Having a baby changes a life, not always in predictable ways. The birth of his first child was one of the factors that launched Pat Galvin into a new enterprise, Vignette Wine Country Soda.
Pat grew up in Rhode Island as the oldest of 6 boys. �We spent some time in the San Diego area when I was little, and that memory stayed with me. It just took me until 2000 to get back here!� Pat says with a smile.
At Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, Pat studied European history and French and was able to study in France for 7 months. He met his future wife, also an American studying abroad, during that time, and they stayed in France, where Pat worked as a summer intern for the French aircraft manufacturer Airbus. �That was a total immersion program,� he says, not really joking. �I had to work in French. But the best part was getting a glimpse of that lifestyle. The French have such an appreciation of simple pleasures.�
After graduating, Pat managed the election campaign for a Rhode Island Congressman. �It was my first marketing job,� he says. �I loved it. � However, he found that working on Capitol Hill in Washington DC didn�t hold the same appeal, so when the Pat and his wife Sharon had the opportunity to move to Chicago, he went into advertising and new product development. �The part I enjoyed the most was the communication challenge,� he remembers.
The next step was business school at University of California - Berkeley and a job at Levi Strauss in marketing management. Then a baby.
�I had been thinking of getting out of the corporate environment and doing something on my own. My wife�s an attorney, and with our new baby girl, we didn�t want both of us to be in fast-paced corporate jobs that involved travel. Our situation made it possible for me both to launch a new business and to be available for our daughter.�
�In deciding to try something on my own, I spent a lot of time thinking about what idea to develop. I have a background in consumer products and am interested in beverages. I thought a lot about whether there was something new that I could introduce to the beverage market.�
Pat took his inspiration from the wine country. He saw the same beautiful quality in the Northern California countryside that he had loved in France. He researched the idea of using California varietal wine grapes as the natural sweetener for a soft drink that would appeal to the adult palate.
�An eclectic start, but here we are! I want Vignette Soda to be a simple pleasure, an uncomplicated, casual wine country experience � a way to capture the wine country magic in a soda bottle.�
|
