Today we’d like to introduce you to Dena Jones.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Dena. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
I moved out to California from Florida originally with a job in hospitality architecture and worked for an interiors firm in downtown Long Beach. Let’s just say the 2008 economy hit and my firm laid off nearly all of their employees, myself included. After tediously trying to get another architecture job, I gave up and went in the opposite direction applying to restaurant and server jobs, landing a job as a “cellar rat” for a micro winery in Anaheim.
It was great I was learning all about wines and wine varietals, wine production & how to do tastings with customers, even creating custom wine labels for their bottles (so still using my design skills of course). I was hooked, I loved everything about the wine industry and loved learning new and exciting things. As anyone in this industry will tell you there is always something new to learn about wine, you can never know enough as a professional you just have to keep on. From there I got a job at a winery in Malibu called Rosenthal the Malibu Estates Winery, their tasting room is the only one located on PCH highway, never a dull moment in that tasting room. I came on as a tasting room associate, then moved onto being their Tasting Room Manager, and then moved to the Santa Monica office as their Wine Club Manager.
The drive was way too long from Long Beach so I then got a job as a wine club manager at a new startup winery in Newport Beach called Orange Coast Winery. The winemaker from Wiens Winery in Temecula opened up new satellite tasting room in Orange County in a warehouse area, the wine club members were great and super loyal OC wine drinkers it was a lot of fun.
I found out about this little gem Five O’Clock Wine Bar and came into the wine bar to bother the previous owner about how serious he was about selling it, I took over ownership in May 2014.
Has it been a smooth road?
There is such a learning curve with business ownership. With my business the wine is the exciting part. Seeing customer’s reactions when you can make their day with just introducing them to something that they like, a wine that maybe they have never had before and you get them to branch out from their usual ‘go-to’ wines.
The struggles are getting in wines that you can afford to pour for a certain price without losing your shirt, that your customers will still enjoy and come back for. I think trying to bring the best experience to your customers while trying to make your business financially viable is the most difficult part and a constant challenge.
So, as you know, we’re impressed with Five O’Clock Wine Bar – tell our readers more, for example what you’re most proud of as a company and what sets you apart from others.
I would say what makes customers excited would be our wine flights, not all wine bars have wine flights & if they don’t that’s a mistake. I come from a winery background, so wine flights are crucial and a great way to sell wines. We have our featured wine flight which includes our newest wines and changes pretty much every other week. Our custom flight is a ‘make your own’ consisting of any 6 wines of your choosing from our ever-changing wine menu to keep it fresh. And yes, we do have beer for the beer lovers, we keep 6 craft beers on our rotating taps and have our beer flight which includes any 4 beers on tap that week.
We also have a great small plates menu that includes flatbreads, panini’s, cheese & meat plates and other great apps. Since we are one of the few restaurants that have Firepit Tables, we of course have our S’mores by the Fire that are super popular. We also have live music usually Friday and Saturday nights on our wine patio.
Let’s touch on your thoughts about our city – what do you like the most and least?
I love that there is so much to do here, you can go surfing, snowboarding, go to the beach. My favorite is riding my Harley down PCH and seeing all of the surfers, then grabbing some amazing seafood at a restaurant on PCH for lunch.
Least favorite is the obvious…traffic.
Contact Info:
- Address: 194 N. Marina Dr. #101
Long Beach, CA 90803 - Website: www.fivewinebar.com
- Phone: 562-810-5452
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fiveoclockwinebar/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fivewinebar/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/5oclockwinebar
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/five-o-clock-wine-bar-long-beach
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