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Opportunity
Great wine and amazing food. It shouldn't be that hard.
Houston's wine bars are having a moment, but most of them have fallen short of offering a complete experience to their guests. Flora’s Bottle Shop aims to provide the experience that the few prominent and successful wine bars in Houston, have not delivered. There are a few wine bars that serve food and sandwiches/shareable items; however, they are focused heavily on the wine program and food is mostly the afterthought. Those that tried to focus on food, have delivered a mediocre wine program.
Flora's plans to be the pioneer in setting the trend for casual high-end bottle shops—drawing guests in with a robust, ever-updated, sommelier-engineered wine program, as well as a unique-yet-familiar sandwich & food menu focused on premium ingredients and local goods.
Houston is ready for the new trend.
Concept
Flora’s Bottle Shop
We create backyard moments; where sunny afternoons turn into moonlit evenings with friends under string lights, while sharing light bites and wine.
Whether it is time spent with family, friends, or simply relishing in your alone time with a perfect sandwich, Flora’s offers the relaxation you would feel in your own backyard and home.
It is the perfect atmosphere for a casual date with the one you love, or a girls' day out with a cold bottle of rose’ and mouth-watering sandies.
Flora's is a bottle shop, but the sandwiches are the star of the show. These sandwiches are loaded with the perfect mix of ingredients from local vendors, on well-spread and sauced, fresh-baked breads. The aroma of toasted bread and sound of wine corks popping will echo through the spacious bar to the verdant patio—where we have brought your backyard into the city.
Details
Thoughtful design; beer & wine; and a rotating menu
The Venue
Flora’s Bottle Shop will be located at Montrose Collective, one of the most creative and exciting developments “in the heart of Houston’s most culturally electric neighborhood”. The “activated patios” and green spaces throughout this development are the perfect ingredients to bring home the backyard moment Flora’s aims to create.
The Service
The bottle shop will be open 7 days a week from 11am to 12am, providing a relaxed indoors and backyard experience for all the guests. We will focus on 3 different areas of service: Dine In, Take out and Catering.
The space will be designed for guests to enjoy the appetizers, sandwiches, wine and beer, indoors or in our patio. Private events and reservations are always welcomed. Guests can also purchase bottles or cases of wine and beer to go, along with all our food menu items. Catering will also be available for corporate or personal events.
The Menu
The menu will be ever-evolving. After a 3-month PMIX review, we will identify and keep the staple items and create rotating menu items. Aside from our happy hour and regular menu, we will be serving Brunch on Sunday, with an extensive menu for all tastes. This menu will change every week, allowing us to offer more local products and to keep our Sundays’ options exciting. These items will include brunch boards, egg dishes, pastries, beverage flights, and many more.
Proposed design
We've carefully planned a new and unique style of restaurant interior design to attract guests and boost profits. Natural light will radiate through a wall of large windows and large glass doors. The bar will be custom-made, with an emerald-green tile base and a terrazzo surface. Unique arched built-in shelves will fill the interior walls and house retail bottles. Earthy materials and wood will fill the center of the restaurant, along with pendant lighting throughout.
Business model
Taking aim at the casual high end bottle shop market
Flora’s Bottle Shop aims to provide the experience that the few prominent and successful wine bars in Houston have not delivered:
- Offering higher-end food, wine and beer, with a casual and relaxed atmosphere that allows more reasonable prices on these premium items—which in turn will attract more guests.
- Constantly improving the existing food and drink, menus, range, and quality, as well as the atmosphere and ambience.
- Increasing penetration of existing markets through enhanced customer service and coordinated marketing efforts and exploring new markets, primarily through marketing strategies and web marketing.
Traction
It's happening!
The location and the lease have been secured, and we have completed our design phase. As of June, we're in the permitting phase with the city of Houston—and are expecting to begin construction by mid July. So far we are on schedule, with our target opening month of December 2022.
Customers
Leveraging an
outstanding location
Flora's immediate target market will be the offices, residents & neighbors within a 2-mile radius.
General target market are active young adults & middle aged adults between the ages of 25 to 50; as well as college-educated, active couples/families with average income range of $120k to $350k plus.
Being located at Montrose Collective—at the gateway to and from Midtown & Downtown Houston—gives us the opportunity to target a vast range of Happy Hour guests. Our geographical position & our late operating hours also provides us with a large pool of hospitality industry guests, as we are surrounded by restaurants and bars.
