Meet Kalena Ross of The Craft Spirits Cooperative

Today we’d like to introduce you to Kalena Ross.

Thanks for sharing your story with us Kalena. So, let’s start at the beginning, and we can move on from there.
I decided to concentrate in Entrepreneurial studies during USC business school. I instantly became best friends with one of my classmates. Her ‘business plan’ was to import her family’s pisco into the US. Most of us had fantastical ideas, but to be honest, they were just ideas. Not Romina.

Romina was going to bring her plan to life. Her family’s distillery was 5th generation owned and operated, and they had been in production for over one hundred years. It was a distillery built around love, and it was a stunning story.

After we graduated, I moved up to SF to go to culinary school, and Romina went back to Peru. I got a call one day, and she said it was all happening.

My heart swelled with pride for her and her family. She decided to enter Capurro into the San Francisco’s World Spirits competition, and they won double gold. I was lucky enough to be by her side during this time.

After an extreme amount of handwork, Romina and her family launched Capurro in the US, with Miami being the first market. Soon after, she had this vision of creating a space where small, family-owned integrity filled distilleries could flourish. With the support and help of her now husband, PJ Scheufele, the vision came to life.

They approached me about the cooperative, we tasted through the spirits they planned to launch with, and the rest is history. We brought The Craft Spirits Cooperative to life back in 2013, and Los Angeles was the first market.

Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
I personally think if your road is smooth, you aren’t doing it right. The path shouldn’t be paved in gold. The bumps and the curves make up the map that shows our development. They are what help us grow and learn. I hope we never stop growing or learning.

The Craft Spirits Cooperative – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
In a nutshell, we fight for the small, but mighty. We launch and build spirits and non-alcoholic brands from the ground up. We have a route to a market strategy where we are incredibly focused on bringing extraordinary brands to exceptional bars, restaurants, and retail.

Our goal is always to empower and support the brands we represent and the people behind them. We practice education-first style selling in which we tell our brands stories. We are strategical and intentional. The brands become an extension of ourselves.

What is “success” or “successful” for you?
My heart still skips a beat each and every time I see our spirits on the shelf at a bar or a retail store. The joy I get by elevating our small, family-owned brands is beyond words.

I feel the passion and integrity that makes up the juice in each and every bottle we represent. I hope I do a good job at sharing that juice with anyone and everyone who will listen and drink it with me (haha!)

As long as I wake up excited to start my day and my heart keeps skipping that beat, I feel successful.

Contact Info:

• Website: http://www.craftspiritscoop.com
• Email: kalena@craftspiritscoop.com
• Instagram: @craftspirits

Image Credit:
Gaby Mlynarczyk, Nathan Hazard

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