Belle Isle Moonshine is raising capital to help it expand its direct-to-customer sales, which have become a large segment of its business. (Photos courtesy of Belle Isle Moonshine)
It wasn’t until about two years ago that Belle Isle Moonshine started to ship bottles of its flavored liquors directly to customers.
These days, shipping products straight to peoples’ homes accounts for well over a third of the Manchester-based distillery’s business.
The company hopes to keep that momentum flowing with an ongoing $3 million capital raise, which in addition to improvements to its online sales operation will also fund an upgrade to its tasting room.
Belle Isle started to ship products directly to customers in spring 2020, a move facilitated by the rollback on in-state shipping restrictions in Virginia early in the pandemic. The company plans to lean further into online sales with additional advertising and two new hires to improve the online shopping experience and increase sales.
“Our online platform that we launched in 2020 has tremendously and fundamentally changed our business, and so by investing in that channel and continuing to provide a better experience for customers, we will continue to add resources to that channel,” co-founder Vince Riggi said. “One of the positives out of the pandemic was we were able to start to ship direct to customers’ doorsteps in Virginia.”
Vince Riggi
Riggi said 41 percent of Belle Isle’s business is in direct-to-customer sales. The company ships its moonshine and canned cocktails to 41 states. It already had an out-of-state presence through distributors prior to 2020.
Part of its growth plan is to get in front of more Virginia customers in markets like Hampton Roads and Northern Virginia as well as out-of-state customers as it expands its direct-shipping business beyond its focus on the Richmond area.
“We’ve really just started to scratch the surface of what we can do with our e-commerce business outside (Virginia), so there’s a lot of opportunity and potential for growth there, especially as regulations in states continue to change and evolve as (direct-to-customer) privileges become more available,” a company spokeswoman said in an email.
Belle Isle also plans to invest an undisclosed amount of money into an upgrade to its existing tasting room at its distillery. The new tasting room will be constructed within the existing footprint of Belle Isle’s 14,000-square-foot facility at 615 Maury St.
While the project is still in the planning stage, Riggi said the tasting room is tentatively planned to be around 1,000 square feet and larger than the current tasting room.
“This will be a significant upgrade to the current operation,” Riggi said. “The investment in the tasting room is to provide a better experience but also introduce people to the product line in an impactful way.”
The new tasting room is expected to open later this year. An architecture firm and a general contractor hadn’t been selected as of last month.
Riggi said Belle Isle plans to hire additional employees across departments but an exact number of new hires hasn’t been determined yet. It currently has 12 employees.
The company is also investing in expanding its product list. Before the pandemic it did new releases semi-annually but is now shifting into quarterly and sometimes monthly releases.
Recent additions to Belle Isle’s lineup include Cherry Lime Drive canned cocktails as well as Yuzu Ginger moonshine.
It launched its canned cocktails in 2019, and Riggi said it has opened the company up to new customers and allowed it to establish a retail presence outside of ABC stores.
“Canned cocktails made a ton of sense because one of the components of Belle Isle is making cocktails more accessible, and educating customers to use our product to make a cocktail,” Riggi said. “What it allowed us to do as a brand is it provided us access to channels outside the ABC stores.”
Riggi declined to comment on the sales split between bottles of moonshine and canned cocktails.
The entire $3 million convertible notes capital raise is expected to wrap up by the end of the year. It had secured $1.3 million toward its goal as of last month.
Riggi declined to identify investors in the round.
Prior to this latest funding round, Belle Isle had raised at least $12.2 million over the years, according to SEC filings and previous BizSense reporting.
Belle Isle launched in 2013. It moved into its current distillery location in 2015, and later expanded there. Riggi said there aren’t immediate plans to seek additional production space.
Belle Isle Moonshine is raising capital to help it expand its direct-to-customer sales, which have become a large segment of its business. (Photos courtesy of Belle Isle Moonshine)
It wasn’t until about two years ago that Belle Isle Moonshine started to ship bottles of its flavored liquors directly to customers.
These days, shipping products straight to peoples’ homes accounts for well over a third of the Manchester-based distillery’s business.
The company hopes to keep that momentum flowing with an ongoing $3 million capital raise, which in addition to improvements to its online sales operation will also fund an upgrade to its tasting room.
Belle Isle started to ship products directly to customers in spring 2020, a move facilitated by the rollback on in-state shipping restrictions in Virginia early in the pandemic. The company plans to lean further into online sales with additional advertising and two new hires to improve the online shopping experience and increase sales.
“Our online platform that we launched in 2020 has tremendously and fundamentally changed our business, and so by investing in that channel and continuing to provide a better experience for customers, we will continue to add resources to that channel,” co-founder Vince Riggi said. “One of the positives out of the pandemic was we were able to start to ship direct to customers’ doorsteps in Virginia.”
Vince Riggi
Riggi said 41 percent of Belle Isle’s business is in direct-to-customer sales. The company ships its moonshine and canned cocktails to 41 states. It already had an out-of-state presence through distributors prior to 2020.
Part of its growth plan is to get in front of more Virginia customers in markets like Hampton Roads and Northern Virginia as well as out-of-state customers as it expands its direct-shipping business beyond its focus on the Richmond area.
“We’ve really just started to scratch the surface of what we can do with our e-commerce business outside (Virginia), so there’s a lot of opportunity and potential for growth there, especially as regulations in states continue to change and evolve as (direct-to-customer) privileges become more available,” a company spokeswoman said in an email.
Belle Isle also plans to invest an undisclosed amount of money into an upgrade to its existing tasting room at its distillery. The new tasting room will be constructed within the existing footprint of Belle Isle’s 14,000-square-foot facility at 615 Maury St.
While the project is still in the planning stage, Riggi said the tasting room is tentatively planned to be around 1,000 square feet and larger than the current tasting room.
“This will be a significant upgrade to the current operation,” Riggi said. “The investment in the tasting room is to provide a better experience but also introduce people to the product line in an impactful way.”
The new tasting room is expected to open later this year. An architecture firm and a general contractor hadn’t been selected as of last month.
Riggi said Belle Isle plans to hire additional employees across departments but an exact number of new hires hasn’t been determined yet. It currently has 12 employees.
The company is also investing in expanding its product list. Before the pandemic it did new releases semi-annually but is now shifting into quarterly and sometimes monthly releases.
Recent additions to Belle Isle’s lineup include Cherry Lime Drive canned cocktails as well as Yuzu Ginger moonshine.
It launched its canned cocktails in 2019, and Riggi said it has opened the company up to new customers and allowed it to establish a retail presence outside of ABC stores.
“Canned cocktails made a ton of sense because one of the components of Belle Isle is making cocktails more accessible, and educating customers to use our product to make a cocktail,” Riggi said. “What it allowed us to do as a brand is it provided us access to channels outside the ABC stores.”
Riggi declined to comment on the sales split between bottles of moonshine and canned cocktails.
The entire $3 million convertible notes capital raise is expected to wrap up by the end of the year. It had secured $1.3 million toward its goal as of last month.
Riggi declined to identify investors in the round.
Prior to this latest funding round, Belle Isle had raised at least $12.2 million over the years, according to SEC filings and previous BizSense reporting.
Belle Isle launched in 2013. It moved into its current distillery location in 2015, and later expanded there. Riggi said there aren’t immediate plans to seek additional production space.