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Explore the world of business and entrepreneurship in Wichita. Learn from local business owners from a variety of industries as they share their experiences with hosts and Evergy leaders, Don Sherman and Ebony Clemons-Ajibolade, who are also small business owners. You’ll learn how they have built and grown their companies and the challenges and opportunities they encountered along the way. This podcast is brought to you by the Wichita Regional Chamber of Commerce and is powered by Evergy.
Ep147_StacyWard-Lattin
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[00:00:00]
Don Sherman: Welcome to the WCBA broadcast powered by Evergy. We're glad you're here today. And first, I want to thank everybody for listening. Apparently, our listenership continues to grow.
Yay! Yay! So like us, love us, share us. You know, do something, help us out. We truly appreciate you tuning in to our podcast. And E, we got a, I think we got a friend of yours. Yes! I haven't met her yet. Mm hmm. We're getting ready
Ebony Clemons-Ajibolade: to. That's right. It's an exciting day, everyone. We have my girl, Stacy Ward, Latin in the house!
I wish we had buttons where
Stacy Ward-Lattin: we could be like, Woo! Woo! Woo! Woo! Woo! And all of
Ebony Clemons-Ajibolade: that. That would be dope. Stacy, tell us a little bit about who you are, madam.
Stacy Ward-Lattin: Yeah, well thank you for having me. I'm Stacey Ward Lattin and I co own Hopping Gnome Brewing Company here in Wichita with my husband Tori. Um, yeah, so we are getting ready to celebrate our sixth anniversary.
Oh, wow. Uh, we were the first tap room to open in Wichita that didn't, which means we serve beer, but we didn't serve food. [00:01:00] So, um, it was kind of a fun celebrating lots of milestones and growing along the way. So it's gone by really fast. I can't believe it's been six
Ebony Clemons-Ajibolade: years. Congratulations. Thank you. That is super awesome.
So you guys
Stacy Ward-Lattin: started in what month? We started actually in May. It was actually, so what, our sixth anniversary actually was this, this past weekend. So I say we're getting ready to celebrate because we're having a big party, which we'll talk about, um, here in another month. But, um, actually we opened May 29th of 2015, so we just celebrated.
Celebrated six years. So yeah, that's awesome.
Ebony Clemons-Ajibolade: So am I invited to the party? That's the real
Stacy Ward-Lattin: question. Okay. Everyone is invited. Everyone's invited. You heard it here.
Ebony Clemons-Ajibolade: So it's you and your husband. And how did it be in, like, did you, were you just in the basement one day saying, you know, I'm kind of thirsty, let me mix up some brew of some sort.
Stacy Ward-Lattin: Yeah, yeah, kind of like [00:02:00] that. Um, Tori started homebrewing in 2010 and entered some homebrewing competitions and won some awards. Um, you know, it was one of those things where, you know, your friends always say, Oh, you could sell this. You know, it's, it's one thing for your friends to say that, right? But, um, we were actually, we took a little trip to, um, Colorado.
We were like in Denver and Fort Collins and, um, Boulder area touring lots of breweries and just having a lot of fun. And, um, this was in 2012 and we were having that discussion that I think a lot of young people have here in Wichita. Where we were talking about, do we want to stay in Wichita? Do we want to work, you know, in the type of, type of jobs we were in?
He did, he worked for MKEC, um, did AutoCAD drafting. And then I, I worked in non profit. And so we kind of had that discussion about what do we want to do? And we were having lots of fun in Colorado. And would that be something where we'd want to, want to leave? And, um, and I said, yeah, I mean. What are you thinking?
He was like, I just really [00:03:00] love brewing beer and would love to, um, you know, do that. And so it's like, oh, well, you could get a job brewing somewhere. And he's like, I just really want to start. We were in a little tap room, um, that didn't, didn't serve food. And we saw people, um, having little meetings. We saw students.
doing their homework. We saw people playing board games and it was all focused around the local craft beer. And we just really liked the vibe. And he was like, I feel like we could use something like this in Wichita. At the time we only had two breweries, but we knew that the craft brewery scene has been growing across the country.
And we knew that it would continue to grow here. And, but there was just something missing a little bit with that. And so I, he was like, I would just like to start something in Wichita and then try to, I think the Wichita flag was starting to re emerge at that point, and we were just starting to see some of that pride.
And we were like, well, how can we make our community better? And how can we contribute to growing this industry and the kind of the small business, you know, support local boom that we were seeing? And I think he thought I was just going to [00:04:00] say, no, that's crazy. We're not doing that. Neither one of us have a business background.
Why would we start a business? But I was like, let's do it! Surprise! It took a few years, um, to get things going. We worked a lot with the SBA, Network Kansas, all the great organizations, um, that help small businesses and always recommend that to anybody wanting to start a small business. Um, especially when you're just trying to get your plan together and, um, worked a lot with, uh, the other, other local breweries here, um, and other small businesses to help us out.
