Denver winery finds a unique way to make patrons smile

Locally-owned and family-run, Bigsby’s Folly Urban Winery in Denver, Colorado has found a unique way to connect with customers during the global quarantine. Co-founder and co-owner Chad Yetka dresses in a different costume every day to deliver wine, curbside to his customers.

When Governor Jared Polis from Colorado announced that restaurants and bars must close during the state-wide quarantine, Chad and his business partner and wife Marla Yetka looked at each other and said, “what are we going to do?”

“At first we were devastated,” said Marla. But they quickly decided they could go through it stressed or they could go through it smiling. And they really wanted to bring smiles to the community as well. Chad had the idea to use the one costume they had – an old pink bunny costume from The Christmas Story and offer curbside delivery to customers. It made so many people laugh and smile that Chad and Marla considered it a success and decided to keep it up.

Marla posted Chad’s antics on Instagram with the hashtag #whatschadwearing and initially just asked friends and family if they had any costumes they could share. Soon Marla put the call out for costumes on social media as well and people started coming to pick up wine and drop off their costumes.

“People say that coming to pick up their wine is the highlight of their day or week,” said Marla. “We’ve had customers travel from miles away just to come pick up wine and see Chad.”

The smiles are going both ways and Marla and Chad are getting to know their customers in a way they never had the opportunity to before.

“People come in and they are only allowed one at a time and we stand six feet away from each other, but they have the opportunity to talk to us,” said Marla. “They tell us about their day. About being laid off, about being home with kids all the time, it’s all so personal.”

Chad and Marla are also hearing stories about what Bigsby’s Folly has meant to people in the community. People who came every week whom they’d never met. People who got engaged there, had their first date there or celebrated other milestones.

“We are really getting to know our best customers and really getting to connect with people on a personal level,” said Marla.

In addition to the growlers of wine Bigsby’s Folly is offering, they’ve started putting together mixed cocktail pints. Recently a new mural went up in Denver honoring the city’s healthcare workers. Marla teamed up with the artist, Austin Zucchini-Fowler and made labels for the pint jars and offered a free one to any healthcare worker who came by. The first day they had a caravan of nurses from a nearby hospital show up after a shift. Another nurse came with her husband and their golden retriever and they were all dressed in costume.

“How we are going to get through this is with kindness and smiles,” said Marla. “The support of the community has just floored us and we hope to give that support right back.”