledVino’s accounting. I was solo party of one, so I had to figure it out. I ended up creating a mess of the books, so now I outsource accounting to a CPA firm. It does come with a cost, but my time is better well spent doing other things for the company like marketing and customer service.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://chilledvino.com/
• Instagram: @chilledvino
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thechilledvino
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/chilledvino/?viewAsMember=true