Spartanburg’s Main Street Challenge helps Motte & Sons fire up the still
The last winner of the Spartanburg Main Street Challenge in UBJ’s continuing coverage is Motte & Sons Bootlegging Company, a rum, whiskey and gin craft distiller.
The Local Hiker, an outdoor equipment and apparel store, had its grand opening at 173 E. Main St in downtown Spartanburg at the end of October. Haute Mama, a clothing store for expectant mothers, opened on Nov. 6.
With an anticipated launch date sometime in early 2014, Motte and Sons will be the last of the Main Street Challenge winners to open for business.
But that’s not for lack of trying to open sooner, says Eugenia Motte. Unanticipated federal laws prevented the company from locating in the Main Street space the Mottes originally chose. But their new space at 134 Turnberry Drive isn’t far.
The Motte family roots run deep in Spartanburg County. Ancestors Alphonse Motte and his brothers immigrated to America in the late 1880s from Gap, France, with an interest in sheep and agriculture. In the late 1930s, John Victor, the eldest son, took on his two brothers, Frank and Charles, as business partners. They called their business Motte Brothers and farmed crops such as potatoes, onions and grains.
When microdistilleries were legalized in South Carolina in 2009, Michael John Motte and his wife, Eugenia Maria DeJong, along with their sons Johnny, Matthew, Michael and Luke, decided to open a distillery. Son Johnny took classes to learn the craft of distilling and will be Motte & Sons’ first master distiller.
As a Main Street Challenge winner, the business received $12,000 in subsidized rent and another $8,000-$10,000 in startup services such as legal advice, printing and accounting services.
The Mottes hoped the city would allow them to use the rent credit they won in the Main Street Challenge for landscaping and parking lot improvements to the building they purchased. However, the program will not allow for credit for what was intended as rent to property owners of designated spaces in the Main Street Challenge, said Patty Bock, economic development director for the City of Spartanburg.
“We are pleased the Mottes have found a location in our city where they can grow their business, and we will continue to talk with them about improvements planned for the property,” Bock said.
Another Main Street Challenge is anticipated to kick off in early 2014. City leaders say the new challenge will be expanded to a broader area of the city, providing more options in size and locations for those businesses that are applying.
How did the Main Street Challenge help you launch your business?
Michael John Motte: The Challenge gave us confidence and feedback in our microdistillery business plan. Both Eugenia and I really believe it brought the family together in developing the presentation and business plan. It validated the idea within the family. The boys – Johnny, Matthew, Michael and Luke – and their girlfriends Reagan and Rebecca have been working feverishly at the distillery. This summer, Eugenia and Johnny went to St. Louis and trained at Square One Distillery to develop recipes. Motte & Sons are now members of the American Distillation Institute. The Challenge also developed relationships such as Costco and Marriott within the city that will make us successful in upcoming months.
What obstacles or challenges did you have to overcome?
MJM: The largest obstacles have all been governmental. First, the lack of knowledge in importing caused delays and penalties to get our 1,000-liter Hoga stills from Spain. Second, who knew the federal government was going to shut down? Our timeline was to open late December and the federal shutdown has delayed the processing of our license with the Alcohol Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau. Third, who knew that the parking lot to the building we were purchasing would be ripped up by the Department of Transportation due to underground water problems? Fortunately we were blessed to have a local commercial real estate agent, Ben Hines. This guy single-handedly corralled DOT, brought the stakeholders to the table and renegotiated the building contract in our favor. … Ben’s a real superman. He gets our first production bottle.
What are your plans for the next year?
MJM: We hope to be open sometime in the first quarter 2014.
Of the services and money received from the Main Street Challenge, what have you used so far? What was the most helpful?
MJM: We have been using the vendor credits that sponsored the Challenge and have found local help to move ahead. Our attorney, Don Wildman, had donated his fees to the Challenge and without his help we would not have a retail front and manufacturing plant. We are hoping that the City of Spartanburg will allow Motte & Sons to use the $12,000 rent credit to beautify the landscaping and parking lot as we purchased the building.
