Boyd Cru Wines Story
Boyd Cru Wines is a wine company that aims to take the pretentiousness out of wine, build community, connection and expression as well as make it accessible by introducing wine as a mood. Introducing wine as a mood helps wine drinkers both beginners and enthusiast discover wines they like based on their own palette, lifestyle, and preferences rather than be told what to like. We are the first Black family owned wine company in Maryland according to the Maryland Wine Association. We believe in making wines that are locally grown with sustainable practices in Maryland. Our wines are approachable, vibrant, joyful, and liberating. We're also disrupting the industry by bringing a nontraditional approach to a traditional industry. Our niche is focusing 90% of our wines around creating and producing blends and helping consumers learn more about wine through relevant and relatable experiences. We invite our community to come sip outside the lines with Boyd Cru Wines while changing the landscape of what the wine industry looks like.
There are two full time roles within Boyd Cru Wines, myself, Jon’ll Boyd, I am the CEO of Boyd Cru Wines and my business partner, Matthew Boyd, is the COO of Boyd Cru Wines. The background and relevant skills that Jon’ll and Matthew bring to Boyd Cru Wines are prior business owners who bring 15 years of event planning business and customer service experience into Boyd Cru Wines as well as 12 years of pharmaceutical and chemistry knowledge. Both the CEO and the COO have an extensive educational background of a combined 20+ years of formal education and leadership skills which includes an MBA in Marketing, an Executive MBA from Darden Business program, WSET (Wine, Spirits, and Education Trust) Level 1 Certified and Washington State University’s Wine and Business Management Certification.
The Maryland wine market is still considered to be in the beginning or infancy stages but is steadily growing as it relates to years in the industry, in comparison, to its nearby neighbor, Virginia, that has a reputation is often referred to as Virginia Wine Country. However Maryland wines and wineries are not to be underestimated. The current market, although small, is steadily growing. There are currently over 80 Maryland wineries as opposed to over 300 in the state of Virginia. With the opportunity to start our wine company in either Virginia or Maryland we saw more opportunity in Maryland to be a part of a growing wine scene that has been considered the underdog. We also saw an opportunity and need for more diversity just within the Maryland wine scene that Boyd Cru Wines could champion.
Our focus is on wine experiences and wine education that is community driven, culture centric and lifestyle enhancing have been one of most important differentiators and has allowed us to benefit from selling direct to our consumers. We have participated and/or partnered with other small businesses for a successful completion of 35 events as well as wine education in Maryland from April-December. We plan to increase this to 50 events in 2024. Continuing to focus on direct to consumer also allows us to benefit from 80-90% profit margin. Face time with our customers also builds rapport, trust and loyalty.
Distribution was not our main focus in 2023 but is one of our top goals for 2024. Currently in 2 2nd tier wine shops located in Maryland. Our goal for 2024 is 2 big box retailers and 5 2nd tier wine shops so that we can increase expand distribution, increase our reach with less time yielded while balancing our direct to consumer events.
The Cru in Boyd Cru Wines means growth. The impetus to start our wine journey which led to Boyd Cru Wines came in the middle of the pandemic after losing two loved ones suddenly and way too soon, my husband’s mother and my nephew. This made us realize that life is short and that now is the time to really follow our dreams as a family and build community and connection that became so sorely missed during the pandemic . Out of a desire to step out on faith and grow through our experiences with wine and how it has always been a part of our most memorable life’s moments, our journey with owning a wine business began. Our mission statement is at the center of our company, our customers and our employees is GROWTH. Values: We are committed to G-Growth, R-Respect, O-Ownership, W-Warmth, T-Transparency, H-Heart.
