Since nobody, including myself, wants to hear from me all the time, I’m beginning a new feature of IM interviews with people who I find (and think you might find) interesting.

Our first subject is Greg Martellotto. Greg is the proprietor of several small businesses including a wine distribution company. I met him through friends, and have always found discussions with him to be compelling. As a bit of background, Greg played collegiate soccer and is the president of the local alumni club for Stanford (the archrival of my alma mater, Cal). He’s okay for a Stanford guy, though.

Jay Porter: I am online

Greg Martellotto: Me too. was watching Argentina school Mexico

Jay Porter: yeah, I missed it but I caught the score

Jay Porter: So, did you prepare lots of good clips to cut and paste “on message”?

Greg Martellotto: no.

Jay Porter: We’ll have to talk to your PR guy about that.

Jay Porter: I’ll start by asking you to tell us a little bit about your businesses. One of the purposes of this blog is to document the bootstrapping of an independent venture. Which is something you know a little about. Talk about your enterprises.

[long wait]

Greg Martellotto: Sorry, I was looking for your last article on why 99% of all restaurants suck. I actually shared this with several people, including on my last wine tour to Baja.

Jay Porter: Well, let’s talk about that first then. What prompted you to share the article? What was interesting to you?

Greg Martellotto: I agreed with much of what you had to say. The humorous part for me, is your position as a restaurant owner mirrors my own as a wine importer, distributor, and winemaker. Less is more. Artisanal production can rarely be amped up to manufacturing capacity and maintain the same handcrafted quality.

Jay Porter: Exactly. I know what problems that causes for us (some of which are detailed in that post). On your end, how does that create challenges for you in your business?

Greg Martellotto: The challenges were grating at first, but now taken in stride. I’ve learned to fight my battles. There are restaurants and hotels clients of mine who say, “Our customers only want (fill in the grocery store brand wine label), and we can’t sell this.”Greg Martellotto: So, I’ve decided to focus more on clients that share my ideas about wine and food and how they create a transcendental marriage.

Greg Martellotto: [regarding the article we’re discussing] I would add to that by saying there are philosophical underpinnings to the economic decisions we take, whether or not we are always conscious of them.

Jay Porter: We’re getting to something I feel the impact of every day (philisophical underpinnings to economic decisions). Tell me about the philosophies that drive your personal economic decisions.

Greg Martellotto: Personally, I had the opportunity to live and work in China. I try not to purchase anything “Made in China” I certainly avoid Walmart, which is the largest manufacturer and exporter in China. I don’t care if I have to pay more elsewhere or something made in another part of the world. This is one example of several I could give.

Jay Porter: Whether it’s declining to support dehumanizing factory production of clothes, or declining to support dehumanizing factory production (and distribution) of food and wine, we can usually find ways to let our beliefs shape our economic decisions.

Jay Porter: As for focusing on certain clients, I know that was something we had to learn too, to focus our efforts and passion on a certain part of the market, so that we could make the biggest difference. Tell me about what distinguishes the client that you are going to work closely with. How do you recognize that client?

Greg Martellotto: They are open arms to me upon our first meeting.

Greg Martellotto: I know I’ve hit upon the right client when they are relieved I represent, in many ways, the antithesis of what they perceive to be a wine distributor.

Greg Martellotto: I don’t wear a suit. I don’t tell people what they have to do with their wine list. I don’t push product on them, because I have a sales quota to meet. I know wine. I know good food. I know more than most about how the two combine to create an experience, instead an autonomic response of eating and drinking.

Jay Porter: Tell me about things you’ve achieved or expect to achieve working in partnership with your client, that a more traditional distributor may not be able to do.

Greg Martellotto: I’m a business owner, like many of my best clients. So, I don’t approach our meeting as a 1 time hard sell, but rather an opportunity to create an enduring relationship that is successful for both of us. I create value for my clients. I help my clients make more money. I help my clients stand apart from their competition by offering unique wines that cannot be found elsewhere. Another advantage I can offer my clients is I now represent more than 1,200 wines from around the world. I am sole broker/distributor for these wines in SoCal - so I can guarantee what is sold to whom, when and where. No sales rep. can do this.

Greg Martellotto: The other conformational difference is the responsibility and direct line of communication. One of my favorite parts of the job is to win over clients from the big houses.

Jay Porter: What do you do to show a proprietor the benefit of switching from a larger operation to an independent one?

Greg Martellotto: Typically, they grow endlessly frustrated by the lack of response (similarities to your sysco tales), lack of communication within these sprawling, heiarchical organizations. They have a credit dept. shipping dept, truckers, innumerable sales reps, managers, vps, etc. etc. When they fail to provide attentive, responsive service, as they inevitably do, I step in to offer another alternative- from a local businessman who does everything from accounting, credit, wine selection and suggestions, and sometimes delivery.

