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

Daryl, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. So, one thing many business owners consider is donating a percentage of sales or profits to an organization or cause. We’d love to hear your thoughts and the story behind how and why you chose the cause or organization you donate to.

I donate a portion of sales to the Boys and Girls Clubs of America. Notable Benton Harbor, Kalamazoo and Grand Rapids. All in Michigan

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

SDB

Our event SDB started in 2010. My wife Debra and I got our basement renovated, with a wet bar built in it. I live in Grand Rapids, but I’m from Benton Harbor and kalamazoo. So I decided to invite my friends and family to our home for my birthday. We decided to have everyone bring a spirit to STOCK OUR BAR with and we would provide the food and entertainment. It was a good turn out of 30-40 family and friends. We did this each year.

2013 we had over 150 people at our home. People came from Atalanta, Texas, Carolina, etc. My wife and I decided to wear t shirts that said MR. & MRS. Stock Da Bar on them. Crowd was too large for our home.

So the next year, 2014 a friend of ours, Josh Ross, who also built our basement and bar, allowed us to have it at his home, outdoors. We decided to sell t shirts that said Stock Da Bar 2014 on them. We sold over a 100 t shirts. What I didn’t know is that they would wear the t shirts to the event, which they did. It was amazing, we had over 300 people at this event from all over the country.

2015 we decided it was time to rent a venue. Once we secured a place to have Stock Da Bar 2015, we decided to charge $5 and bring a spirit. And proceeds will go to a cancer research organization. That was the start of our philanthropy and giving back. We got a committee together. We had a DJ, a catering company from Indianapolis, A taste of home catering, Tony and Juanita Coleman. They said “Working together Works”. We were able to donate funds to Western Michigan University/Stryker Fund.

2016 we also rented a venue. This year we offered sponsorship packages to friends and family who have small businesses. We included their logo on all t-shirts sold, all social media outlets, etc. At this point we decided to focus our philanthropy efforts to go towards The Boys & Girls Clubs of America, but specifically the clubs in Benton Harbor, Kalamazoo and Grand Rapids. Three of the cities that I have called home. I picked the clubs because I grew up sending a substantial amount of time at the clubs, which kept me off the streets. Also for what the clubs provide, such as, to support educational tutoring, college tours and visits, education on financial aid assistance, and other educational services. My wife always donated to St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital, so we decided to include them in our donation efforts.
2017 and 2018 we gained more momentum as far as getting more sponsors and donations.

2019 was the 10th year of Stock Da Bar. So we labeled the event the (X) year. We now had a V.I.P area. With your ticket purchase included, the best DJ in Grand Rapids, PJ DA DJ, as well as a live Band. We had a free Photo Booth, provided by Hot-Shots. Again, catering by J&J A taste of home catering. Performance by Queens of J dance group. Free drinks, raffles, giveaways, etc.

2019 we had over 350 in attendance from all over the country. It was our most successful year and event. We were able to make out most donations that we ever could.

So with 2020 event coming up, and transitioning SDB to “Pieces of Reece’s” non-profit we will be able to improve the quality of life for the youth of West Michigan by providing resources that will meet the needs of the impoverished and underserved.
Through a partnership with the Boys and Girls, We have and will continue to provide donations to support educational tutoring, college tours and visits, education on financial aid assistance, and other educational services. A data collect process will be maintained by the Boys and Girls Club to substantiate the use of the donations.

In February 2019 we began working with Michigrain Distillery, located in Lansing, MI, to develop a premium vodka that would be superior in quality and taste. From this effort, Stock da Bar® Vodka: a premium vodka made from red winter wheat, was created.

Stock da Bar® Vodka was released on December 1, 2019. It is distributed by Republic National Distributing Company. Since the release of Stock Da’ Bar Vodka in 2019, over 6,000 bottles have been sold.

Several tastings have been hosted by various venues. The response from customers has been overwhelmingly positive. Most frequent comments made were, ‘very smooth’ and ‘no bite.’ These tastings also resulted in customers purchasing Stock Da Bar® Vodka although it was not their intent prior to sampling our product.

Stock Da’ Bar Vodka is currently in over 250 Michigan stores, restaurants, and bars: These locations include select SpartanNash stores (D&W, Family Fares); close to 100 Meijer locations; all 6 Uccello’s, Marriott Hotels downtown Grand Rapids, all four Total Wine & More in Michigan. VanAndel Arena, Pyramid Scheme, Studio Park and several more.

My wife and I have supported various community organizations over the years. Giving back to our community is not an option. We remain committed to continuing our community support and we donate a portion of each bottle of Stock da Bar® Vodka to the Boys and Girls Clubs.

I would appreciate the opportunity to meet to share with you the story of Stock da Bar® Vodka: Our journey has been so much more than just creating a vodka product. In addition, I would also like to discuss the opportunity of having Stock da Bar® Vodka served at your establishment.

Stock da Bar® is MBE Certified. We have been featured on and in a few magazines and News:
*WoodTV/Eightwest
*The Grand Rapids Magazine
*The Grand Rapids Times
*Authority Magazine
*Voayage Michigan Magazine, and several more.

I was recently awarded the Milo Brown 39th Giant Award.

I appreciate you taking your time out of your day.

I am available to meet with you, in-person or via a call, on Mondays or Tuesdays. If this is not convenient for your schedule, please reply to this email to  let me know when a better option is.
I am looking forward to our meeting.
Regards,

Daryl Reece
Stock Da Bar Vodka

Cell: 616-262-8902
Email: daryl@stockdabar.com
www.stockdabar.com

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

Daryl Reece, the owner, and Founder of Stock Da Bar Premium vodka didn’t just have a vision to produce a smooth-tasting premium
vodka. He knew his vodka needed a soul, depth. After uploading a few
videos to You Tube focusing on Michigan-made spirits, he tagged Michi
grain Distillery. He reached out to Mike Bird and that is when the concept
of SD Premium Vodka happened. Of course, there was some hesitancy
because who really has their own spirit? Let us just say, the next 10 months
proved that I could! With top of line, locally harvested ingredients and
Michigan Red winter wheat we were able to produce Stock Da Bar vodka in the
fall of 2019 In Darryl’s current hometown of Grand Rapids, MI. It has been well
received and can be found at multiple locations throughout West Michigan.

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

ovageMichigan Throughout this process, our “ah ha” moment that lead to the creation of our beverage brand, was when I
started creating videos of the event and in our community, introducing people that looked like me or came
from the type of environment I come from. There was no one who looked like me that owned a liquor
company. As I looked at all the bottles that were brought to stock the bar. I also realized that we did not
have any representation of a spirit brand that was started in our community or built by and for our
community. I wanted to change that. And, I am happy that I did.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.stockdabar.com
• Instagram: @stockdabarvodka
• Facebook: @stockdabarvodka-Daryl Reece
• Linkedin: @stockdabar
• Twitter: @stockdabarvodka
• Youtube: MrstockdabarTV

Image Credits
Blakthor Photography