It's a really, um, Great community where we, we definitely help each other out. Um, it's definitely not a cutthroat type industry, um, that a lot of people are used to in the business world. So that was super helpful and it took a while to get going and we, um, found our building and did construction and all of that.
And, um, yeah, so May 29th, 2015, our doors open. That is
Ebony Clemons-Ajibolade: a wonderful story. Thank you for having the courage to say yes and to move back and say we're going to do it here in Wichita, there's a gap and this is how we're going to fill it. [00:05:00] So, how many employees do you
Stacy Ward-Lattin: have? We have five. We've kept our staff fairly, we've grown a lot in terms of like, Behind the scenes, like the, we started with six fermenters and now we have 10 and we've, we've grown the amount of beer we can produce and things like that.
But in terms of staff, we've kept the staff pretty small, started with just a couple of bartenders and Tori and I would always be, be there, um, working behind the bar and they're able to, now we're able to get away and, um, usually have one or two of our staff behind the bar. So, um, so during, you know, this past.
Past year, um, we were pretty fortunate to be able to, um, retain our staff. Um, several of our staff have other, other jobs and they just kind of do it on the side. So, um, we were lucky to keep everybody on, but we even hired a new person last summer, so bless her heart. She started with us in this crazy time.
So, um, and it just means a lot to us to kind of keep things small, but hopefully we'll be able to, to add some more as we, as we continue to grow and. We get a lot of requests, people wanting to work for us. We've always had a really strong team and, um, um, people stick [00:06:00] with us for a while, which has been really special.
We didn't really expect that. We know typical bar and restaurant industry, a lot of turnover. Um, and so especially right now we're seeing a lot of, um, a lot of, you know, Similar business models having, having a hard time getting staff, retaining staff. So we're just lucky that we have our, have our solid team and just try to keep them, keep them supported and keep them going.
So what
Ebony Clemons-Ajibolade: qualifications does one need to work there? I mean, I'm not, I'm not asking for myself. I'm just asking, you know, if I wanted to come work on a.
Stacy Ward-Lattin: Saturday. You can't drink to profit. Oh, you can't? Oh, never mind.
Ebony Clemons-Ajibolade: I'm just the next
Stacy Ward-Lattin: question. You don't have to, you don't have to have, um, bartending experience, it is, it is helpful.
But Tori and I didn't have bartending experience when we opened, so, um, it's kind of a funny kind of, kind of ironic, I guess, but really just, just the love of craft beer, the love of small business, the love of the Wichita community. [00:07:00] We always joke that our. Um, our bartenders are really good, and I think a lot, a lot of the local businesses in the community are great at about when people come in from out of town, or they want a night out, you know, in downtown, they haven't been downtown for a while, you know, where should they go eat dinner, what should they, what should they be doing, what other breweries can they go to, um, so just, they're, they're almost like little, um, You know, give you a little travel tips.
Yeah, I love that.
Ebony Clemons-Ajibolade: But that's important, right? And we have to be our biggest cheerleaders. And it takes, and I love that you mentioned that, because it takes people who are in pubs and bars and restaurants to really sell the, you know, high, the qualities of our city so that people can remember and be like, Oh, yeah, we do have that.
So thank you for that. And thank you to your employees. If I heard
Don Sherman: you right, you've never been an entrepreneur. Let's unpack that a little bit. What gave you, how did you have the audacity to say, You know what, I'm just going to start this business. I've never owned a brewery. I've never started a business.
Tell us how did [00:08:00] that evolve? I mean, from step one to when you thought it was a night, a glimmer, to
Stacy Ward-Lattin: Yeah, so it was a lot. I attribute a lot to my husband. He did a lot of the early work. His job was a lot more flexible with him on being able to, like I said, right away we met with SBA. We, I think, looked at, I think the very first thing we did was look up How to, how to write a business plan.
You can found like a template. That's what we want. That's exactly what we want. I think that's the first, that's the first step. And so doing that, um, my sister in law works in economic development, um, out in Hayes, Kansas. And so reached out to her right away and said, Hey, you are really good at, you know, looking at these business plans, help us out.
And, um, it took a lot of just talking to people about it. And it was one of those things that we were kind of afraid to talk about too. Cause it's like, you don't really, Tori was afraid to talk about it until we knew we could do it, right? But it's like, we have to talk about it now. We have to let people know what we're doing so they can help us.
We can ask for help. So, getting help from her, walking [00:09:00] in, just getting an appointment with the SBA and sitting down. And, I mean, they'll help you start to finish. We had a good plan in place where we knew we wanted to start a small taproom. We didn't have a location. We didn't know. The numbers was really hard for us.
