Summer day drinking just got easier with The Sip — a company that delivers sparkling wine directly to doorsteps across the country.
The timing couldn't have been more perfect: The company launched a few months before the onset of the pandemic, when, instead of going out to bars, people were drinking more at home. Since then, the start-up's business has been booming, and the forecast for the summer is looking bubbly.
The Sip founders Erica Davis and Catherine Carter told TODAY Food in an interview that their friendship and the initial purpose for the company is why they've seen success during a difficult time for businesses. They also shared how what they're doing to make the industry more diverse, including some of their philanthropic initiatives.
But first, the most pressing matter at hand: how to get their wine delivered to you.
How to get sparkling wine delivered to your door
The Sip is a subscription service shipping sparkling wines to 43 states and Canada either by the (customizable) box or by the bottle. Customers can sign up to receive deliveries every other month.
Its catalogue features hundreds of sparkling wine options — from dry to sweet and big-name brands to small wineries.
Davis and Carter said they created a wine delivery service because they used to spend a lot of time researching wines to find something they like, often to no avail. But when they finally found what they wanted, they couldn't find a place that sold the particular wine.
"We wanted a place where you could just discover the brands, have different wines and have them conveniently available for you," Carter said. "People have wine subscriptions. This could be one that's really focused on discovery that makes it convenient for you."
Davis said "everything we do is about palate first," so The Sip has tasting guides available for reference, and with each order, it curates wine suggestions customers can try based on their palate's preferences. The idea to include personalized curations came from their own experience of figuring out their wine preferences.
"As we started trying to taste things, we started seeing things that we didn't understand: why we would love something the same, or why it wouldn't work for my palate, it would work for her palate. And as we were trying to seek an answer for that we had this moment where we were just like, who else is this problem for?"
'Bootstrapping' into the industry
Davis and Carter have been best friends since they were teenagers and later on they both became members of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, the first Black Greek-letter sorority. As they got older, they wanted to ensure they still made time for each other as life got busy, so they started having weekly wine nights together.
"We grew up together. So she got married, I got married. She had a baby, I had a baby," said Carter. "And you know, a lot of people have their date nights with their husbands. We have our date nights with each other just so we can stay close and stay in contact with each other."
The Sip came out of their conversations at these date nights. Previously, Davis worked in tech and Carter worked in hospitality. So as they started the company, they divided responsibilities according to their strengths: Davis is on the tech side handling merchandising and subscriptions, and Carter is on the wine operations and distribution side, given her ties to the alcohol industry.
That part was easy. The hard part was funding their new idea.
"We had to really believe in it because it was an investment between us with our money," said Carter. "We bootstrapped it that way.”
They launched The Sip at the beginning of 2020. A few months later, at the beginning of the pandemic, when investors were increasingly hard to come by, they landed a small investment that brought the total seed money to $10,000 for the first 18 months. Their lifetime sales are now more than $2 million.
"When we started The Sip, we wanted to make sure that it was recession-proof. We didn't really realize that it needed to also be pandemic-proof," said Davis. "And I think we all can say that the last two years have been really hard on a lot of people. And I hate to say that the pandemic did do well for us. But what we were able to do, I'm excited about, was facilitate those happy moments for people," such as providing drinks at virtual weddings, anniversary celebrations and birthday parties.
Friends doing business together can either be a blessing or a curse. — and in this case, it's a blessing. Davis and Carter said working with friends and family is easier when everyone knows their role and stays within those boundaries.
"Stay in your lane," Davis advised. "The thing that works for us is that like I’m able to focus on the things I need to focus on, and she’s able to focus on those things, and we’re able to trust each other to do our jobs in the betterment of the company but also our customers. I think like not having us both focus on the same things. It allows us to control our individual categories, and then come together and support each other."
Carter agreed, adding, "There were some really tough growing pains as we got here. I know for me, personally, and I think Erica would agree, too, starting a business and owning a business is like one of the hardest things you’ll do. And so while I do understand the warning of be careful doing it with friends and family, I also could not imagine that doing it with anybody else."
'Incorporating diversity at every step'
Black people make up a slim minority in the wine world, and Davis and Carter are taking action to increase diversity in the field.
Davis and Carter said 90% of their staff are Black women and that's the first group of people they consider when looking for influencers to promote the company. They also purposely carry multiple Black-owned wine brands to raise awareness about those companies.
"For us, it's about incorporating diversity at every step of the way when it comes to what we put in front of our customers," Davis explained.
The Sip also has philanthropic initiatives: Both Carter and Davis are originally from Oakland, California, and for every The Sip product sold, they donate 16 ounces of water to the East Oakland Community Project, a non-profit providing transitional housing options for people experiencing homelessness.
"Before we even made our first sale, we wanted to make sure that we gave back," Carter said. "To date we've donated over 5,000 gallons to this organization. We are currently maxing out so we're looking for other organizations to give to … that's another core piece of what we are."
From here, Davis and Carter plan to keep on pouring their passion into their business and pouring proceeds into their community.
EDITOR'S NOTE (May 18, 2022, 10:43 a.m. ET): A previous version of this article stated that The Sip ships to 46 states; this has been corrected to 43.
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