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

Hi Marcelle, thanks for joining us today. One of the toughest things about entrepreneurship is that there is almost always unexpected problems that come up – problems that you often can’t read about in advance, can’t prepare for, etc. Have you had such and experience and if so, can you tell us the story of one of those unexpected problems you’ve encountered?

My business faced the pandemic unexpectedly. It started as a side business back in November 2016. By February 2020, I left my federal government job to pursue events full time because there were so many signs that we were ready for that leap. Three weeks later, everything shut down due to the pandemic. Events canceled left and right, and we gave full refunds to clients (even though the contracts only allowed 50% refunds). But our morals and ethics forced us to give back every penny we could. We started delivering wine & spirits from online orders out of a Honda Accord. We didn’t get funded during that time. We were seriously boot strapped and we were on a tight budget. Life got really hard, really fast.

Marcelle, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I got into bartending back in October 2012 when I signed up for a class on a Living Social deal. I can’t believe it’s been 10 years! I wanted to learn how to make cocktails. There was a sense of sexiness I saw in bartenders. Maybe it was the movie “Honey” with Jessica Alba. But I loved the idea of learning how to bartend. When I started the business, the idea came to me when a friend of mine needed a bartender for his grandmother’s 75th birthday party. I found him a bartender within 30 minutes of getting the inquiry. Of course, I didn’t get paid from it. But it gave me that idea of doing bar staffing. We have since gotten our catering license with liquor license in DC. We are the one stop shop for an amazing Happy Hour with food, staffing and a portable bar with supplies & alcohol.

I am so proud that we are the go-to Happy Hour company for Google DC. I want clients to know that we are easy to work with. We care about their event going well and we put our hearts into what we do. When you book us for an event, we are so honored that you made us a part of your special day.

When a host puts together an event, it gets really hard to do all the entertaining. So we take the pressure off by handling, food service, beverages, staffing and bar equipment. We want YOU to enjoy yourself at your own event. Enjoy your friends and family without having the stress of doing all the work on your own.

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

When the pandemic canceled our events and shut down the world, we did wine & spirit delivery from my Honda Accord, lol. We didn’t have a food budget for 13 months. So when we got booked for a catering job, it allowed us to eat real food. We still laugh about it. But it was really hard at the time. My daugher was in high school and had a really tough time with it. At the time, it was no laughing matter. But now, we look back wondering, how the heck we got through it.

Can you open up about a time when you had a really close call with the business?

I miss payroll all the time. I just simply forget because of all the moving parts of business. Right now, we are short of staff. I simply apologize to my employees and let them know that it’s coming in a few days. I often offer them a bottle of wine to take home after events. I recently partnered with Portera Rehabilitation to offer them free massage services, body stretch, and other physical wellness services. It’s so important to stay healthy and I want the employees to take care of themselves so that they can take care of our clients. Our clients are important. But without our employees, we wouldn’t have a business. I appreciate all of our staff for their patience and flexibility. I try to offer them all I can. Without our staff, we would be nothing. Without our clients, we would be even less. I’m truly grateful for them all.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.winekeyexperience.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/WineKeyExperience
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/WineKeyExperience
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marcellefolk/