Market
Houston-area households spend 49% of their food dollars away from home
compared to the US average of 43%
Hospitality industry in Houston is one of the most diverse and competitive in the country. Demand for products and services are always high. This, along with a minimal competition in the niche market that Flora’s Bottle Shop is aiming for, gives it a healthy chance to succeed and set itself separate.
The industry suffered immense losses due to Covid-19; however, it re-shaped and restructured itself, partially through adopting new trends due to covid rules and health rules, to meet the demands of the public. We believe that by 2023, the industry, especially in Houston, will go back to its pre-covid state, as well as keeping those new trends (such as higher demand for delivery & catering options). Flora’s will focus on both mentioned service areas.
Unfortunately, many of our restaurant, bars and bistros closed during the pandemic. As sad and unfortunate as this is, it created a vacuum that is being filled by new and exciting concepts, like Flora’s Bottle Shop, to feed the ever-growing demand.
Competition
The Wine. The Food. The Backyard.
The wine menu is sommelier-designed, yet easy to navigate; the sandwiches are the star of the show; and the open space design creates a relaxing atmosphere with happy vibes!
The old phrase, "location, location, location" can simply be defined by our space at the Montrose Collective. Being “in the heart of Houston’s most culturally electric neighborhood", surrounded by offices, single home residences, apartment complexes & townhomes, bars & restaurants, 50,000+ cars traffic counts per day and a heavy daily foot traffic, Flora's Bottle Shop has all the right ingredients for successful sales and immediate growth. This sets us apart from and ahead of many of our competitors and helps our Marketing campaign to begin with a big launch forward.
Add our mouthwatering sandwiches, ever rotating & exciting wine menu, & the backyard feel of our open design, and Flora's will be set apart from all of the top wine bars in HTX.
Furthermore, Flora's Bottle Shop's catering program will be the plus that none of our competitors are offering. Through this program, we will provide guests the same top of the line experience at the comfort of their homes or their offices. Offering convenience is the additional ingredient that will set us apart from the competition. We expect for this department to be highly profitable.
Vision and strategy
Scaling to $1M+ revenue and multiple locations
Short-Term:
Our short-term goal is to get established within the immediate neighborhood during the first year and to reach the projected sales of $1,000,000 for the first year.*
Long-Term:
Our long-term, 3-year goal is to be established and recognized within the hospitality industry in Houston, as well as becoming a destination for residents outside of our immediate neighborhood. Furthermore, we intend to expand and open our 2nd and 3rd locations, in the City of Houston during the 3rd year and to other markets in Texas during the 4th and 5th year. The sales goal for each location is forecast to reach an average of $1,600,000 annually by the end of the 3rd year.*
*Click here for important information regarding Financial Projections which are not guaranteed.
Use of funds
Flora’s is seeking a total funding of $450k to be used for permitting and licensing, buildout, kitchen equipment and furniture, initial inventory order, staffing, marketing and to set aside reserve cash. Below is a general plan of how the funds will be utilized. These numbers will be adjusted as the projected enters its construction and pre operation phase.
Buildout & Construction 40%
Furniture & Decoration 7%
Kitchen & Bar Equipment 5%
Operational System 5%
Initial Inventory 10%
Marketing 8%
Initial Staffing 10%
Cash on Hand 15%
Funding
The project has been funded by the ownership personal funds to complete the lease and design phases and has entered its permitting phase.
Founders
With over 10 years of hospitality and foodservice experience, Natalie Navi is proud to deliver the ultimate wine and sandwich experience with Flora’s Bottle Shop and its visionary offering. Inspired by the desire to combine two of her favorite things, Natalie has delivered on a concept that brings sandwiches and wine together in a warm, inviting atmosphere where people could relax and enjoy themselves.
Hospitality-focused, dedicated to excellence, and passionate are just a few terms often used to describe Natalie. A North Carolina native, she was immersed in hospitality and the foodservice industry from an early age. Her father was an energetic and successful Director of Sales & Catering at a prominent hotel in North Carolina, and kept Natalie engaged in the industry throughout her youth. At home, her family embodied hospitableness and regularly hosted gatherings, where Natalie absorbed the importance of making people feel comfortable and welcomed. These aspects gave her a strong desire to combine that sense of quality and customer service with a neighborhood-oriented ethos.
Natalie went on to build a career in hospitality, working in positions from bartender and server to ultimately the role of general manager at a well-known Italian restaurant in Montrose. Natalie’s entrepreneurship spirit and years of hospitality experience has led her to this moment: Flora’s Bottle Shop, where she aims to create an unforgettable experience.