Greg Martellotto: The other thing that just makes sense, is that my business is focused on imports. I’ve created an alliance of like-minded small importers and our pricing is better than what most larger distributors can offer - because of that direct relationship between producer and retailer.

Jay Porter: Well, I reckon it’s been a good couple weeks for you then, as one of the big suppliers (who I’d rather not name because their customer service and sales people have worked their butts off to help us during the last couple weeks) has been having serious difficulties with fulfillment since they switched to a new IT system.

Greg Martellotto: It’s easy to understand a SWS has a much higher cost structure than my small business, so when it comes to Italian wines, I conduct pepsi challenges all the time, and win. I can provide great wines with a superior quality/price ratio than my competition in CA. This is my niche.

Jay Porter: what’s SWS?

Greg Martellotto: Southern Wine & Spirits - the Wal-Mart of my industry engaged in dubious business practices, fined many times for what was essentially bribery of customers, a known relationship to Bugsy Siegel, and based in Florida.

Jay Porter: Bugsy Siegel, as in, the guy played by Warren Beatty?

Greg Martellotto: Yes. Remember alcohol is one of the most regulated products in the world. Our US history of alcohol is tied to the mob.

Jay Porter: Interesting. I’ll just say that we use SWS, and that their rep for us has a done a good job in finding wines from their huge selection that will work for us. As opposed to how some reps for big companies are, he’s shown us respect for wanting to have a variety of wines from a variety of vendors (rather than just all Southern). So in the small picture I can speak well of their face to us. In the big picture, I’m not well-enough educated. Though I think we all agree the world is often a better place when market needs are filled by independent and community based businesses.

Jay Porter: I want to ask you about scale, though.

Jay Porter: Can you make enough money if you don’t scale fairly large? Maybe not Southern, but at least, say 20 or 30 employees? Can you make enough to suit yourself? What economic goals do you have for your business?

Greg Martellotto: It’s never been a better time to be in the wine business. The macro-economic trends are clear. More Americans than ever are drinking more and better wines. Means of transport allow us opportunities to bring wines to this market that were previously never before available. I am bringing in a great wine from Brazil and it’s going to wholesale at $6. This wine is going to change the way people think about brazilian wine- that’s one of my motivations for doing what I do.

Jay Porter: Dude. Drop off a bottle!

Jay Porter: It sounds like something we’d want to carry. We share your enthusiasm for the tastes of wine regions which are not yet widely-known.

Greg Martellotto: I could imagine my CA import/distribution company growing to 10 people. The key is I don’t have to sell wine to every bob, moe, joe, and larry. I just have to place the right wines with the right clients, and service their business attentively. As long as this happens, my business will continue to grow and succeed.

Jay Porter: That makes sense.

Greg Martellotto: It’s the same for your neighborhood business - hence the mirroring. Good food, at the right price, with a qualified sense of place and service will keep customer returning for years.

Jay Porter: It’s funny you should phrase it like that. “Sense of place”, by the way, is the #1 thing I focus on. “Place” is people, location, and time — and every element of the food & wine business (in my opinion) should be infused with strong characteristics of all three of those things. Who made it, where, and why, and when. That’s “place”, and it’s the difference between eating and drinking processed goods, and living. In my opinion.

Jay Porter: I know a little bit about how you got into the wine distribution business, which I think is an interesting tale. And we’ve not talked — that I can remember — about what exactly motivated you to pursue independent business in general, and this business in particular. Would you like to share that story?

Greg Martellotto: My entry into the world of wine, like most of the decisions in my life, was hardly linear. I ate and drank my way around the world during my 20’s, and once I hit my 30’s, had to make a career decision. I knew what I would not allow myself to do. I had a pretty clear idea of my passions, hobbies, interests, and that I had to be in a position where I controlled my day. Self-employed businessman.
The irony is that now I’m having to step back from the businesses I’ve created so that they don’t control me. However, I’m trying to maintain some balance in life

Jay Porter: In what way does your business tend to control you?

Greg Martellotto: This year I’m planting the seeds for 4 businesses, and there is only so much time in the day. In one sense, I’m always working. On the other hand, I’ve never been happier with my career - and I’ve done a lot of different jobs, and it’s more gratifying than ever.

Jay Porter: What are your 4 businesses?

Greg Martellotto: I have my own small boutique wine label. I made wine 2 harvests ago in Mexico, and last harvest in Santa Barbara. I have bajavinotours.com that introduces people the up and coming Mexican wine country. I have a brokerage wine business, and I’m doing my own direct import/distribution of wines. In addition, I am increasing called upon to give wine seminars, dinners, and educational courses. I may move into storage/delivery of wines as well.

Jay Porter: I’m familiar with the phenomenon of not wanting to pull back, not enough hours in the day. When every hour you work makes the business better, it’s hard not to work every hour.