We had no idea on that point, so they helped us a lot with that. So I think that was kind of the first steps. Um, and then figuring out the name. Everybody wants to know where the name comes from. Um, we actually had some other names picked out that we liked better, um, to start with. I shouldn't say better before we.
Before we thought of that, the Hopping Gnome, um, we wanted to be high five brewing, but there's already a high five brewing somewhere else, and we noticed home brewers had a lot of websites, you know, even if it wasn't an actual brewery, a lot of home brewers have websites and Twitter handles and things, so we didn't want to be too close to anybody else.
And so, we were kind of frustrated one day and had a, um, He had some homebrew on tap in our basement, we have a little bar and he went and got a beer and it was like a hoppy IPA and he looked over and we had this little gnome sitting on [00:10:00] the bar and it was, uh, it's from the, uh, 2012 All Star Kansas City Royals game when, you know, they used to give away the bobbleheads and stuff.
It was a little gnome. And he looked at the gnome and he ran upstairs and he said, you know, So what about Hopping Gnome? Hops are in the beer and gnomes are known for drinking. Because we knew we didn't want to do, we already had River City Brewing, we already had Wichita Brewing Company. We didn't want to do something just Wichita specifically.
And a lot of where, if you, if you've been to other breweries and other places, a lot of them have crazy names and things that stand out. So we knew we wanted something, Um, something catchy, something different, something fun. And it kind of had to grow on me a little bit. I didn't love the idea at first. I was like, we don't even have a garden gnome.
Like, I don't, are we, are we gnome people now? Like, I didn't, um, but then we, yeah, immediately got the website domain and Twitter handle and got on that, you know, years before we opened. And then once we, Start talking about it more and we had local graphic designer Chris Parks do the do the logo He's done a lot on along Douglas with the anchor and I'm a lot of things and so once he [00:11:00] Did the logo for us and with then I definitely was sold him as like this is gonna be fun and people are gonna like This is gonna be well, we'll be known people now Excellent, so
Don Sherman: Okay, you decided on the name.
How did you decide on the location?
Stacy Ward-Lattin: So we looked for a while. I think that's something that, um, a lot of small businesses, um, it's a struggle to decide. We knew we wanted to be centrally located, but that's hard, right? There's not a lot in the Old Town area. Um, the Delano area was kind of just... Just kind of getting more developed.
We kept looking east. We kept looking, um, over, over in the area where we are located. And we, and we realized there's, it wasn't a lot there at the time, but you know, the donut hole had been successful. Kenya Soup Kitchen had been successful. And there'd been some new, new developments going in. And we just thought, you know, this is kind of, Hopefully, we were hoping that it was the next, uh, up and coming area that we could, that we could get into and being able to be right on Douglas, we were really excited about that, we got a big sign, you know, that was one of the [00:12:00] things that, uh, we wanted to make sure that we were visible because we did come out of nowhere, not being in the business community or having anything like that before and we were Opening the first tap room.
So I think we kind of just took a chance on that area. And then, you know, like I said, we don't serve food. So we partnered with a lot of food trucks early on. And then now we have, um, Piatto Neapolitan pizzeria next door. And that was something that was big, big for, um, our neighbors. Um, they saw us. Go in and saw us succeed, and so then we saw more businesses wanting to come in the area.
Don Sherman: Now that you're in town, because you said you started, there was only two breweries in town? Yes. And
Stacy Ward-Lattin: now how many are there? Now there is, I should know this all, I think there's... Um, eight or nine of us now.
Don Sherman: Okay. How you feel about that? What's the relationship between you
Stacy Ward-Lattin: breweries now? So the relationship's really good.
It's, it surprises a lot of people, especially people that have been in like the corporate, uh, world for a long time. It's, it's very good. It's, um, and it's like this in most places. I wouldn't, I'm not going to speak for everywhere, [00:13:00] but, um, where the, the brewing community is really strong. And so, yeah, we worked a lot with.
Um, Wichita Brewing Company, Walnut River out of, um, Eldorado was starting at the same time we were just kind of thinking about this. So worked with them a lot. Um, it's, we have the kind of community where if we need, um, need some grain or we need some kind of a, you know, some supplies or something, we can just reach out from, you know, little things like that to brewing beer together, to teaching each other how to do things.
That is cool. One, one story I always like to tell is. Um, my husband Tory didn't brew a sour when he was home brewing and sour beer is a style that's gotten really popular in the last few years. And so it took, it took a couple of years. I had to really say, okay, we need to do this. And he goes, well, I don't know how to do that.
And he actually had Ryan Kerner, who used to be at, used to brew at River City, come over and help him. Learn how to do that. And so that's something it's not, you know, it's not, we do have, you know, our own recipes and things like that and proprietary things that we may not share with everybody, but we love, I mean, we know we're all going to do well if we all support each [00:14:00] other.
