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Below are the email digests highlighting how In Fine Spirits was born.
From: Kissack, Jill M.
Sent: Sunday, October 26, 2003 5:43 PM
Subject: Jill and Shane are "In Fine Spirits"
For $1,000 you too can own your own company...
Friends, Family and Colleagues - As many of you are aware, we have been planning and strategizing for over two years to open a wine shop in the Chicago area. I am happy to announce that as of this week In Fine Spirits, Ltd. is an official corporation!! As we officially launch the start of our company, I am implementing what we in the consulting world call a "communication plan" and we in the retail industry call "PR" - we would like to share with all of you our triumphs and setbacks as we continue through this process through periodic e-mails.
We would also like to take these opportunities to publicly thank anyone who has gone above and beyond for us. At this time, we would like to thank our very creative friend, Sal Syed, who came up with the name "In Fine Spirits" in exchange for dinner. Thanks Sal and please let us know when and where you would like to dine!
And what do two individuals with a future in the wine industry do to celebrate a momentous occasion like this, you may ask? We shared a glass of Sparkling Wine from J Winery. Some of you may or may not know, but J is a special nickname that Shane has for Jill and they have some excellent tasting wines - as such it has become one of our favorite wineries. What made this situation even better is that we were vacationing in Sonoma last week and enjoyed a glass at the winery itself.
Next up on our agenda...Location, Location, Location...
All our best,
Jill & Shane Kissack
Owners - In Fine Spirits, Ltd.
From: Jill Kissack
Sent: Friday, March 26, 2004 4:25 PM
Subject: "In Fine Sprits" has found a home!!
Friends, Family and Colleagues
After meeting with three different Chamber of Commerce offices, three different Alderman offices, three different real estate companies, visiting/driving by ten different spaces, placing two proposals, hundreds of phone calls back and forth to our real estate agent and numerous bottles of wine to ease the stress, we are happy to announce that In Fine Spirits has a location!!!!
Last week we signed a lease to a 925 square foot space located at 5418 N. Clark, in the Andersonville neighborhood of Chicago. The space is located down the street from a local coffee shop, a local restaurant (Tomboy, for you Chicagoans), an art gallery and a chocolate shop; all of which we believe will have some excellent cross-marketing opportunities. Andersonville is an old Swedish neighborhood that has recently blossomed. There are a lot of small upstart boutiques and specialty shops in between historic Swedish places. For more information on Andersonville, see www.andersonville.org
At this time, we would like to thank our very patient and wonderful real estate agent, Katie Kinsella with Sussex & Reilly! Katie has been working with us since early October and was willing to work with us, even though we were a start-up business and we knew very little about the commercial real estate business. I know that we could have never done this without her! Thanks again, Katie!
As always, we believe in celebrating a momentous occasion like this with a special bottle of wine. Tonight we will be sharing a bottle of Syrah from Cascade Cliffs. We happened upon this winery a few years ago when we were vacationing in Columbia Valley, Washington. We spent a wonderful evening with the owner of the winery talking and tasting wine; he even extracted still aging wine out of oak barrels for us to try! It has been one of our favorite wineries ever since. Unfortunately, they do not distribute in Illinois - but we are hoping to change that in the very near future!
Next up on our agenda...even more meetings, phone calls and waiting for our permits to come through so that we can begin working on the space!!
All our best,
Jill& Shane Kissack
Owners - In Fine Spirits, Ltd.
From: Jill Kissack
Sent: Sunday, July 18, 2004 4:03 PM
Subject: Set-backs, Challenges and Finally Forward Movement
Family, Friends and Colleagues
When we announced in March In Fine Spirit's had a location our hope was that we would be open by now. However, the Small Business Gods have decided this would not be the case.
The first of our struggles began when Jill picked-up the liquor license application and discovered our location was not zoned for the type of liquor license that we needed. At this point, a meeting with our alderman was promptly scheduled but would not occur for ten days. During these days of anticipation, Jill quickly studied up on the intricacies of the city zoning laws (by the end she was on her way to becoming an expert...as much as one can be when dealing with the city of Chicago). The alderman was unaware of our zoning problems and quickly pulled out the zoning code book...which he couldn't figure out either. The meeting concluded that he would do whatever was necessary to help, however, he wanted the full support of the Andersonville Chamber of Commerce.
We were fortunate in that we were scheduled to appear in front of the Chamber of Commerce that very same week. At the meeting, the Chamber was also in support of our store (one member's first comment was something like "finally, someone is putting in a wine store - we need one around here!"). At the meeting, one of the local bar owners suggested that we hire his liquor lawyer to help with this matter. As such, we promptly called this liquor lawyer who told us that our best option was to ask for a special use permit. He unfortunately, wasn't the best man for the job so he referred us to another lawyer (who has a relative that is either is currently/was on the zoning board).
So that is what we have done. We are currently waiting to appear before the zoning board (hopefully at the end of August) so that we can get our special use certificate which will allow us to apply for the liquor license. This can, and will be taken care of, for the bargain price of 10K (hey, it is Chicago) and a two/three month set-back.
At this point, we were on our way! We had received the permits back from the city and were waiting to start construction on the space! That was until we got the final quote back from the contractor. Our lease agreement states that the landlords would provide a set amount of money to fix-up the space. This sum of money was determined by a high-level quote that we had done in December. Through the permit process, the city required quite of few additional items that were not in the original estimates (a water fountain in the bathroom.....still can't figure that one out). As such, the quote for the work came back at 75% higher than the original estimate but the landlord was still only required to provide the original agreed-upon money. In came the other dilemma - would we have enough money to cover these additional costs?
