How COVID-19 Has Changed Our Business
Despite a devastating loss of business, we feel so fortunate to have remained in operation throughout the pandemic. In January and February of 2020 we were on pace to beat our 2019 record of 175 events, but within a week of the stay-at-home orders every booking was cancelled. Deposits were returned and forecasts were reformulated. Actually…eliminated. We told our bartenders we’d be back in April. Then May. Then October. Then…? So much for the accelerating growth chart.
By the end of March we had pivoted to a virtual bartending program to keep our business in the black. Between April and December we shipped and hand-delivered 1,027 cocktail kits packed with items like mixology tools, fresh produce, and our first book. The box was paired with an hour long virtual bartender training session with group sizes that ranged from two people to 1,000. This experience not only allowed us to pay the bills and stay afloat but to work with new clients who were located all over the country and the world.
Even though we completely booked out for the month of December and the requests for virtual bartending classes didn’t show signs of slowing, we knew that the need for the online events would eventually dry up as word of the first vaccinations flooded the news and social media. Our virtual pivot was an incredible, business-saving experience but it had a shelf-life. As soon as people could gather in groups again, we knew they would. We didn’t want to be stuck with 200 muddlers and 300 bar spoons on our hands! We would need to shift gears again in 2021 to prepare for the return of parties and the launch of our mixer line.
But let’s be clear about something. Business would be going back, but not back to normal. We decided that in the New Year we’d change our business model to focus solely on sending bartenders to parties. No more rentals, no more full service bar. Those years of lugging sixty-pound bars up three flights of stairs and searching for missing wine glasses at three AM were over. It was time to scale back and simplify. The hiatus gave us time to reflect upon and reevaluate the direction for This Girl Walks Into a Bar and this was the answer. By pulling back in the day-to-day operations we might actually be able to scale the big picture.
We will lose customers over this change - there are private and corporate customers who have come to depend on all that we offer as a bartending company. But our level of service, our friendliness, and our professionalism has not changed. We look forward to getting back to business and to booking your next bartender.
