Thanks to the North Bay Business Journal for the great interview with our very own President, Rich Bouwer as part of their Top Executive’s series. See what Rich had to say about Free Flow and running a business during a pandemic: 

Free Flow Wines has come a long way since founders Jordan Kivelstadt and Dan Donahoe caught the concept for a kegged-wine company after a visit to an Atlanta restaurant in 2004.

They started the company five years later in Sonoma, first by filling the bullet kegs with their own wine then transitioning to doing that for North Coast vintners. That new business model involved handling logistics for the leased containers to restaurants and bars then back for cleaning and refilling.

Demand for wine-by-the-glass programs led to expansion of the company to Napa in 2014 then back to Sonoma in a much larger facility in late 2019.

Interest from consumers for wine in cans led to expansion of that business. It was a move that proved strategic for further company revenue and serendipitous ahead of a deep dive in the restaurant business during the coronavirus pandemic.

Kivelstadt and Donahoe stepped back from day-to-day management in 2019, with Kivelstadt focusing on his own canned wine and cannabis beverage ventures. Rich Bouwer came to Free Flow as chief operating officer in 2018, after nearly two decades in the wine business, including senior positions at beverage container distributor Saxco International and major vintners Beringer and E. & J. Gallo Winery. He moved up to president of Free Flow.

In this the inaugural interview in the Business Journal’s series on North Bay top executives, we talk with Bouwer about how the pandemic resulted in a major shift in focus, operations and forecasting for the company. He explores the importance for canned wine of a new federal ruling on wine container sizes for individual sale.

Read the full interview here.