Wine & Design Stands Out in Paint and Sip Segment with Five Revenue Streams Under One Franchise Fee

When Harriet Mills took her first post-baby trip to Charleston, South Carolina in 2010, she and her girlfriends took a paint and sip class. She enjoyed it so much that she looked into the brand, but the owner wasn’t interested in licensing or franchising the concept. Never one to take no for an answer, Mills took matters into her own hands and opened the first Wine & Design studio in Raleigh, North Carolina later that year. Mills hired husband and wife team Marianne and Craig Burt as studio artists, who eventually became the brand’s first franchisee in 2011.

Since then, Wine & Design has grown to 80 locations in 19 states, driven by purposeful, slow-but-steady expansion that’s been entirely organic. Now, Mills and her team have created a strategic plan to expand the brand in existing markets and tap into new states, with a goal of partnering with 10 new franchise owners in 2019.

When compared to other players in the paint and sip segment, Wine & Design stands out for many reasons. The primary driver of its organic growth has been the brand’s five divisions, each with its own logo, branding and revenue stream: On Wheels, off-site painting classes; D.I.Y., painting classes for just about anything besides a canvas; Art Buzz Kids, a kids program that includes summer and teacher workday camps, morning classes, birthday parties and after-school programs; Paint it Forward, the philanthropic division where studios partner with nonprofit organizations to host fundraisers; and Team-Building, classes designed to build camaraderie among co-workers.  

“Wine & Design has one of the lowest initial investment levels and a leaner operating strategy than other brands in the paint and sip industry, but what really sets our concept apart is that we offer our five divisions under one franchise fee,” said Mills. “Other brands charge additional fees and royalty structures for different areas of the business, but every Wine & Design franchisee has access to all five revenue streams at no additional cost. Our sales revenues have grown between 35 and 47 percent annually since 2011, which means that our unit-level economics are not only strong, but are growing consistently.”

Another differentiator for Wine & Design is its library of over 6,000 paintings. Beyond that, Wine & Design encourages franchisees to not only customize their painting selections to their local community, but to submit ideas to the corporate team to be integrated across the system. Other paint and sip brands employ a corporate artist and require their franchisees to adhere to specific guidelines.

After growing Wine & Design to 52 locations, Mills knew it was time to create cohesive branding. In 2015, the Wine & Design team developed a new website, creative assets, color palettes and a furniture package, and revamped the five divisions to where they are today. This was a major step for Wine & Design, giving the four-year-old brand a modern, chic and family-friendly look and feel, and the corporate team a path to scalability.

In 2017, Wine & Design was featured on Shark Tank. After causing a stir with the sharks by bringing on a nude model for the mock class, Mills received competing offers from Robert Herjavec and Kevin O’Leary. She ultimately selected O’Leary, who remains a partner in the brand.

“Going on Shark Tank had been a dream of mine for so long, and it was an incredible opportunity to showcase our brand on a national scale,” said Mills. “Just being on the show put us in the spotlight, and led to several new franchise deals. We held a Discovery Day at our Burbank, California studio, and Kevin came to take a class, which built great buzz around the brand. It’s been a huge driver of franchise leads and gave us the opportunity to expand to the West Coast.”

After signing 10 new franchisees in 2018, Wine & Design has its sights set on signing another 10 deals in 2019, with a focus on Colorado, Alabama, Georgia, Washington and Oregon. Also in 2019, the brand is set to move its headquarters to Union Station in downtown Raleigh, which will also house the brand’s flagship studio. Plus, the team is hard at work growing its five divisions, including new themes for kids campaigns, new targets for On Wheels and more.

Successful Wine & Design franchisees include husband/wife teams, siblings, millennials, former stay-at-home moms and artists. The common thread across all franchisees is a passion for business, a desire for an opportunity that brings art to their community, an outgoing personality and a willingness to learn.

“We can teach our franchise owners how to run a business, but we can’t teach someone how to stay motivated, have a good attitude and follow the business model,” said Sheri Hill, Franchise Sales Manager for Wine & Design. “We’ve been strategic with the franchisees we’ve aligned with so far, and have no plans on changing that mindset as we prepare to take our growth to the next level.”

Startup costs for a Wine & Design franchise range from $69,950 to $221,200, which includes a $25,000 franchise fee. For more information, please visit https://wineanddesign.com/franchise/.