2 Days to go!!! Welcome to our first Winery Partners
about 4 years ago
– Wed, Mar 11, 2020 at 04:22:26 AM
Backer Update 7
Hi Backers - with just 2 days to go we are quickly closing in on 150% funded. Thanks as always for your support. If you are just waking up, or wine-ding down at the end of a long day, there’s never been a better time to think of a friend who likes wine and share our project with them. Help us get to 150%!!! Please :)
This update is a special thanks for our first two winery partners for supporting us - two of the premier members of the Boisset family - Raymond Vineyards and JCB by Jean-Charles Boisset. The Boisset family is one of the largest producers in France and in Napa, so to have their support for Winebars early on is humbling and exciting, all mixed in as one.
And for you design and manufacturing nerds, as we mentioned in the last update, we figured out how to laser-etch logos on the curved concave sides of the bars. The laser has to rotate against the arc of the bar's long side as it etches, which turns out to be non-trivial. But now that we have it working - the result looks really cool. Check out the black JCB prototypes below.
JCB Prototype Laser Etch on Black
Which begs the question: what's your favorite winery? Reply in the comment - we'd love to hear from you!
And we did it because of some new partners who also believe in what we’re doing.
On that note, I am super pleased to announce that we’ve created a new reward level just for wineries.
We are equally pleased to announce that two premier wineries have joined in supporting us. We can’t tell you who they are just yet, but we hope to be able to share soon. So please give our new friends a warm Backer welcome :)
Thanks again to everyone for putting us over the edge.
PS - I forgot to mention, we figured out how to laser etch logos on the long side bars. It’s limited to our Jet Black and Romantic Red offerings, because the etching effectively removes the layer of anodization, exposing the natural silver color of aluminum. And it looks incredibly cool.
If you own a winery, our new reward level is now open. Reach out if you want to talk: [email protected]
50% there! New reward level released
about 4 years ago
– Tue, Mar 03, 2020 at 05:18:43 PM
50% there!!!
Thank you Backers - you got us half way there. 136 backers strong and going up every day.
50% is a key milestone - it really does represent a tipping point of backers who believe and want to help make Winebars a reality.
We need your help to get us the rest of the way. Share our project with your friends from here. And remind them that now is the time to get the best pricing on Kickstarter before we start selling online.
We’ve had more than a few requests from fans to create a reward level that bundles more sets of Winebars together. They do make great gifts. So today we are excited to roll out our new reward level at early bird pricing, the Ocho. 8 sets of Winebars, color selection of your choosing. Don't forget, you're always welcome to shift your pledge to the Ocho.
What can you do with Winebars? Make amazing wine displays.
Our Manufacturing Partner
If you watched our movie from Backer Update #4 then you got introduced to our Chief Scientist, Jason. In addition to having a natural presence in front of the camera, Jason is actually the President of our manufacturing partner, Salem Metal, Inc. (SMI). We are very thankful for the collaboration and innovation this partnership has brought to Winebars.
Our manufacturing partner
It’s incredible to have a manufacturing partner right here in Massachusetts. SMI in fact was just recognized by The Massachusetts Legislative Manufacturing Caucus as the Massachusetts manufacturer of the year for 2019. SMI has been instrumental in translating our design from a 3D model into a build of materials that could be manufactured effectively and look beautiful. With SMI we’ve prototyped many different versions of the part, helping to settle in on size, shape, and color as well as details such as the firmness of the rubber pad.
SMI is a precision manufacturer with a 75,000 square-foot facility in Middleton, Mass. They provide a broad range of services, including machining, laser cutting, punching, press brake forming, engineering and inspection, welding, finishing, hardware insertion, painting, and value added assembly. SMI is truly an exceptional metal fabrication company. They create the highest quality products for medical device manufacturers, renowned sculptors, and now the wine industry. But mostly, they provide awesomeness.
We’re also really excited because SMI is going to be partnering with Northeast Arc to fulfill our Kickstarter order once the manufacturing is done, in the critical final step of pack and ship. Northeast Arc provides employment training, education, and supported employment opportunities to adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities and autism. In this partnership between Winebars, SMI, and Northeast Arc, we will be staffing some of their incredible talent to pack Winebars into boxes and then into the mail. SMI participates in the Supported Group Employment program - you can read about it here.
Just how high can you stack?
about 4 years ago
– Mon, Mar 02, 2020 at 05:55:05 PM
Every single person who has seen or held a set of Winebars asks the question: “how many bottles can Winebars hold?”
To which I reply, good question.
It’s a complex answer - a lot of factors go into it.
First of all, the Kickstarter version of Winebars is designed for 3” bottles, a very common bottle size in the wine industry. Larger bottles (champagne, some bordeauxs, magnums) don't work well as the exterior bottles in stack. We will have more to say about a solution for larger bottles in a later update.
Second, it depends on the surface. We do not recommend using Winebars on surfaces that can break, like glass. Remember that the corners, though rounded, can still leave a dent. Be careful.
We’ve tested on a number of surfaces: marbles, granite, Corian, stainless steel, wood, wood block. Winebars work well on all of them, but wood block can be slippery and can limit how high you can go. I believe it’s because wood block is a more porous surface and the rubber base doesn’t enjoy consistent content.
The next factor is bottle type. Certain bottle types like Prosecco are rounded and don’t stack at all. They do make a nice kind of fan arrangement in a single layer in the fridge though. Some bottles have sloped sides, which can be less stable.
But assuming you have pretty uniform bottles sizes, you can stack pretty high. But remember, it’s not super practical to make a big pyramid, because bottles have to come off the top. Unless you were to play Wine Jenga.
Anyway, that’s a long winded non-answer to the question.
How high can you stack?
We couldn’t leave that question unanswered.
We had to find out.
100 Backers Strong! Announcing the Winebars Referral campaign
about 4 years ago
– Sun, Feb 23, 2020 at 06:36:41 PM
Our First 100 Backers have joined!
This is an important milestone for our campaign. Thank you so much to our early, faithful backers. You are amazing - we so appreciate your enthusiasm and belief in us. And we're now 38% of the way to hitting our funding goal.
As we continue our campaign to make Winebars a reality, we humbly ask for your help in spreading the word. This is the most important thing you can do for us. And in return, we’ll make it worth your while!
Now that we're at 100, we are announcing our Winebars Kickstarter Referral Program. For each new Backer that you refer, we will pay you 10% of the amount that they pledge.
Once you register, Kickbooster will generate a personal sharing link just for you.
Invite your wine-loving friends to join us by sharing your personal link via email or social.
Then, when someone clicks your link and supports the Winebars Kickstarter campaign, we’ll return 10% of the amount they pledge to you as a thank you for referring them.
Once you sign up you’ll get a weekly update on what you've earned.
You’ll receive your payment at the end of the campaign directly from Kickbooster.
Once again, thank you for your support.
Dan and the Winebars team
Oh, and by the way, we’re not afraid to sell with puppies.
