Today we’d like to introduce you to Richard Monis.
Hi Richard, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today.
So nine years ago I was going through the process of planning my wedding with my wife. The next couple of years following this, we attended a lot of different weddings as a lot of our friends were getting married at that time as well. Every wedding I went to would be slightly different in that the budgets were different so, of course, the locations would be nicer than some others, the food might be nicer than some others, the decoration might be nicer than some others but the one thing that never changed and always seem to be average what is the drinking options at every wedding and event that I was going to.
Now I don’t know about you but when I go to Events I’m always going to the bar pretty much upon arrival because drinking whether it’s just socially and having conversations or partying hard all night with your friends and family for a wedding, the point is everyone comes to a party to do exactly that which is a party. I was sick and tired of standing and single file lines to get to the front of it and be greeted at a plastic acrylic bar with all of the same basic Munding options like Amstel light, Heineken, and vodka sodas.
I had been working and building and managing cocktail programs for restaurants and bars for years and I would see all these other fancy elevated elements at a wedding but never from the bar. It made no sense to me that in a world that we were living in where craft cocktails had become the norm you would spend all this money on such an important day and an important event and the alcohol service and options would be drastically overlooked.
From that point on I made it my mission to change this at least here in South Florida, I started Craft Cartel from that point on I made it my mission to change this at least here South Florida, Craft Cartel started that year and we set out to elevate the drinking experience at all events no matter whether they were high-end weddings, corporate events, private parties, bar mitzvahs, kids birthdays, you name it if a bar is needed we believe people should have good creative handcrafted options that are fun and interesting to order and consume.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
The event industry is always challenging. There are so many moving parts to every single event especially when you’re dealing with these crafty elements that we do. When you are setting up and working at your brick and mortar space bar, for example, everything is already there in place and usually, all you’re gonna do is pull it all out and set it up and service, and once that’s done clean it and break it all down.
For us to operate its kind of like moving a small one-bedroom apartment in a company truck from one side to the next and then unloading and setting all of that up, after that’s done we got to operate and perform the service, once all that’s done we get to break it all down and clean everything immediately because we deal with all perishable items. This and the fact that the venues are always changing and every venue has its different challenges, you never fully know what you might be walking into and that always presents a challenge.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about Craft Cartel?
What we specialize in at Craft Cartel is elevating the experience of consuming cocktails and beverages throughout the event industry. We specialize in creating handcrafted cocktails out of fresh ingredients that are seasonal and locally sourced. Aside from just making delicious and fresh handcrafted cocktails we are also experts in the presentation of our cocktails.
Presentation is a huge aspect of us what we do and we always say that we’re here to create Instagram mobile moments with cocktails. We want people to take their phones out and capture these memories in photos and videos because that is what reminds people of the experience that they had.
We’d love to hear what you think about risk-taking.
I have certainly taken many risks in my entrepreneurial ventures. One of my biggest risks was opening another business during Covid called Jolly hour. At this time all the events in the industry had disappeared and I was left with no events for at least eight months. I had to find something to do so that I could keep income coming for me and my family and my staff.
At that time I decided to make a pivot and because I could not serve cocktails with my team at physical events I decided to find a way to package everything into boxes and start a craft cocktail box subscription company that would allow me to ship the boxes directly to peoples front doors and all they would have to do is provide their own citrus juice and alcohol.
That was a risk because during a time when I wasn’t even making money I was willing to sync money into another business idea but it ended up helping me and carrying me through Covid. Now we have a new up-and-coming business and it ended up getting my wife out of her full-time corporate job. Taking risks is a necessary part of being an entrepreneur but knowing your threshold for those risks is equally as important.
Contact Info:
- Website: CraftCartel.net
- Instagram: @craft_cartel
- Facebook: @Craft Cartel