And so that's, that's been really fun. And yeah, we brew beer together. We, you know, do nonprofit events together. We do big beer festivals together. So it's just, and there's room for more. Um, I think. I think at some point it could be oversaturated, just depending on how much support the community is willing to give.
But I mean, you look at Denver, there's like 300 breweries in Denver, so I don't know that that would work exactly that way in Wichita. But we know that we could definitely have more, and we hope that it continues to grow. And just other, um, other alcohol beverages, fermented beverages, other small businesses.
I just think it just, we all help, it just helps when we all work together.
Ebony Clemons-Ajibolade: No one would have ever guessed that you guys worked so closely together, right? Because that's just not, that's... Unheard of, really, but I love that concept. So, Stacey, you, you like, you are all over the place in the community, and your social media is poppin So let's talk a little bit about that.
You, like, have your, what What platforms are you on? Can you share that with us? [00:15:00] Yeah. And your name and, um,
Stacy Ward-Lattin: all that. Yeah. So, um, so for the brewery, we're, we're on all, um, you know, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter. We're probably not as active on Twitter. Um, I think it's, it, it, it's one of those things where we share and like things, but we're not as.
Super active, but we do primarily, um, all of our posting on, on Facebook and Instagram and we have an email list and, you know, all of that, that usual stuff. Um, and then, yeah, for myself, same, I'm on Instagram and, and Facebook and, um, yeah, it's just one of those things where, when we were looking at the business plan and marketing, I think most small businesses aren't able to have a budget for marketing.
And at the time Instagram was really new when we were opening, I mean, to us, it was really new in 2015, um, and Facebook was. You know, that was kind of the first, so we got on all of them, but Facebook was kind of the first focus for us. Um, when we did a Kickstarter campaign, that was, that was how we got a lot of our followers, um, early on was we, um, when we, we were able to get, I guess I didn't say that [00:16:00] before, we, we were able to start our business without having investors, which was, you know, not something that we were against, but we were trying to do it without investors, so we were able to get some loans, and, um, when we, We figured out where all the money was going.
We didn't, uh, a lot enough for construction, which is probably also really common. Um, so we needed some more money for construction costs. So we were able to raise 25, 000 on Kickstarter campaign. Um, and that was a way we got a lot of our followers and a lot of people. And we started, you know, posting pictures of the construction and kind of what we hope things will look like in our progress.
And so that's really a lot of it. That's where a lot of it started and we've just grown from there. We've done, you know, I think early on it was easier to get organic growth. I think it's, it, it becomes increasingly difficult all of the time to, to do that and having to put a little more money behind it and be a little more thoughtful about some of the posting.
But. Um, that's just, that's still primarily where we do most of the marketing. We, we have a great relationship with the media here in town and we do a lot with Dining with Denise and all of that. But, um, and work with the Chamber and Visit Wichita and all of our [00:17:00] partners. Um, but social media is still where it's at, I think.
I
Ebony Clemons-Ajibolade: love that. And I love the fact that, you know, let's, and, and you mentioned Kickstarter. Right. Let's talk about that. What was the thought process just, um, okay, do I want investors or do we just want to create this campaign and figure out how we can get people to, you know, buy into our story and support
Stacy Ward-Lattin: us?
Yeah. I think we, we saw, we saw some examples. We had some other friends that had done some Kickstarters for, you know, little startups that they were working on or, Um, knew of people who had done this, and it was still kind of a newer thing at that time. Um, and so I think that we, for me, it was definitely wanting to get the followers on social media.
And even if we, we knew even if we didn't meet our goal, that we would, you know, get, get people in and get People to hear our message, because I think that's what it's all about. And now that's, that's like social media marketing 101 now is telling your story and all the buzzwords and being authentic.
Well, to us, we just, we had to tell our story. Nobody knew who we were and the location. A lot of people weren't super familiar, familiar [00:18:00] with the location. It was going to take a while to open, but we needed to let people know that we were coming. And so I think really just the marketing aspect of it, we got our friends involved.
And if you can go back, you can go back on our Facebook page and find some of our. Um, initial videos, they're pretty, they look kind of old. We didn't have the great video capability on our phones at the time, but our friends made videos about like, Oh my gosh, we want to go there. We can't, we can't. We can't go, it's not open, they need 25, 000 or they're not going to open, or like, we can't wait to have a beer here.
So we just, we just got with our friends and family and had to make videos and, um, that was a, that was just how we got started. So we were, we were of course glad that we met our goal, but I think it was more just for that, that marketing aspect. Mm hmm. That's
Ebony Clemons-Ajibolade: awesome. Well, ladies and gentlemen, we are here with Stacey Ward Lattin, and she is here with Hopping Gnome.