Greg Martellotto: There is a clear result of what I do and don’t do. And, I’m in charge of that. This is a radical departure from the idea of being an employee, which never really worked for me. I guess I was hesitant to embrace my entrepreneurial side, but now that I have, the opportunities before me are limitless.

Jay Porter: If you have employees — or when you eventually have them — what can you do, or will you do, to make it so they feel the results of what they do and don’t feel about their job the way you felt about yours?

Jay Porter: This is one of my hardest challenges, by the way. The goal I have the least clue with.

Greg Martellotto: Management is one of the toughest issues confronting any business person. It’s like parenting; we have some innate know how and intention, but it’s not taught in school.

Jay Porter: Right, although I’m pretty sure we agree that treating employees like children is the root of the problem. But there sure aren’t a lot of other models out there for us to learn from, either as employees or managers.

Greg Martellotto: One of the great things about my wholesale business is that I am able to observe and interact with many other businesses (restaurants, wine stores, hotels, etc). I can see what works for employees and what does not. At present, my sales guys are commission only, so their success is very much dependent on their own perseverance and creativity. I try to offer the tools for their success and support them with the knowledge I’ve gained thus far. But, it’s imperfect and a struggle. The cliche is to train wine salespeople, and then they are picked off by the larger houses to become employees with a guaranteed wage.

Greg Martellotto: I’d argue that much of our educational system is geared toward developing an army of employees, but that’s another discussion.

Jay Porter: I know exactly what you mean, and I agree. I think we left the educational system with some similar thoughts. In spite of the difference of our universities!

Greg Martellotto: Some employees want to be babied. I have a hotel manager in mind who is 26. I watched with amazement 50 year old men and women basically ask him for permission to pee. I was embarrassed for them.

Jay Porter: Well, I think nobody *really* wants to be babied, but it’s as though we’ve been trained to for so long some folks don’t know how to break out of it. If we could create an environment where that 50 year old was confident making his own decisions at work, both he and the manager would be a lot happier. But something about the development of our economy since the beginning of the Industrial Age has completely squelched that basic human competence at work for many people. We’re trained that we leave that at home with the dog when when we get in our car to commute. And even if everybody would be happier if we could bring it to work, as a culture we’re just barely starting to learn how.

Greg Martellotto: Jay, this was actually the topic of my master’s thesis.

Jay Porter: No way.

Jay Porter: Well, I suppose I’m preaching to the converted…and better educated.

Greg Martellotto: I wrote about the history of education in the field of public health and how we’ve developed an educational system of worker bees “trained” to do tasks. Inevitably, these people will see the trees, but not the forest of problems besetting global health challenges. We’ve created an education system using language like “core competencies” where students are given a exit exams and a checklist, and are somehow qualified to enter into the world. This is not the case. Education from the original latin, is about “educing” from individuals their own excellence, not imposing technical certifications and sending them to fulfill tasks.

Jay Porter: So let’s get ready to wrap this up. What if anything would you like to leave with me or our readers? The space is yours.

Greg Martellotto: I would close by relating our brief discussion of education and our businesses.

Greg Martellotto: Many of us all enticed by a world of mediocrity. Easy answers, easy food, and easy swill drinking wine.

Greg Martellotto: My message is “never accept it.” Never give in. Strive for excellence and demand it from others.

Greg Martellotto: Demand it from the products your buy. Demand it from the restaurants you patronize. Demand it from the wine you drink.

Jay Porter: Amen to that, brother.

Greg Martellotto: And, when it comes to wine, recognize the world of options. Italy alone has more than 2,400 unique, indigenous varietals. Why would anyone become a “CA chard” drinker, knowing how expansive the pallette is?

Jay Porter: I like to think of wine as a kind of travel you can do while staying home.

Greg Martellotto: Absolutely. Same with food. Same with reading. All things that help make cultured people, and contribute to this nation creating its own cultural identity.

Jay Porter: Well put.

Jay Porter: If people would like to hire you, buy your wines, or tour the Guadalupe Valley, how should they reach you?

Greg Martellotto: martellotto.com or bajavinotours.com has my contact info. and info. about the businesses. I’m always interested in having assistance with wine sales. I think there exists great opportunities for people already in the industry (waiters, bartenders who want to learn more about wine) to earn some residual income, even if they are only managing a single account. So, any suggestions would be appreciated.

Jay Porter: One last question. Who do you think will lose to Brazil in the final game of the World Cup?

Greg Martellotto: the loser.

Jay Porter: Nobody remembers #2, huh?

Greg Martellotto: That’s why everyone loves Brazil - they are winners with smiles on their faces.

Jay Porter: Greg, thanks very much for your time and for sharing your thoughts with “Casing the Joint.” Best.

Greg Martellotto: Thank you Jay. We’ll be tasting wine soon, perhaps while watching the beautiful game.