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

Hi Monica, thanks for joining us today. undefined

We’ve started a subscription program for our spirits and canned cocktails! Many wineries I noticed had “clubs” where customers would pick up a case of wine every month or every quarter. I didn’t notice many distilleries doing it but now we’ve been successfully running club programs for 8 years now. We have amazingly fantastic members who are supportive of our business and who champion Tenth Ward. It allows our staff to be creative with fun and exclusive flavors and it’s a nice way to have a consistent flow of sales as opposed to relying on a rainy weekend for revenue for example.

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

Monica started her career spending 8 years working in the conservation biology field. She received an undergraduate degree in Environmental Science and Policy from the University of Maryland, College Park and an Executive Master’s in Natural Resources from Virginia Tech. Additionally Monica has over 25 years experience in the service and hospitality industry and 15 plus years experience with marketing, branding and strategic planning.

Monica eventually moved back to her hometown of Frederick, MD where she founded Tenth Ward Distilling Company in July of 2016. She has grown the business from a tasting room and distillery at 1600 square feet and virtually no employees to an expanded cocktail bar and tasting room, private event venue and production facility with a combined square footage of 20,000. Since having started the business, Monica served as the VP on the board of the Maryland Distillers Guild, is a member of the Frederick Tourism Council Board of Directors, is a graduated fellow from the James Beard Foundation’s Women’s Leadership Program and was recognized as Frederick County’s top 50 under 40 entrepreneurs.

We are Tenth Ward Distilling Company. We are proud to be a woman-owned distillery. Located in what used to be the Tenth Ward of downtown Frederick, Maryland and specializing in a variety of spirits and canned cocktails. Everything we make is non-traditional and unconventional, which is why we live fearlessly by our slogan – #wardoffordinary.

How did you build your audience on social media?

As a small business in a bustling community, we have learned over time that despite our exponential growth, our most supportive hub is here in our home town. We built the base of our social media presence organically, through grass roots followers and via in person interactions. Reaching a follower online has gotten more difficult every day so we remind ourselves that those who really care the most are still in our back yard.

Does your business have multiple or supplementary revenue streams (like a ATM machine at a barbershop, etc)?

We do have multiple revenue streams! Our departmental breakdown includes the following – 1) wholesale, 2) retail, 3) private event rentals. The private event rentals are almost treated as a second business. Our front of house space that houses our cocktail bar and tasting room luckily has the extra rooms to host weddings, showers, non-profit events, corporate parties, etc. It brings people in the door to our cocktail bar as well. We can further break down the revenue stream from retail mentioned above into 1) subscription clubs, 2) offsite (farmers markets, festivals), 3) cocktail bar and tasting room. While some operate in tandem with others, we try to keep our operational tasks simple and targeted so as not to make running these different programs too complicated.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.tenthwarddistilling.com
• Instagram: @tenthwardco @tenthwardweddings @monica_pearce_
• Facebook: @tenthwardco
• Linkedin: I think I’m searchable on linked in?
• Youtube: @tenthwardco
• Yelp: @tenthwardco