Michael Stacks and Kerry built Bold Mariner Brewing from 2015 to a 30% annual growth operation with help from the SBA and Veteran Business Outreach Center. They shifted to cans during COVID, expanded into grocery stores, and now mentor other veteran entrepreneurs.
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I'm Michael Stacks. I'm the owner of the Bold Mariner Brewing Company. I'm active duty Navy. I've been in the Navy for 18 years. I'm currently on shore duty. I started the Bold Mariner Brewing Company now to help with my transition towards retirement within the next two years. When I think back from when we opened to where we are now, it's been an incredible journey. Much more than what we had anticipated when we started.
From when we opened in 2015 to now, a lot has changed. We've grown both personally and professionally. Looking back on the video, I just want to give those two people a hug and just let them know it's going to be okay.
I served 24 years in the Navy and as I started to get closer to my retirement, we started thinking about transitioning from active duty to opening the brewery. I found the Veteran Business Outreach center and when I went in and started to work with the VBoC, they started to introduce me to the SBA and other resources available to help me get the business started. We wouldn't have been able to open the brewery without the help of the SBA and the VBoC.
We love helping the veterans and their families get their businesses started. We teach the two day entrepreneurship boots to business class in addition to classes on legal issues, on accounting, on the economics, on financing your business, and then we counsel all these people that really are serious about starting a business to get their business going.
Even after helping us open, the SBA continues to be there to provide other resources and services. As we've grown, they continue to be mentors for us. They've introduced us to other business partners in the state of Virginia. They've helped us through the pandemic with the EIDL loan. From opening to now, we've exceeded our expectations in our business plan. The brewery sees growth of over 30% each year. We've moved locations and we have plans to create a new production facility in order to keep up with demand. During COVID we shifted all of our production into cans at that time and that's continued to grow. So we're seeing a lot more distribution in grocery stores and out of the state of Virginia into our other regional states. We've had some success with some international awards and we've started to get interest to export our product overseas.
When we first opened, my role was very different and as the business grew, my roles grew, my responsibilities grew and I also grew. So currently I handle day to day operations, merchandising, social media, website, newsletter, scheduling, spearheading the Export Development Initiative, trade missions all over Europe. Really, you name it, I probably have a hand in it. I'm also just really passionate about helping other military spouses through this transition and maybe starting your own business or supporting your spouse while they start their own business. So hearing about the SBA's new program called the Military Spouse Pathway to Business Program, I think that's really important because it's similar to the Boots to Business program, but it tailors to and empowers the spouses.
Through my experience and my success with the Bold Mariner, I've looked to to help other veterans transitioning into businesses. One of my friends wanted to start an ice cream company together. We have started to sell his ice cream out of the brewery, which is helping us both accomplish our goals of opening an ice cream shop and him starting his ice cream company.
I've always been interested in ice cream since I was a kid. As I got out of the Navy, I knew that I wanted to do something with it. Mike and Kerry have just been the greatest mentors for me. You know, I'm a few years behind them in sort of this process, and so it was invaluable to get advice from them. They told me right away about the vboc. They put me in touch with the folks over there, and I was able to go get some consulting, get some classes that they offered up for free for veterans, which is really helpful, especially in the business planning phase, and I'm very grateful for that. Thank you.
I think my career in the military prepared me to be an entrepreneur. We learn in the military to adapt and overcome, to not quit. Those are the, you know, the characteristics of a successful entrepreneur. I think that veterans and veterans, families and spouses have those same characteristics. Every day, every week, brings new opportunities, new challenges, and you have to just continue to adapt and flex and continue to use the resources that are available to you.
The SBA and its resources has been vital in our success. They were there for us at the beginning of our journey when we were just planning our business. It's there for us now and will be there for us in the future. So no matter where you are on your business journey, the SBA is always there to help out.