A quick look at our financial statements indicated that we would have enough money to cover our costs but we would be strapped for cash that we may need at opening. We quickly called our lawyer to determine our options. She suggested a compromise: the landlords would provide additional money for the build out and we would agree to pay higher rent than originally agreed upon (this way the landlords get their money back over the life of the lease). After a couple more weeks of negotiations, this is what we have decided to do.
The good news however, is that construction began this week!!!! Our space is currently a mess with the crew wrapping-up demolition but we are on our way. There are still a lot of outstanding issues and potential areas for additional set-backs but we took this to be a very good week for In Fine Spirits. Our hope is that we are making the sacrifices now to the Start-Up Gods so that they will bless us when we open!
One additional highlight in this is that we have also settled upon a logo for our store (see at the bottom of this message). We hired an excellent marketing company, Project 36, and have two amazing people, Ann Marie and Chris, working with us through this process.
We are hesitant to suggest an opening date but are hoping that it will be well before the Christmas holiday season begins. Jill's cousin Dave, who is getting married in December and plans to purchase the liquor for his wedding through In Fine Spirits, is praying that the toast will not conclude with "If you could all raise your water glasses please..."
At this time, we would like to thank our architect, Joel Berman for all of his hard work and dedication. Not only is Joel an excellent architect, he has gone out of his way to help with anything that we needed from negotiating with our landlord and contractor, faxing documents to our lawyer and suggesting ideas that have helped contain costs. Joel, you have been a lifesaver and we thank you!!
As you can imagine we have consumed quite a few bottles of wine for therapeutic purposes throughout this entire ordeal!However, we are planning to celebrate with our friends this evening a mark this special occasion with a rack of lamb and a bottle of River's Edge Pinot Noir from Oregon. As many of you know, we were married in a winery in Michigan were we had taken our very first vacation together four years prior to our wedding. During this first visit, we stayed in a bed and breakfast called River's Edge. Not only that, but Lamb and Pinot Noir is an excellent pairing.
All our best,
Jill & Shane Kissack
Owners - In Fine Spirits, Ltd.
From: Kissack, Jill M.
Sent: Monday, November 22, 2004 11:16 PM
Subject: In Fine Spirits Update - Crossing Our Fingers
Family, Friends and Colleagues
We are happy to report that as of Friday, November 5th the fate of In Fine Spirits lies in the city of Chicago's hands as we submitted our liquor license application. The requisite faith we need in the city does not necessarily provide a sense of calm and peace even though the 50+ page application, requiring six month financial statements copied, explained and notarized is complete.
Part of the liquor license process includes 5 different inspections from the city's health, ventilation, fire, building and plumbing departments as well as being fingerprinted and having an FBI background check completed. The fingerprinting took place last Monday and our inspection was last Thursday. After staying at the store until the wee hours Wednesday morning we were relieved to discover the process to be relatively pain-free; a blessing from the Small Business Gods.. We are currently tying up all of the loose ends and expect to receive final inspection sign-off by the end of this week.
By law, the city must wait at least 45 days to notify us of our approval; at that time, they could also decide to extend the process another 35 days waiting for further information. The 45th day from our submission of the application will be Monday, December 20th. At that time of notification, we could be open within 24 - 48 hours so we are hoping to make it just in time for Christmas and plenty of time for everyone to purchase their wine and spirits, from us, for New Year's Eve!!
As you can imagine, we have spent countless hours in the store getting ready for this inspection and are very encouraged by amount of neighborhood residents stopping in and inquiring "When are you going to open? The neighborhood has needed a wine store for a long time." As such, we feel very confident in our location decision and believe it will be well worth the wait.
As you can imagine, we have celebrated these milestones with multiple bottles of wine, - but not necessarily on the same evening! To celebrate submitting our application, we drank a bottle of ZD Cabernet from Napa Valley with a nice steak grilled at home. Interestingly enough, we visited this winery when we were in Napa last year, but Jill wouldn't let Shane buy any of the wine. It's now become her favorites Napa Cab and she recently purchased three bottles! This weekend, we celebrated the inspection process with a bottle of White Star from Moet Chandon; this is a perfect champagne for us as its not too sweet, which Jill appreciates, but not too dry for Shane.
Last but not least, we would love to express our abundance of gratitude to two individuals who have also spent countless hours with us helping with construction; Craig Einfeldt, Jill's dad, and Dave Gean, both Shane's best friend and Jill's cousin. One of the biggest lessons we have learned through this process is that neither Shane nor Jill are competent in construction matters, so without these two we may never have finished. Dad, consider my college paid for and Dave, free dinners for life. We would also like to thank Jill's uncle Ande our friend Harry and Jill's brother-in-law Ted for their help as well; not to mention the wives of all of these men who have spent more time with us than at home for some time now.
We have attached a 'before' and 'after' picture for you to see the progress. Next up on the agenda, EVERYTHING ELSE!!
All our best,
Jill & Shane Kissack
Owners - In Fine Spirits, Ltd.
From: jill@infinespirits.com
Sent: Wednesday, December 29, 2004 11:31 PM
Subject: In Fine Spirit's Belated Christmas Present
Friends, Family, Colleagues and Future Customers
In Fine Spirits now has a liquor license!!! We are planning to open Friday, December 31st from 1:00 to 7:00 p.m. - just in time for you to purchase your wine and spirits for New Year's Eve.
More details to follow...
Jill & Shane Kissack
In Fine Spirits
5418 N. Clark Street
Chicago, IL 60640
(773) 506 - WINE
www.infinespirits.com
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