As Steve Miller sang, “Time keeps on slippin’, slippin’, slippin’ Into the future”.  I heard that song in 1976 for the first time.  I have heard it hundreds, if not thousands of times since that first time.  That song sits frozen in my mind at 1976.  When I hear it, my mind takes me back to a time when summer lasted forever and I had a lot of blonde hair.  That could be the reason I keep the Sirius radio on the 70’s channel.

Alas, Steve Miller was right.  Time does “keep slippin’ into the future”.  Summer’s seem to last about as long as the blink of an eye and what is left of the hair is gray.  Somehow we have slipped into 2020. 

Thankfully, I have been preparing Hooligans for 2020 for the last six years.  We are prepared for the 20’s decade.

Since I started the company in 2013 with the goal of bringing artisan wines made by passionate winemakers to the market, I have assembled a group of brands, winemakers, sales team, marketing group and production facility/team to make that goal a reality.  It didn’t happen over night and we continue build and assess what we are doing, but all of us are excited to start this decade in this position.  We feel 2020 will be a transformational year for Hooligans, as we took major steps last year to expand our business channels and our sales and production capabilities.  A few of the key steps we took were:

  • Last year we acquired a production facility located in Sonoma County and several additional lines of business in the private label and direct marketing channels.  This has provided us with control over our production and expanded our footprint in the wine business.
  • The hiring of Steve Bei, National Sales Manager and Janna Tonahill, National Accounts Director.  Steve and Janna were a dynamic team at another winery for the last several years where they successfully built several brands on a national scale into category leaders.  We are fortunate to have them and look forward to them integrating into the sales team and accelerating brand growth.
  • As part of our acquisition, we absorbed a marketing staff into the company that has taken over all the marketing functions for Hooligans.  We have already seen the effect of this group on our websites (see winehooligans.com), POS, Brand Messaging and marketing delivery systems.   

I believe these additions to our structure will transform us and prepare Hooligans for the 20’s.

We start this decade with brands that can become meaningful in their respective categories.  We have spent the first six years of Hooligans preparing the foundation so we can build the main house. 

So, time in fact is slippin’ away, but we intend to Fly Like An Eagle!

Now that I have fired myself as National Sales Manager and Director of Marketing, I will be bringing you updates on important Hooligan news over the course of the months ahead that I hope is interesting and entertaining. 

Best Regards,

Dennis Carroll, Head Hooligan