Right now, we need to take a little bit of a break and hear from our wonderful sponsor, but we'll be back with more of her story.
Stacy Ward-Lattin: Severe weather, whether it's hail, wind, rain, or [00:19:00] snow, storms can cause damages, inconveniences, and sometimes even power outages. At Evergy, we're committed to providing safe, reliable energy.
And in the event of an outage, our linemen work tirelessly to restore your power as quickly and as safely as possible. And with tools like our outage map and real time updates, we're with you every step of the way. Visit evergy. com slash stay safe to learn more. The Wichita Regional Chamber of Commerce.
Success for our members. Leadership for our community. And prosperity for our region. We need your input to continue to improve the business environment in Kansas and to ensure the success of our members. See wichitachamber. org for more information. To provide us input about this podcast series, send an email to communications at wichitachamber.
org with your questions, comments, and suggestions for the business leaders we should feature and important topics we should address.
Ebony Clemons-Ajibolade: Welcome [00:20:00] back, everyone. We're here with Stacey, and we're talking about some delicious breweries. So, we were just talking about her social media and how popping it is, and how popular she is on social media, and the company itself.
But, talk to us a little bit, from what I understand, you have a partnership with WSU Tech?
Stacy Ward-Lattin: Is that true? Yeah. Just started actually through the chamber, so it's really exciting. Yeah. So, um, that was something that I'm on the, I'm on a small business committee here with the chamber and something that comes up a lot is the need for small businesses and marketing and small businesses not having a lot of, a lot of, um, You know, a large budget for that.
But then also there's, there are great, you know, marketing firms that are chamber members and there are, WSU Tech has a whole program and, um, so yeah, they were able to, to partner us up with WSU Tech and Chrissy Buck. I know you just had her on the, on the show and, and I've known Chrissy for a while, so that was really exciting.
So yeah, a student, her name's Erin and she's gonna, um, help us with [00:21:00] our SEOs. And I know that was something I, you were talking with. Uh, talking to Christy about like, it was like, she said it was like her least favorite. Yes, it was. Right, right. So, I, I created our website, it's on Squarespace, um, and so if you go to our website, it's, it's pretty, it's, I, I don't want to say it's basic, but it's pretty basic.
We, you know, we just, we use it to just, we update, I update it all the time. I try to keep our beer list and all the information that you would need to know up to date on there. Um, but I don't know a lot about, I'm not a web, Web developer. I don't know a lot about the SEOs and how to stay, how to do what Google wants me to do.
So that's what we're getting help on. So that's projects just getting started. So we're super excited for that. That's awesome.
Ebony Clemons-Ajibolade: Well, I look forward to seeing how that goes. I know it goes splendid. Well, um, and then very last question before I let Don start talking is you Gnome.
Is that like a, what's that taste like? Is it just like a [00:22:00] normal margarita?
Stacy Ward-Lattin: Just with a little? So it is, so a Goza, it's, we call it Salty Gnome. It's a Goza style, which is a salty sour. It's, um, the name comes from a town in Germany where the water was really salty. So that's just how their beer tastes. Um, so it is like a sour, so it's like our HBIC sour, only kind of has a little salty twist to it.
But we rotate the flavors just like we do our HBIC sour. So we have kind of seasonal, whatever the season of the fruit is, um, at the time. And so, um, we just did like, For example, we just did a lemon raspberry for the spring and now we're doing the margarita. It's just lime and orange, um, with the salt. And so it gives it, with the salty sour, it gives it that fun kind of margarita kick.
So yeah, if you like lime and orange, um, it's very refreshing for summer. And, uh, we'll do, we do watermelon later in the summer and some other fun, you know, whatever the season is. So it usually changes about every couple months with the salty no man, the HBIC sour. Very nice. Well, thank you for that. Yeah.
Don Sherman: Excellent. That [00:23:00] sounds, even at 9 a. m., that sounds pretty
Stacy Ward-Lattin: good. There's no tequila in it. No tequila. It's just beer. It's just beer. Okay. Wow. I mean, you could add it in if you want.
Don Sherman: Excellent. Couple of questions. COVID 19. I don't want to spend a lot of time on it, but just share how you survived.
Stacy Ward-Lattin: Yeah, uh, we were lucky that even though we had to be closed, like all businesses during that shutdown period, we were able to do to go beer, um, which we've always had.
We have the growler bottles, they're 24 ounce, like, glass bottles that you could get to go. And then we have the 32 ounce, um, called growler cans, um, and you can take those to go. We... I had thought about for a while wanting to expand some of our canning, um, doing some more. I mean, it's still small in house.
