Today we’d like to introduce you to Erin Sealy
Hi Erin, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
I started working in a small, Normal Heights wine bar in 2007 to pay off student debt and save up to buy a house. At that time, I was working as an engineer in a completely different field. I had always enjoyed wine, especially after spending a summer taking summer classes in Rome, through USD. The owner of the wine bar was new to the wine industry as well. Quickly, my role expanded and I was assisting with they wine buying. That first year the owner and I tasted over 2500 different wine. It was a crash course in everything wine. I so enjoyed this part-time work I started taking on more projects and business development opportunities. Around 2009, I started pairing up different wines with cheeses and different charcuterie. Later than year I designed a 3-course pairing menu as a one night only, pop-up concept, that the onsite kitchen presented. Though it was a great experience for guests in attendance, the flavor profiles weren’t quite what I envisioned. This led me to attempt create-and cook-a menu on my own. Though I still have no formal training as a chef, I was an avid home chef at the time and from my youngest days, would come up with different flavor combinations, refusing to follow recipes. It used to drive my mother insane. That first event with me at the helm, was in April 2010. I did not quit my day job. Though it was…successful, it wasn’t sustainable beyond supporters who knew me from the three years I was already involved with the wine bar. I spent the next 4 years continuing to learn about food and wine, individually and as a combination. Mostly by trial and error. At one point I was holding 6-8 wine pairing dinners a month, in that small, 18 person wine bar. In the fall of 2014 I made the jump and did quit my day job. At the time, I was about to add a new location where I could hold dinners 1-2 times a month at a restaurant in UTC, in addition to the numerous dinners at the Normal Heights wine bar. Over the next year, I added another restaurant, this one in La Mesa. At this location I would hold one wine dinner each month, and one beer or spirits dinner. Each year I’ve continued to add 1-2 locations. Though Covid basically meant I had to start over, finding new locations and partners. I am now back up to my pre-covid numbers with 8-10 different pop-up dinner locations, where I hold monthly events.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
I’ve never met a business owner who has had a “smooth road”, does one exist? Covid is definitely the largest hurdle most business owners, especially restaurants, can fathom at this point, I imagine (hope). I am no different there. I made a big jump in 2019. After saying, from the beginning, that would never open a brick and mortar, I did. I had been renting the space as a regular pop up for a few months, knowing the owner of the space really wanted a sub-tenant restaurant there. I took a chance. Following the motto, “rarely do we regret the things we do, often it’s the things we don’t do”. My goal was not to be tethered to a singular space (and menu), but to keep hosting pop-up dinners with 1-2 night menus. The remained of the time I envisioned an elevated wine bar with a small but curated menu. In November 2019 I agreed to take on the space and a rent payment that was double my mortgage. It was scary, but exciting. I soft opened in January 2020 with a planned grand opening of April 1st 2020. April fools, indeed. By March of 2020 I had finally found 2 employees who I trusted (not a easy thing), that could cover the wine bar when I wasn’t there. I was finally able to refocus on pop-up dinners and expanding the concept for my new space. Things became much scarier and were no longer exciting. I was not in a position to continue to hold dinners. I did not have outdoor space and the thought of setting up shop in the parking lot, on a busy street was a nonstarter. I pivoted (still sick of that word) to a delivery program. I went to working 18 hour days, every day. I would clean, shop, clean, cook, drive and deliver, respond to emails and send out delivery invoices, then repeat. I was driving all corners of the county and a couple times a month into Orange County. I was able to pay rent on the space I never fully opened. When the county went back into purple (that was a near, full shutdown) I walked away from the space. Luckily I was not in a lease agreement. It was a handshake I did my best to hold my word on. The owner only gave me 2 months rent-free. I did eventually start taking days off once a week at the start of 2021. Then twice a week. I kept the delivery program going through February 2022. Many of my customers are retired. Because I physically did the deliveries, I was able to check in on many of my customers during a worrisome time, I will always be thankful for that. It also kept me relevant and financially afloat. It did almost make me stop cooking though. What doesn’t kill us…
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I think what makes me/my business unique is that is it both business oriented/savvy and creative. You don’t make it through covid, or even in the restaurant business this long, without being smart about your business model and understanding all things business (marketing, margins, customer retention…all of that). You can learn business. You may not be amazing at it, but you can learn the ins and outs. Being creative though is a gift you cannot teach. I can teach someone the basics of cooking and understanding wine, but I cannot teach someone to create what I create. In the course of my quest to learn about wine and food, I discovered that I had an exceptional palate and nose. Not a toot my own horn kind of way, more so that I am able to taste and smell things that most people cannot. It is a blessing and a curse. But, it does allow me to create nuanced dishes and pairing concepts that many chefs wouldn’t consider. Besides this, on a chef level I have something that makes me different as well. Most chefs will not create a dish that is missing a piece. I often do. I specifically create dishes which are meant to exemplify the wine it is paired with. The wine is the missing piece, ingredient, if you will. My food is not meant to be stand alone, it is created to compliment the wine. Most chefs work the other way. They create a dish, then find a wine that will work with it. My focus is always the whole, not the individual parts of food and wine.
Are there any important lessons you’ve learned that you can share with us?
Try not to take everything personal. It’s a lesson I’m still learning.
Pricing:
- Though dinners vary in price depending on the featured wine, I’ve kept my pricing in line with 2019. I’m super proud of this!
- 5-Course Dinners range from $85-100 (+tax/grat) on average
- I also offer a 3-course dinner once a month with a total per person cost of $79 (usually)
- I also offer private dinners/catering options and have kept that pricing only slightly increased from 2019
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.winepairsevents.com
- Instagram: /winepairsevents
- Facebook: /winepairsevents
- Twitter: /winepairsevents
- Other: Insta: /winepairsevents
Image Credits
Wine Pairs Events, LLC
