on October 30, 2025, 12:23:02, in reply to "This is exactly the kind of conversation I was driving at. Thank you."
No one cares if Tanqueray or Beefeater are made and packaged in some massively industrial facility by a cog worker.
For a small producer like ourselves a huge part of our equity is a "craft" premiumization where the who and where of production are actually important. Our marketing and sales group sends us production distillers out to accounts because meeting us makes the sale easier. "Made by San Franciscans for San Franciscans" actually kinda works on our scale.
You'd probably be able to move production and increase margins (although our margin is currently 54%) to an industrial distillery somewhere in the midwest but I'm near certain it'd all but kill our brand. The product is excellent but people are also purchasing a narrative. To my surprise, premiumization in the spirits category is the only sector to see growth over the past few years.
To the other discussion of people wanting to work...its where AI and it's adherents really rub me the wrong way. I think AI is overall detrimental to the value and meaning of labor...and the stock and self-worth that people put into it.
Like they're creating a tool because they hate working and unleashing it on everyone else.
One of those "we know we can...but did we ever consider if we should?" type philosophical questions.
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