We don't have a large, um, facility for, or a large canning line. But wanting to do more, we do have the capability with our, um, little canning machines to do like 16 ounce and 12 ounce cans. And so that was... So being shut down and doing the to go only was a kind of a push for that. So we started offering other [00:24:00] sizes, um, you know, different deals, different specials.
We do, we, and we've continued those even once we were able to reopen. So we do three pack Thursday, every Thursday you get three crawlers for 30 or typically 12 a piece. So it's a nice little kind of go into your weekend, get your beer to go for whatever your weekend plans are. Um, and we've been able to continue that.
And so, yeah, without the to go, um. It would, it, it, I don't know if we would have made it.
Don Sherman: That's what I was going to ask. Wow. Did you have anything to do with the, I think the Kansas legislature changed it recently to where to go alcoholic beverages is a thing now. It's, it can
Stacy Ward-Lattin: Did you have anything to do?
So they did have to change some things. We know here in Kansas, our liquor laws are very interesting. Um, and some are a little, a little outdated and, and some we just don't question because we just haven't had to. We actually do have a lobbyist in Topeka for, for the craft beer community. Um, and so yeah, that was something that we were like, yeah, I mean, we, you're not supposed to sell the beer how it used to be.
It was, you [00:25:00] couldn't sell beer off your, off your premise. So if you were doing curbside, let's say, and you're. You're going outside of your business to hand somebody their, you know, six pack of beer in their, in their door of their, you know, window of their car because you're trying to maintain the, the social distance and everything.
Um, that was not, technically not legal, and so that's something we had to get changed and, um, I think they saw a lot of success with that. I think, again, like I said, the to go for us has continued. We don't do as much, of course, now people want to come in, but especially like holiday, like this past weekend, holiday weekends.
Um, it's just, it's, it's going to be a good thing. So it's, I think it's, it's hopeful that maybe we were, they were able to, to change that quickly and then able to, I think it was pretty unanimous on voting that, yeah, let's just keep it that way. So maybe it's hopeful we can maybe update some other, other blogs as we go.
Don Sherman: Exactly. Yeah. One last question. Um, you have a podcast. Tell us about Ceiling Breakers podcast.
Stacy Ward-Lattin: So I started this, oh gosh, it's been [00:26:00] almost four years ago. Myself and Renee Dexler, who is really active in our community. Who's that? Hi, Renee. I know, Renee's in Celina now. I know, boo. So, uh, started, Renee and I started, it was actually a reaction to the, um, Chung report at the time.
We saw that, um, we were, I don't think we were surprised that Wichitans were leaving. for other opportunities, um, but we were a little bit surprised that there were so many women leaving. And so we were like, we need to talk about all the awesome things that the ladies are doing in Wichita. And we started, we were both small business owners at the time.
So we started it as to kind of highlight other. you know, other women business owners. But then that grew. Cause it's like, well, what about, you know, what about women like Ebony and women in other companies and women in non profit and just women volunteering in the community and doing, um, really just kind of highlighting those and telling the story of those, um, extraordinary things.
But it's also. Also, things that we can all relate to, um, and [00:27:00] so that, that just kind of grew and we kind of focused a lot on upcoming events and things like that in the community at first. And then we know there's a lot of other platforms that do that. So then we focus more on themes and just, and definitely like.
Digging in a little deeper, especially with women who are in more male dominated industries, about, you know, what have they, what have they experienced, they overcome challenges, things like that, that we can all learn from. And, um, so yes, Renee moved to Salina recently. So I have, I have a new co host, Audra, Audra Janelle, and she, um, has the, the thread, which is a Wichita women's, um, leadership collective.
So it's been a great, um, a great fit to have her, uh, do the, do the show with me. We're on Facebook. We do, we record, we've been doing Zoom with the, with the pandemic. We had to kind of switch everything to Zoom and we've kind of continued that. It's just a good, it just looks, um, visually it looks really good that way.
So we've been just continuing our Zoom. Kind of Zoom calls where we share on Facebook, and then we record. We record, we don't have quite the setup that you guys have, but we [00:28:00] record on, we're using our phones, we just record on Anchor FM, and then it goes out to, you know, Spotify, Apple, Google, all the places that you can get your podcasts.
So, we try to do a weekly show, um, it's just kind of a passion project or something for fun, but I would definitely like to see it grow and be a business at some point, get sponsors. We know that there's interest in the community for that, and we also know there's a lot of, Like The Thread and The Hive. We actually record at The Hive here in town and, um, you know, there's a lot of women's things happening right now.
And so, you know, maybe It's something that needs to be a part of something else. We need to collaborate or, you know, maybe it's something that it can, it'd be, you know, its own business, but definitely like to see it grow in the next, in the next three to five years, for sure. Excellent. Thanks for sharing.
