Honeoye Falls Distillery, a craft-spirits producer and distributor, launched operations in June and has its products in liquor stores, bars, and restaurants throughout upstate New York. The company, in its first three months, has placed products in almost 200 liquor stores, bars, and restaurants throughout the region, says John Marshall, the distillery’s co-founder and […]
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Honeoye Falls Distillery, a craft-spirits producer and distributor, launched operations in June and has its products in liquor stores, bars, and restaurants throughout upstate New York.
The company, in its first three months, has placed products in almost 200 liquor stores, bars, and restaurants throughout the region, says John Marshall, the distillery’s co-founder and president. That includes 42 locations in Central New York.
The regional stores, bars, and restaurants selling the distillery’s spirits include — Pascale’s Wine and Spirits; Blue Tusk and Empire Brewing Company on Walton Street in Armory Square; and The Lamont Tavern in Solvay, according to the distillery’s website.
“That is amazing,” exclaims Marshall. “We really did that and achieved that [during] a very slow time for liquor.”
The principals launched the business in June, following more than a year of market research, says Marshall, a Jamesville native.
Marshall spoke with CNYBJ by phone from the Jamesville area of DeWitt on Sept. 14.
The distillery’s ownership group had to find a location, purchase the equipment, and secure its licensing and label approval, which took time.
“It’s a process,” he says.
The distillery operates at 106 West Main St. in Honeoye Falls, south of Rochester. The company is located on the “craft-beverage trail and the craft-wine trail,” says
Marshall, noting it’s an area filled with wineries, distilleries, and breweries.
“That’s one of the reasons we picked that area,” he added.
The distillery is located “across the street” from a brewery called Craft Brewers, and “the two of us feed off each other,” noting they selected the firm’s location “very carefully.”
Its building includes the still for producing the vodka, gin, and whiskey, he says.
The facility handles the beverage mashing, fermenting, distilling, and bottling of the liquor. Employees then package the spirits on pallets and place them in cases. It also has a tasting room and cocktail bar, he adds.
Employees
The distillery has sales representatives in Syracuse, Rochester, and Buffalo and wants to hire one for Albany. Marshall also handles sales and marketing for the distillery.
The sales representatives cover large territories. The individual working in the Syracuse area also pursues clients in the Utica–Rome, Ithaca, and Binghamton regions.
Honeoye Falls Distillery employs more than 10 people between locations in Syracuse, Buffalo, and Rochester. The figure does not include the owners but does include a mix of full- and part-time workers, he says.
“I’m expecting … [the employee count] to double [in the next year], without question,” says Marshall.
Honeoye Falls Distillery hopes to expand outside New York, and has applied for liquor licenses in surrounding states, he adds.
Marshall declined to disclose a revenue projection for the distillery’s first year of operation.
The company makes spirits that include Devil’s Bathtub Gin, Frozen Falls Vodka, and Lantern Light Moonshine, which the company named after the building in which it operates. Honeoye Falls Distillery operates in a building that was previously home to the Starlight Lantern Co., says Marshall.
New venture
Marshall co-founded the business with Scott Stanton, who is the firm’s CEO. Marshall and Stanton are the majority owners. Marshall declined to disclose their percentage of ownership. The ownership group also includes other minority partners.
Head distiller Teal Schlegel oversees the distillery and its production with a “small team around him.” Another employee operates the tasting room.
Marshall declined to disclose how much the ownership group spent to launch the distillery. They used a combination of their own money and a loan from an “upstate New York bank,” which Marshall declined to name.
“To get this up and running … it’s really late nights and working every single weekend,” says Marshall. “Then hiring the right salespeople and hiring the right production team to get it done.”
Besides his work in sales and marketing for the distillery, Marshall also serves as the global vice president of sales and marketing for Client Outlook Inc., a Waterloo, Ontario–based medical-imaging software company.
Marshall has worked for three startup companies that focus on medical-imaging software over the past 20 years, he says.
When asked how he divides his time between his work for Client Outlook and the distillery, Marshall replied, “It’s very difficult.”
“I love the thought of creating something from scratch and then finding a way to make it grow,” says Marshall, noting it’s his “dream” to have his own business.
Marshall saw the distillery as a “really good business opportunity,” noting the principals started their market research in early 2014.
Marshall and Stanton have worked together at Client Outlook for about a decade, he says.
Stanton and Schlegel had the original idea. Schlegel told Stanton that he could make the spirits, and Marshall and Stanton believed they could sell the product, according to Marshall.
