In 2022 after a successful harvest season at Tench, I  made the jump from Wine to Spirits. I was offered a position at Endless West, an innovative new startup in the Spirits space. I joined the company to be on the ground and produce their spirits and RTDs in their novel and patented process. I quickly implemented the same standard of process mastery that I implemented during my time in wine. A liquid that used to take three days to produce became a four hour process. That effective improvement in the production process was noticed by the management team from early on. They could see my potential and valued it in a way that eluded me in the wine industry. Endless West in 2023 was in the process of moving their Operations department to a brand new facility in Detroit. During this time I moved up the ranks in the department and began to oversee operations of the entire San Francisco facility. It was at that time I was elevated to Plant Manager. As the Director of Operations moved to Detroit to manage the build out process, I was responsible for the production of liquid and packaged product as well as the logistics of shipping and receiving out of our facility. I also became in charge of managing the move of the production department from the San Francisco facility. My team and I were tasked to ramp up production as much as possible so we could clear as many orders before being shut down as equipment was shipped across the country. This process took months. We faced delays and a constantly changing timeline. This created a very complicated challenge that I was eager to tackle. We completed the move in January of 2023. At that time the plan was for me to stay in San Francisco and become an integral part of the R&D team. I was to oversee the Pilot Plant operations and while moving the main production facility I was also coordinating with the R&D team and building out the Pilot Plant. My time in San Francisco was cut short because after just a few weeks in the Pilot Plant I was asked to travel to Detroit as the team there was struggling to get up and running and match the level of production my teams were achieving in San Francisco.

 

For almost two years my sole focus was to get our facility running and continue to push our production capacity to new heights. We were able to expand our bottling capacity from 10 pallets a day to being capable of 100 pallets. Our bulk capacity grew to the level of being able to produce tens of thousands of gallons for export in a matter of weeks. During my team I managed a team of as much as 40 people and then scaled back the team as our level of automation increased. I implemented all new processes and SOPs on brand new machines and packaging lines. I was the critical team member that shaped the department. When I first arrived in Detroit we began the transition phase of one Director of Ops leaving and a new one joining. During that time the leadership and management of the Operations department largely fell on my shoulders.

 

From closing one facility and saying goodbye to a team that had become family to leaving my home state for a new start in a new place with a new team, culture, and facility I will be forever grateful for the faith and trust the Endless West Family placed in me. Together we were able to overcome seemingly insurmountable challenges. I learned so much in a short amount of time.