Yeah. I was just
Ebony Clemons-Ajibolade: going to say that podcast is amazing. And I love that it's not only audio, but you can see it live as it's happening. So that's pretty awesome. And I had a really fun time when I was on the show. I'm going to have to pull
Don Sherman: that up and That's what she does here.
Stacy Ward-Lattin: Yeah. [00:29:00] It was fun. Just asking.
Well, and it was in person. And we might, you know, get back to that. There's something to be said about being in person and being here with you guys right now. It's just, it's really fun. So, um, so that, you know, we'll get to that, but we tried a couple in person when we were all wearing masks and it was just very, we did like, we were very, we had to sit very close together to like be in the camera and it was just, you know, so kind of getting through this, this, this weird time and get to that.
But yeah, it's Sailing Breakers ICT.
Don Sherman: Excellent. Thank you. Brian got us set up pretty nice here, so way to go, B.
Ebony Clemons-Ajibolade: Shout out. Well, Stacey, as we are wrapping up, um, I know you've kind of talked a little bit about your, um, passion for ceiling breakers and where you want to see it in the future, but let's go back to Hoppy Gnome.
Where do you see yourself in the business in, uh, five
Stacy Ward-Lattin: years from now? Oh, I know. I knew you were going to ask that question. Um, it's, it's been hard, I think, with a pandemic with this past year goal setting and really kind of now we're trying to get back on track of where, where we want to be. And we've had a lot of, we've had a lot of growth.
We've had a lot of slow growth. So I think we want to continue that. [00:30:00] I would like to see, we know we're a small city. Um, and we know people like that we're a small space and it's cozy and it's fun, but we know a lot of times when you come in and sometimes it's too busy. And so looking at, do we need to find a way to expand?
Do we need to find a way to, you know, get more beer out there on the market? So I think, um, I definitely, I mean, five years, I definitely see us continuing to do what we do, continuing to offer, you know, our standard beers that, you know, you can come in and get, but then always having something new, always having something fun.
Um, but then hopefully, yeah, maybe being able to grow a little bit in some different ways. Where can we find your beer? So, we are on tap a lot of local bars and restaurants around town. It kind of varies. It's usually about 15 to 20 places that we're on. We're on pretty consistently, like at the Monarch.
They always have one of the Sours, so the HBIC and their Salty Gnome. We're on a lot of, yeah, like I said, like Picasso's Pizza, a lot of, um, Dempsey's Burger Pub, like a lot of different local [00:31:00] places, and then also some of the chain restaurants in town, which have been fun. You can find us at Bonefish sometimes, Chicken and Pickle, places like that.
So the list, we try to keep an updated list on our website and try to post about that, but definitely wherever you go, just ask, ask for Gnome Beer and see if they have it. And if they don't have it, they can get it. That's what
Don Sherman: I was going to ask. You asked for gnome beer and that's,
Stacy Ward-Lattin: okay, got it. That's how you hit it.
Get that gnome beer. I'm going
Ebony Clemons-Ajibolade: to learn that. That is great. You know, uh, some people say that, uh, in Wichita it's difficult to get into the restaurants, um, but you found a way through your relationships, um, to, to get your product in a number of restaurants, not just some of the smaller ones, but as you said, the chains.
Did you find that to be difficult or did you find it to be relatively Uh,
Stacy Ward-Lattin: easy with your relationships. Um, so we do, in Kansas, you do have to work with a distributor, a third party distributor. So we work with House of Schwan here, um, who kind of specializes in the craft beer, um, industry and works with most of the, most of the small [00:32:00] breweries here.
And so going, just being able to go out with them, they already had those relationships. They could go, they were already, they're, you know, rep that was selling them other things. So being able to, and of course I bring my, my gnome swag with me and bring samples or whatever that, that, you know, whatever needs to happen and, um, definitely found, especially.
Recently, and even years before, before the pandemic, that, um, it was very popular for some of the chains and so to support local and have local beer available. And so that's something that, like I said, it might not be all the time. Sometimes it's just rotating because now there are a lot of local beverages to offer.
So, um, Being able to just be a part of that. And I think we focused a lot on the, on the, on the local businesses first and then kind of expanded. And yeah, I think it's being able to get out and meet them with the distributor has been, has been super helpful. And then following up and we usually try to do like something during the holidays where we go around and do little gifts and give them, you know, a holiday card, things like that.
That's awesome. Yeah.
Ebony Clemons-Ajibolade: So, very last question before Dawn wraps us up. [00:33:00] What's your obsession this week? I know, random, huh?
Stacy Ward-Lattin: Oh, yeah, or this month, or this year. One of the things, and I've been asked that a few times and talked about it on Ceiling Breakers actually, about kind of what, yeah, what's been something that you focused on this past year.
