We recently connected with Cris Reid and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Cris thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Too often the media represents innovation as something magical that only high-flying tech billionaires and upstarts engage in – but the truth is almost every business owner has to regularly innovate in small and big ways in order for their businesses to survive and thrive. Can you share a story that highlights something innovative you’ve done over the course of your career?

The most innovative thing that I have done was create Cigar Society. Since my first cigar, and many thereafter, I was always the one who would go to different venues, and lounges, etc and notice my surroundings. Whether it was the energy, the decor, the demographics, the food, the cigars, the drinks. You name it I noticed it! It came to a point where I started picking apart reasons as to why lounges don’t feature this or have that. I made it my best interest to step outside the box and create a company that brings you custom options for all that you desire during your event regarding cigars.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

Hello all! Thank you for reading and I hope my message inspires you! My name is Cris Reid, the owner and founder of Cigar Society. I was born in Brooklyn but have lived in Atlanta for many years and received my Bachelors from Grambling State University.

I started my business from a hobby of enjoying a good cigar around joyous people. Cigars are a social delicacy and are usually enjoyed best in the company of others but can also be enjoyed by yourself. I created Cigar Society as a mobile cigar lounge where clients can book a cigar aficionado to entertain and educate their guest for any particular event. With this booking clients are able to choose custom packages for their event. Everything from the duration of the event to the cigar layout and pairings can be customized. We specialize in bringing the ambience and culture of cigars to your personal event! We have expert knowledge in flavors and notes, we provide premium cigars by your request or use our preferred recommendations. We customize your options based on the size and length of your event to ensure you have a superior smoking experience.

I am most proud of the name and reputation that has been built within Cigar Society. It is hard to find good help! But for all those that have assisted me in this journey at ANY time since the ‘pen and paper’ days, I cannot thank you all enough. The good, bad, and ugly you all saw my vision and helped exhibit that in all aspects of the business. It is because of the team that Cigar Society stands as a respectable, integral, trustworthy company. It humbles me to see repeat customers from different events and they are EXCITED to see Cigar Society. Seeing the logo or hearing the name to some warms our customers with trust and inclusivity.

We have goals of extending our services in many ways without sacrificing quality or integrity. With the strong support of the team I have in place and the overflowing support we have from our clients, I know we will accomplish these goals and many more!

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

The pandemic was a very sink or swim year. I just finished one of my most profitable year in 2019 and proved to myself that this business is legit. I proved “proof of concept” saying that on paper this can be done, also there have been a few companies that I inspired to start there own mobile cigar lounge. Seeing others follow was not insulting or sad, if anything it gave me great confidence into the next year. As you know the world shutdown and my main stream of revenue was from events and festivals. The pandemic made me ‘swim’! I had to come up with a creative way to still bring in revenue without having the option to participate at events in the public. What I decided is that I will create a cigar delivery service! In doing so I knew that all my competition (cigar lounges) were shut down. I knew that people can only order cigars online, and when they did they can only purchase cigars by the box which would typically cost between $150-$250. I took advantage of this opportunity to have the option for my clients to select different cigar packages for a flat rate and promise 24-48hr delivery. It was the most liberating pivot I have experienced. Not only was I able to continue earning revenue but my client rapport went through the roof and I knew I was making connections for a lifetime.

We’d love to hear about how you keep in touch with clients.

As cliche as it sounds “When you can’t beat them, join them!” I use this cliche to say, you don’t have to reinvent the wheel. At the end of the day we are all consumers. Think about what works for you as a consumer, if ‘you’ are your ideal target market then use what works on ‘you’ that to attract and engage in the demographics that you seek to gain. If as a consumer you are your demographic and SMS marketing works for you use that same method to gain and engage in the same demographic you are trying to attract.

Contact Info:

• Website: cigarsocietyatl.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cigarsociety_atl/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cigarsocietycs
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCevTFHxn4joPOogEe6rJ05A

Image Credits
Danny Brewster – @1photocasso on IG