Bay Grape, Josiah Baldivino and Stevie Stacionis

Donate our space and time to host one event per quarter at each location that benefits and promotes underrepresented groups within the wine industry (LGBTQ+, BIPOC, etc) - So far, we HAVE done this! Although I'm definitely realizing that once per quarter is a fast and ambitious timeline... whew, those quarters sneak up on you! I am not sure we'll be able to stay this ambitious over the next year, as the planning and coordination feel like 2x per year would be more practical. Honestly, I feel like this is a crucial goal, but I should probably figure out a way to hire a full-time event planner who can dedicate brainspace to this.

Incorporate existing annual DEI training programs into routine onboarding training for all new employees in addition to annual refresher course. We are working on this, actually, in this moment. Again, just being transparent/vulnerable, bigger projects like this tend to get back-burnered as a small business owner when you're constantly just trying to stay properly staffed, get the floors mopped on a regular basis, and keep afloat. In the past year, resurfacing from the trauma of the pandemic, we've struggled to prioritize big picture projects while we figure out how to manage a remotely sustainable flow of service and make margins. Our current training program is 3 shifts x 8 hours each, so 24 hours just on training to work the floor, and that comes entirely from us as owners currently. Adding another several hours to our weekly plate feels... [insert melting emoji here], so... 

Bring reusable wine packaging and storage into store locations (e.g. kegs with option to fill up onsite) to replace significantportion of packaging waste, especially glass, for our BTG options as well as take-away. Oooof! This one has been a doozy. I truly had no idea how many rabbit holes and vortexes of logistical challenges I would face when I committed to this. On the one hand, YES, we succeeded in this, as we have brought reusable wine packaging into the store via the Snowden Cousins washable Merlot bottle project, and on the other, I fully thought we would be doing routine bottle washing and implementing kegs. Without making this article into a university-level semester course, suffice it to say that this is nowhere near as easy as I anticipated it would be. I have to rest a bit knowing that we are still pursuing the end goal, and I need to find the balance of being patient and practical with that while also insisting on progress (something I'm fairly gung-ho and pushy about)... it's a slippery slope, and I'm doing my best.