Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Nicole Tatum. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Nicole, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Taking care of customers isn’t just good business – it is often one of the main reasons folks went into business in the first place. So, we’d love to get a conversation going around how to best help clients feel appreciated – maybe you can share something you’ve done or seen someone do that’s been really effective at helping a customer feel valued?
We are a small family owned business so it’s extremely important to us that we make our customers feel like an extension of our family. With that being said, we try to go above and beyond to create a relationship with our customers, especially those who have become members of our wine club. We are in a second home area and many people come here post retirement not knowing other people in town. I find a commonality between patrons and use that to introduce them to each other. Over the years I have witnessed so many new friendships blossom through these introductions. I get to know our customers on a personal level as well which allows me to wish them happy birthday, get to know their children or pets by name, ask them about upcoming trips or grandchildren being born, etc. More often than not this act turns into a friendship between myself and our guests. I’ve found that some of the people I’ve met through our tasting room have turned into some really great friends!
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
Grandfather Vineyard is a small family owned business located in the heart of the High Country in Western NC. We opened our doors to the public in the spring of 2011 and have been steadily growing our wine production, customer base and tasting room operations ever since. Our winery started as a second business venture for owners Steve & Sally Tatum who also own Tatum Galleries (a furniture and interior design firm) which is just a mile down the road. In 1999 a tract of land became available for purchase which was situated right behind their home, after purchasing the property Steve toyed with the idea of growing Christmas trees, but knowing how saturated that market was in our area coupled with his love for wine led him to plant grapevines instead of trees. Our first rounds of vines were planted in 2003 which is also the same year that their son, Dylan Tatum (my husband) graduated high school and decided to pursue a degree in Viticulture and Enology from nearby Surrey Community College. Post graduation he moved back to the High Country and was working as a local beer and wine distributor and enrolled in Appalachian State University eventually earning a degree in Business with a concentration in Entrepreneurship. Around this time, the Tatums decided that with Dylan’s background in winemaking and Steve’s passion for farming and vineyard keeping they would not only grow grapes but use them to make wine and open what is now the first producing winery in Watauga County, NC. For the first few years of operation we produced a few thousand cases of wine and dabbled in mostly dry whites and dry reds. Over the years, we have expanded our wine portfolio to include sparkling, dry, sweet and rose wine. In addition we have grown our case production to roughly 7000 cases per year and are on track to produce 10,000 cases per year by 2025. The High Country is a popular tourist destination both in the summer for all the outdoor activities our area offers and in the winter for skiing. We are located right off a main highway which helps drive traffic our way. We have the Watauga River running through our property and many customers enjoy grabbing wine flight and sitting along the riverbank. We also have a band stage and host live music Wednesday through Sunday from April to October and while we don’t have a restaurant on site we do bring many local food trucks Wednesday through Sunday as well. Our scenery coupled with our award winning wines and friendly team keeps customers coming back! I joined the GV team in 2014 and became a member of the Tatum family in 2017 and have enjoyed growing the business ever since! I manage our tasting room to include our wine club and events as well as all of our in house accounting (my degree is in accounting from the University of South Florida). I really enjoy using my background in accounting but also getting to know our customers and interact with them on a day to day basis. If you ever find yourself visiting the Boone or Banner Elk area of North Carolina we encourage you to stop by and pay us a visit- we would love to meet you!
Can you tell us the story behind how you met your business partner?
I grew up in Sarasota FL which is about an hour south of Tampa. My grandparents had a second home in Linville North Carolina which is roughly 20 minutes from Boone where Appalachian State University is located. Every summer I would visit my grandparents in the mountains and dream about eventually moving to the area. Life seems slower and more intentional here, safe, and people are genuinely kind. I knew this is where I wanted to plant roots one day, I just didn’t necessarily know how to get from point A to point B. The summer after I graduated college I was visiting my grandparents and decided that I would go on Craigslist (this was 2014) and apply for some jobs in the area. I received a call from a local Interior Design firm that was looking for someone who could help with their accounting (not to be confused with the interior design firm that my in-laws own). I interviewed with them while on vacation visiting my grandparents and immediately left the interview and toured an apartment complex nearby. The apartment complex said if I signed a lease that day they would cover my first month’s rent. I decided why not and signed a lease! I left the apartment complex with my fingers crossed that I would get the job offer and met my family at the Mast General Store and told them I was moving to Boone! A week later I got a second interview and was then offered the job. I packed up my one bedroom apartment and moved 600 miles away from home and everything I ever knew to a place where the only people I knew were my grandparents. After four days of living in the area I met my now husband. He and his parents started the winery in 2011 and they asked me to help out on the weekends in the fall of 2014 and I came on full time in the fall of 2015. My husband and I have been working together ever since and it’s incredibly rewarding to work towards the same vision and see how far we’ve already come and continue to bring to fruition all the goals we have planned for the future.
How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?
I think the definition of a small business is pivot, pivot, pivot! In fact, it’s actually one of my favorite words because if you can train your brain to think of things that don’t necessarily go your way as just a pivot from your original goal it’s easier to either be okay with the end result or at least to not be discouraged! There have been many days when I (or my husband) have a list as long as our arm of things we need to get done, but then a piece of machinery breaks down, or the point of sale system crashes, or you get stuck on the phone with tech support, etc (or even multiple things breakdown all at once- this has happened more times than you think) and suddenly your whole day is taken up by just fixing things so you can get to the same place as when you started the day (which by the way that long list of things to do just doubled since you couldn’t tackle anything off your original list). I’ve had after hours events for our wine club where a vendor didn’t show up or things just didn’t go according to plan and in the early years of our business I would let these “pivots” really get to me. Over the years, I’ve learned that at the end of the day most of the time customers aren’t even aware that the event didn’t go directly as planned or that you forgot to pour a wine or someone couldn’t make it due to an emergency. What people remember are the little things, like the fact that you asked about their daughter’s wedding coming up, or that the weather was absolutely beautiful and the band played their favorite song, etc. Pivoting may be an everyday occurrence for a business but if you roll with the punches and keep a smile on your face people usually have no idea that you had to veer from your original plan or vision.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.grandfathervineyard.com
- Instagram: Grandfather Vineyard
- Facebook: Grandfather Vineyard
Image Credits
Anchor & Veil Photography Tristin Lennert Photography