Don and Mary Gordon, Vintner's Circle Middletown Franchise Owners

Q: Mary and Don — How did you become involved with Vintner's Circle?

A year ago we could not imagine ourselves being where we are today. We have been married for 38 years and have four grown children and two grandchildren. We both have had successful careers and have often discussed what would challenge us in retirement. We never planned to own a business and we certainly did not consider ourselves entrepreneurs, but the Vintner's Circle Franchise was a golden opportunity. Actually, the very basic reason for this venture was that we genuinely enjoy drinking wine and learning about it. The interaction with people in a social environment was also a plus.
 
Don received a gift certificate from our children to make wine at the Vintner's Circle store in Hackettstown. He selected a Chilean Pinot Noir and we traveled to Hackettstown for the four-step wine making process. We enjoyed a fun experience with our children but more importantly we were very pleasantly surprised by the excellent quality of the wine. The wine making experience had a very positive impact on us and during the process, Don discovered that the store was a franchise and we started to seriously discuss it. We would probably still be discussing it if not for our daughter, Heather, who made the initial contact with David. David Schmeltzle is an enthusiastic entrepreneur with a great vision. He was very interested in a franchise in central New Jersey, specifically Monmouth County, where we live. David's vision and mission statement for Vintner's Circle were in-line with our own values.


Our experience throughout has been interesting and challenging, to say the least. David has established a good business model. However, we were naïve about the significant amount of time, effort and resources required to start a business. We are still excited about the concept and are thoroughly enjoying our wine making shop since opening in early February 2010. Our children were very supportive from the beginning. In fact, our daughter, Amy is our general manager. They all look forward to playing some role in the future – maybe even opening additional Vintner's Circle Wine Making Shops!

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