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

Stacy, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Naming anything – including a business – is so hard. Right? What’s the story behind how you came up with the name of your brand?

We are a big water/fishing loving family. I am a boat captains’ daughter and grew up being out on the water and fishing. My ultimate goal is to have the business on the water one day at the sand bars and on the Islands as a mobile boat bar. Where people can swim up to our stocked vessel and have options for cocktails and snacks. Fun for adults and options for kids too! I would of course have a fishing pole & tackle on the boat for fishing opportunities during any down times. I decided to have the name Hook Line & Drinker, not only because I thought it was “catchy”, but I also knew it would represent our company’s concept and show what we love most… Hooks, Lines and bartending!!

Stacy, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I am a Florida native that loves fishing, spending time with my family, and bartending of course. I am married, husband is Chris. I have 1 son, Austin and a beautiful grand-daughter, Olivia Rae. I first got into the bartending industry to get myself through nursing school at Daytona State. I loved it so much, it never felt like work to me. I continued to bartend as an additional source of income while starting my nursing career and raising my son and have continued ever since.

Hook Line & Drinker offers bartending services for any type of events. We have different options to choose from. We are able to customize to any needs/requirements. Do you just need a bartender… We can do that. Need us to bring bars, mixers, ice, cups, garnishes, etc… We can make that happen too!

We guide our clients in making decisions on what types of beer/wine/alcohols to offer and what quantities to purchase of each. Overspending isn’t necessary. Guidance is key!!

I am thrilled that it’s been 5 years, and we are growing every day! I am so proud of the great team of bartenders, servers, & barbacks that we’ve built over the last 5 years, It is because of them and their amazing hospitality to others that we have and maintain a consistent 5-star rating on Google. We will never disappoint and will always deliver an amazing service at all events we are hired for. We partner with several companies and chambers in our hometown of Dunedin, Florida and the entire surrounding areas of Tampa Bay. We are also currently in the process of expanding over to the east coast of Florida.

Where do you think you get most of your clients from?

My best source of new clients/business are fellow event vendors/venues. We do many events with the same crews and groups of people. People get to know you personally and see your work ethic/style in person. They are comfortable referring us to their future clients & events or even hire us themselves if they are in charge of creating the team of vendors for specific events. It is very comforting to hear other vendors say “We don’t worry at all when we see Hook Line & Drinker on the event timeline” It feels great to be trusted and counted on to ease the stress for fellow vendors.

We’d love to hear the story of how you turned a side-hustle into a something much bigger.

I always knew my business side hustle would be a full-time commitment in no time. Although I am still working as a nurse, I have recently switched that to a part-time commitment as my business continues to grow. I have always been a bartender, but knew I wanted to start my own bartending company back in 2017 while planning my own wedding. The search for specific vendors for different aspects needed for the wedding was a bit challenging. The availability of many vendors for the date I needed was very scarce. The demand for each, including bartending services was insane, and I was starting a good year in advance from my date. That’s when I looked at my fiance’ and said “well I know what I’m doing after this wedding is over” and I did!

Contact Info:

• Website: www.hldrinker.com
• Instagram: @hldrinker
• Facebook: facebook.com/hldrinker/