Care to post the name of where the class was held? My guess is that it was like a place that opened a few years back in my town....
A husband and wife team opened up a winemaking "store". This was a business that sold kits and supplies, taught classes on how to make kit wine, and even provided shelf-space for wine as it ferments and ages. Nice idea, right?
Once I learn of them, I made it a point to get to know them. I had hoped that they could be a potential source of supplies not more than 3 miles from my home. I thought that it might have been possible to work a deal for chemicals or perhaps bottles in bulk to try to support the new business.
This idea vanished the minute I heard the word "Franchise". As it turned out, they were corporate professionals that had enough of the corporate world and were the perfect pigeons for a franchise salesman.
I could see it in their eyes. They must have spent hours watching films like Sideways and Bottle shock. It was clear that their heads were filled with the idea of having this serene and beautiful life-style rather than the cut throat life of corporate execs.
Like most franchises, the odds are incredibly stacked against the franchisee. Working deals, such as selling 50 or 100 cases of bottles as a bulk purchase, was strictly forbidden.
This couple's only experience in winemaking was to make two batches of kit wine at home. Even worse than their lack of winemaking experience, was their lack of sales experience. I had never seen a bigger recipe for failure in my life. It seemed that even rudimentary training of their franchisees was also strictly forbidden.
Uncharacteristically, I truly felt bad for them. It was so obvious that they were sold a bill of goods by a charlatan playing on their dreams. The fact that they were such a nice couple really made me sad. I gave them only 6 months.
They had absolutely no clue on what they were doing. Rather than demand training, they simply paid for their franchise license, paid for all the expenses of opening up a shop, paid for all of their start up inventory, and kept to the steps that came with the kit instructions.
Things worked for them for the first month. There was a real buzz in town about the place. Unfortunately, after having a couple of failed classes (most of the student's wine became oxidized and they had no idea why), word got out and, predictably, they ended up closing their doors 5 months later.
Through this whole experience, I had to fight the urge to speak up. I had to be very tactful when giving advise. It was simply killing me.
