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

Lisa , appreciate you joining us today. What’s been the best thing you’ve ever seen (or done yourself) to show a customer that you appreciate them?

There are so many life occasions/celebration memories I recall, of customers giving a thoughtful gift of Bootleg Bourbon Balls. From birthdays/weddings, new parents, retirement, thinking of you, loss of a beloved family dog, a “thank you for your service,” to a uniformed service member returning home from a deployment, a police officer/firefighter team who called on a elderly mother who had fallen, and a friend going through a difficult divorce. However, there is one memory which left an indelible impression on my mind and heart. A friend of a family, who were grieving, at the loss of their father in a MVA sent boxes of bourbon balls and requested this handwritten, gift message to be tucked inside the boxes – “As you come together to celebrate the life of this very special man, may these boozy chocolates ‘lift your spirits’ in joy to honor his life, his love and his presence. in your lives”

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

After I retired from my first passion as a women’s health nurse practiioner, I rekindled my second passion … continuing the family tradition of making handcrafted bourbon balls not only for family and friends to enjoy, but for all to enjoy and celebrate life’s mileston or everyday occasions!!!! Bourbon Balls: Those famously naughty holiday treats made by Grandmas everywhere, nearly forgotten, but now they’re back, still naughty – and so nice! The fact they were forbidden to me as a child only made me more determined to hunt them down and indulge. Well, I’m a big girl now and I still get a smile on my face every time I eat one.

A bit about our balls. Bootleg Bourbon Balls are handcrafted in small batches using a variety of local and regional distilled spirits, and we have also pledged our commitment to use as many locally sourced ingredients as we can. Native, Missouri pecans are the main nut used in our recipes and roasting them enhances the fragrant nut flavor which sets our bourbon balls apart from others. We use couveture chocolate from France which lends to the creamy “melt in your mouth” experience you’ll get with each bite. The Bootleggers only wish they’d thought of concealing booze so deliciously. Well, these aren’t your Grandma’s bourbon balls – and this isn’t your Grandpa’s bourbon! Invoking the “spirits” of our ancestors, I’m delighted to share my twist of these traditional treats with you. Whether they bring back fond memories or create brand new ones, they’ll leave you with a mischievous smile.

Uniquely different! Bootleg Bourbon Balls is a Kansas City-based, online retail store specializing in handcrafted boozy chocolates balls (aka truffles), infused with bourbon, whiskey, rum, vodka, and liqueurs from local and regional distilleries. As we build our reputation as a “Kansas City Bourbon Ball,” we continue to hold to the commitment of suppporting our communities’ small businesses and distilleries, which provide many of the local ingredients, spirits and liqueurs used in our recipes.

Whether you are a local or an out of town visitor, wishing to give or take home a unique chocolate treat, made in Kansas City, Bootleg Bourbon Balls delivers on the experience! Handcrafted chocolates show thoughtfulness. Besides a delicious tasting bourbon ball, we believe small, personal details are important and no matter what you are celebrating, each gift box of Bootleg Bourbon Balls will include a personalized, handwritten greeting tucked inside to make it extra special and a candle for birthday celebrations!

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

Resilience – The process and outcome of successfully adatping to difficult or challenging life experinces. Over the past 2-1/2 years of the COVID-19 pandemic, many small business owners, myself included, have had to master the fine art of adaptation, pivots and changes in order to stay afloat. Our survival as a small business owner, was in large part due to the fact we were able to continue operating digitally. Our store is online. We have never had a storefront (brick and mortar) and all our production occurs from a commercial kitchen, so we were able to continue production without interruption, while bringing in consistent orders, especially during the ‘stay-at-home’ order, when online shopping surged, especially over the holidays. However, shipping became a logistical nightmare, especially for us since our product is perishable and time sensitive. For the first time, we offered free delivery for our customers, for a limited time.

With the ongoing COVID-19 cases, as well as many other factors, we have had to contend with disruption of supply chain issues, ever increasing costs of goods and making the hard decsion to adjust prices, while creating new product offerings. For financial heatlh of the business, critical evaluation all costs and updated price sheets to reflect increasing raw material and paper packaging product price hikes, as well as delivery and fuel surcharges has been imperative.

We are still here and the biggest kudos goes to our customers who have made the conscious effort to support and buy local from small businesses like us. We are more than grateful for their trust in our commitment to offer a personalized ‘customer first’ service, as well as handcrafting a high-end, quality product – For this, we have been able to build customer loyality and an ever increasing following.

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

I really feel like I incorporated the idea of resiliency and the need to pivot in business in the paragraphs above.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://bootlegbourbonballs.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bootlegbourbonballs/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bootlegbourbonballs
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lisarfitch

Image Credits
SarahJane Hunt Alyssa Broadus Morgan Jane Photography