Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Madeline Ott. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Hi Madeline, thanks for joining us today. Alright, so you had your idea and then what happened? Can you walk us through the story of how you went from just an idea to executing on the idea

Just like many great bars + restaurants our concept started around our kitchen table after a night of service. The bones were there and development came next. Luckily we have a handful of great mentors around us to ask questions. The hardest step (I imagine for many entrepreneurs) was finding financing. Luckily there are so many resources out there for start ups + business owners. It took a lot of “no’s” and long nights up to creatively problem solve this issue. While I won’t get into the inner workings of our financing journey I will say, ask questions + don’t give up. There is a way, and it will show itself.

It took about 2 years to get our doors open. I often look back at those 2 years and feel really proud because it was NOT easy and at many times you think “how am I going to do this?”.

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

I’ve been working in hospitality since I was 15, not seriously considering it until I was 21. Food + hospitality has been at the center of my life as well as my husbands since we were kids. Like many others some of our fondest memories are around the kitchen table with loved ones. My grandmas house was a gathering place for my family and a plentiful meal was always the center of it. I think of peal + eat shrimps, dance parties, seeing old friends + making new ones when I think of her home.

I’ve always had a foot in hospitality, specifically restaurants, as a means to make money. As my love for food + gathering with community began to grow I began to consider it as a career. Living in Los Angeles we were lucky enough to be next to Silver Lake Wine where we found natural wines. From there everything changed. We moved to Nashville and I began working at Lou who has an amazing natural wine program. We (my husband and I) became hooked. From there we began learning as much as we could. After moving back to Virginia where we were working at a friends restaurant we decided it was time to do it for ourselves + began working on Late Air. Here we are, 7 months open!

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

Once we landed on a name for our business we immediately started our Instagram. It was a place for us to get our branding out there + start gathering a following. We did pop ups for 9 months before we opened so we would post regularly about upcoming events. I really credit this + instagram for giving us a great base following before we opened. It gave the community a chance to get to know + learn more about us + our business.

*side note*
One thing we know as a business is who we are + what we are good at. Since opening we’ve never swayed from our intentions just grown them. I think this strong sense of self is what can attract your guest/audience and create trust.

Do you have any insights you can share related to maintaining high team morale?

The restaurant industry can have a bad rep when it comes to business/employee relationships. This is something we thought hard about and implemented into our business plan to make sure employee happiness was at the forefront of what we do. We looked at our experiences + businesses we admired to piece together our ethos for our work environment.

First + foremost spend time in your interview process. Get to know a potential employee, their goals + skills as well as let them know about the business + team/work mentality that your business embodies. Not only should they be a good fit for the business but the business be a good fit for them.

Check in often with your team + make sure they have the tools they need to succeed. Education is something we value so we spend time with our team hosting wine meetings + tastings.

Be available to listen to your team + for feedback!

Contact Info:

• Website: www.lateairwine.com
• Instagram: @lateairwine