We recently connected with Willow Sprague and have shared our conversation below.

Willow, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Too often the media represents innovation as something magical that only high-flying tech billionaires and upstarts engage in – but the truth is almost every business owner has to regularly innovate in small and big ways in order for their businesses to survive and thrive. Can you share a story that highlights something innovative you’ve done over the course of your career?

My business partner and I launched BarBees in February of 2019 as a mobile bartending company – we originally offered event bartending service for small to large-scale events and weddings. When covid hit a year after we launched and events of all kinds were being canceled, our calendars were cleared. We knew we had to pivot to stay afloat.

Our pivot ended up being virtual cocktail classes. We’d never offered classes before, but we had a few friends who asked if we’d put something virtual together for their birthdays and what not. We’d teach them cocktails over Zoom and create some fun for an hour or so. We started offering these on our social media and booked TONS! People were desperately trying to find a way to continue connecting together, and we were able to give them a way to do that.

As we came through covid and people began gathering again, we shifted the virtual class structure to in-person classes. We’re headquartered in Nashville, which is one of the bachelorette capitals of the country – these groups quickly became our number one demographic. We nailed down our in-person class model and we’ve now been able to expand it to seven cities across the nation!

Today, we no longer offer event bartending and have re-defined ourselves as a cocktail class company. An unexpected global change required us to innovate and adapt. We’ve now found our groove and get to connect with more people than ever before.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

BarBees is a mobile cocktail class company offering in-person classes in seven cities across the nation: Nashville, Scottsdale, NYC, Austin, Palm Springs, Tampa, and Washington, DC. In our cocktail classes, participants can choose to learn two or three cocktails in a 60 or 90-minute timeframe. You’ll walk away from a BarBees cocktail class with drinks in hand, a new skill, and a deeper connection with all of your fellow participants.

A BarBees class instructor shows up at your space with all of the necessary bartending tools, non-alcoholic cocktail ingredients, and dry goods. You only provide the liquor and the ice.

Book a cocktail class for your bachelorette party, corporate team building, birthday or any other celebration!

Can you tell us the story behind how you met your business partner?

My business partner Jess and I met while attending undergrad at Belmont University in Nashville, TN. We had people all over campus asking if we knew each other because they knew we’d be a perfect match. Turns out, they were all right. A mutual friend set up a dinner for us and the rest is history. We quickly became besties and did everyday life together. A year into best friendship in February 2019, we launched BarBees and have spent the last four and a half years as business partners. Running this business together has brought so much extra magic and fun to our friendship and we wouldn’t trade it for the world.

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

Fun and connection are at the heart of every cocktail class we teach. We aim to maintain that focus both with our clients and with our team. We want our team to enjoy what they do, and make great money while doing it. Our strategy to keep things fun for our team includes personable communication, bonus incentives, and celebrating their personal wins! We let them get to know us as their leaders and seek to know them and their interests as well.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.gobarbees.com
• Instagram: @barbees.bartending
• Facebook: BarBees Bartending

Image Credits
Allie Chambers (Stocked Studio)