Pairings Portland Origin Story: Part II

Jeff now had this lease signed, celebrated loudly, and started to panic. Or just communicated with others at speeds dizzying for most conversation partners.  There would be two months of no rent for the build out so it was time to get to work. Money wouldn’t be due until March. Where was the money coming from? How much did it even cost to start a wineshop?

He signed up for the Business Foundations I class at Mercy Corps NW, a four week experience to help give you the basics to get legally open, and get your chickens in a row. Business was not his forte (so he kept telling himself), but he was very persuasive and a good sales person. This class was about turning an idea into something solid and real. When Jeff was tasked with coming up with an elevator speech for something that didn’t even have a name yet, he almost gave up. But Jeff likes the challenge of pulling off what he can’t, so giving up was not really giving up.

Next, through someone he met in the Mercy Corps class, he found a financial person to go over his numbers. After two weeks of evaluating his numbers and goals she informed him that he couldn’t do this and he needed to stop eating organic produce now. He didn’t listen on either count. He does have his Sun, Moon, Venus and Mercury all in Aries (as a Rooster I have no idea what that means but I do know hard work when I see it). 

Now Jeff needed to apply for licensure, so the business needed a name. His first thought was calling it Wonder Wines—a place that brought your kid out and inspired your sense of wonder. His partner Megan was not on the same page. At all. Her top idea was really fun though although not the intention Jeff was after which was to transform people’s experience of wine in fun and approachable ways using hard to understand natural wines, and to use wine as a metaphor for connecting personal and community enhancing aspects of life. Megan’s name suggestion (and it was a good one at the time) was Blue Collar Wines—For the Overeducated and the Underemployed. That led to Pairings most popular event called, “10 For 10”, which now exists as the “12 For 12 Pack” on Pairings’ website.

It was time for a therapy session, and thanks to his therapist (who knew Jeff for many years), they talked about Jeff’s love of pairing wine and food in ways that transforms one’s experience of a wine. He loves that shit! If you haven’t let him do the lemon or olive trick with you, you’re missing out. The weird part of this is the 380 square feet of the shop had no room to prep any food whatsoever, and Jeff was a rise-with-the-sun and set-with-the-sun type of guy, so he had no intention of ever working past 6 pm. 

Without knowing exactly what would manifest, Pairings Portland was born. Megan offered her services to paint and design the shop, friends came to help, and Jeff’s only request was to paint, color and design the shop as if it was to be called Wonder Wines. 

It was a tough personal time and things were moving fast for Jeff. 

He sent a letter to customers who frequented the wine shop he ran in NY (Suburban Wines for six years), posted on Facebook about his idea and asked for help to launch. From the owner of Suburban, to family, old customers, and friends almost $20,000 was gathered to birth Pairings. Bartering for logo design, sign printing, plumbing, handiwork, and financial guidance transformed the yakky gremlin on Jeff’s left shoulder to motivated confidence and momentum. Luckily his talkaholism supported quickly tracking down help and his first new customers.

One big thing he didn’t have any money left for wine! During the build out, and getting legally permitted inside and out, the inside proved more trouble than the out. Did you know in 2013 if you wanted to change the plumbing of a business in any way shape or form, the City of Portland charged you $893 just for the permit? You send them drawings, then they tell you what to do, then an inspector has to approve everything. Through this process Jeff had to add a grease trap (for a bar that doesn’t have a kitchen or do cooked food), because he wrote on the form that he would have occasional pot lucks). Because the grease trap was not buried (Jeff couldn’t have started the business if that was the case as it would of required a massive redo), the pitch in the pipes left a wall open for 2 months with endless changes, charges and the bad luck of an inspector who was known to be a tough egg! Once everyone was done, the grease trap got a name—IGGY, the inventory annihilator. 

Meanwhile, Jeff joined a networking group and convinced them to have an event at the not yet open shop with a few wines. All the cash went back into wine, and after repeating this pattern a few times enough wine was in house to fill the first rack! These events happened in late February 2013, and on March 6 Pairings Portland was legally open with license, wall holes closed, paint on top, IGGY taking up precious real estate, and one rack of wine!