And for me, it was, um, supporting local artists. Something that, um, we've at the, at, at Hopping Gnome, we've had, um, you know, Final Friday and now mostly First Friday art shows really since. We opened probably that first summer. Johnny Freedom was our first art show. And so we, we've always felt like we've supported artists that way they can hang their work in our location and we leave it up for usually the whole month and support them and they have business cards.
And, um, we've always thought that was great. Well, this last year we decided that we need to be buying more art. We need to be, that's how we support. We and how can we do that? And so we've been, um, you know, participating more. We still have the art shows at our location, but participating in more art shows, um, buying more art.[00:34:00]
Um, we're actually getting a mural painted on the back of our building right now. Um, Noelle Schumann is a really young artist, is her first full mural, which is quite, quite a project. And so she came to us and it was like, what do you want? You know, Can we do this? And I said, yeah. And then she's like, well, what would you want?
And I was like, well, what do you want to do? You know, so it's going to be really fun, really colorful on the back of our building. And so I think just continuing to support the art community any way that we can has been kind of my, my obsession for this probably past year and a half. So Stacey,
Ebony Clemons-Ajibolade: when is the
Stacy Ward-Lattin: anniversary party?
So it is Saturday, June 26. We're having an outdoor party in the parking lot, uh, behind our building. It's actually our neighbor, Eminem Insurance's parking lot. And we'll have beer, food trucks, live bands, um, photo booth, games, bring the whole family. It starts at noon and it goes to like 11 p. m. So it's an all day, all evening.
Check
Don Sherman: it out. Remind folks what that
Stacy Ward-Lattin: address is. So, um, 17, it's our, our address is 1710 East Douglas. It's at Douglas and Hydraulic. Mm-hmm. and the parking lot's just right behind [00:35:00] there. So it's like Hydraulic and Victor. 1700 East Douglas. We'll be able to ride our bikes. Walk. Yes. Scooter up there. Take the Q
Ebony Clemons-Ajibolade: line.
Yes. Take Q line.
Stacy Ward-Lattin: for the all electric bus.
Ebony Clemons-Ajibolade: Yes. There you go. Yeah, there you
Stacy Ward-Lattin: go. We'll
Don Sherman: be there. Yeah. Now it's time for some word association. I give you one word, you give me one word back, it's not wrong, because it's your word, right? Okay. She said okay.
Stacy Ward-Lattin: Leader. HBIC.
Do I it on here. Oh, that's
what I thought that comes to mind. Boom,
Don Sherman: that's exactly what we want. Wichita.
Stacy Ward-Lattin: Community. Chamber. I was going to say also community. I'll change Wichita to home and Chambers to [00:36:00] community.
If community was the word community a lot, is probably what I'm saying.
Don Sherman: There's a softball one. Beverage. Beer.
Stacy Ward-Lattin: Family. Here, yeah, here in Wichita and Kansas and just thinking I'm a dog, Frank. Hey, Frank.
Don Sherman: You got a dog. Well, we'll talk about that later. Entrepreneur.
Stacy Ward-Lattin: Risk taker. Excellent. Vacation. Much needed.
Don Sherman: Last but not least, fun.
Stacy Ward-Lattin: Concerts. Thank you.
Don Sherman: Thank you very
Stacy Ward-Lattin: much.
Ebony Clemons-Ajibolade: Ladies and gentlemen, it's that time. We are at the end of our show, but I hope you have enjoyed your time with us today. Stacey, thank you for being here. It's been amazing. I love hearing your story and hearing the story of Hoppy [00:37:00] Nome. Yeah, thanks for having me. Of course.
So friends, please like us, subscribe, leave a message and a comment. Let us know what you like, what you don't like. Well, I mean, keep off what you don't like, but let us know who you want to hear from and we will make certain to bring them on the show. All right. Till next time. Like
Don Sherman: us, love us. Share us.
Peace.
Intro: The Wichita Chamber Business Accelerator is brought to you by the Wichita Regional Chamber of Commerce and is powered by Evergy. Visit wichitachamber. org for a list of the area leaders we've interviewed for this series. This show is part of the ICT Podcast Network. For more information, visit ICTpod.
net.
Don Sherman: You didn't bring us samples. Is that against the law? To bring
Stacy Ward-Lattin: it outside the... No, I could definitely bring you samples. I didn't know. I mean, it's only 9 o'clock in the morning. I
Ebony Clemons-Ajibolade: mean,
Don Sherman: [00:38:00] well... I said that for heaven's sake. That is irrelevant,
Ebony Clemons-Ajibolade: Stacy. She has
Stacy Ward-Lattin: to have her morning brew. I that on the way here.
I was like, oh, I probably should have stopped and grabbed some. So we'll get you some samples. Okay, we'll
Don Sherman: just have to book you again, I guess.