Waters Edge Wineries aims to bring winemaking to more communities while sourcing its grapes from global vineyards.
Ken Lineberger has always been passionate about wine, but he’s not as ecstatic about the agricultural part.
When he and his wife, Angela, decided to launch their own winery businesses in 2004, they made it one where growing grapes was unnecessary. The result was Waters Edge Wineries, and not only did it fit what Lineberger was looking for, but the lack of an agriculture division meant it was easier to replicate.
“We weren’t interested in that side of the business and also didn’t want to be limited by what wine we could produce based on what we could grow in one region,” Lineberger said. “We also wanted to create a winery that we could teach other people how to successfully operate.”
More than two decades later, Waters Edge Wineries has grown from one location in California to a franchise with 15 locations across eight states. Its franchise push, Lineberger said, began in 2012 after they proved the concept over the course of eight years.
“What I really liked about franchising is you can grow faster because you’re not coming up with the capital yourself,” Lineberger said. “What’s more important is it’s a good way of assisting entrepreneurs. I’m passionate about helping people be successful. It’s something I’ve tried to do in the corporate world and now in franchising.”
Waters Edge Wineries is not alone as a winery concept in franchising, but it’s in a smaller category. Lineberger said the ability to open anywhere gives the brand an edge, similar to that of craft breweries.
“Look at the microbrewery craze,” Lineberger said. “It’s exploded across the country, almost to the point of saturation now. But that’s not true in the winery business. In fact, there are more than 6,000 brick-and-mortar wineries in the country, and 80 percent of those are in six states.”
Lineberger’s brand has a warehouse in Ohio shipping out raw juice to its locations, which takes about three days to deliver. Waters Edge also has agreements with vineyards around the world growing grapes for the concept, with the winemaking process completed at local units.
Ken Lineberger is the founder of Waters Edge Wineries.
“Wineries connect the craft to the consumer,” Lineberger said. “You can buy a bottle of wine in a lot of places, but this is where it’s made and customers can meet the winemaker. That’s special.”
One example of a Waters Edge operation is the Norfolk, Virginia, location owned by Jason Witt. A United States Navy veteran and entrepreneur at heart, Witt opened a winery after noting the lack of one in the community and said guests appreciate the experience.
“We manufacture the bottles here and people get to be involved with their first-ever wine bottlings,” Witt said. “We can take them in the back of the house, crack open the tanks and show them the fermentation process and talk all about the background of the wines.”
Lineberger said the way the concept functions provides a variety other wineries can’t compete with.
“In Virginia where Jason is, they have wines with fruit only grown in that climate,” Lineberger said. “They’re limited to that. But people know going to Waters Edge that this wine is different. Ohio and Michigan are similar, for example. They’re known for sweeter wines because the climate is colder and you can’t grow the grapes we have in California. But we can get those types of grapes from California, Italy or France.”
The goal for Waters Edge moving forward is to get the variety of wine options to more than 50 locations, with markets targeted in Arizona, Colorado, Florida, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Tennessee and Virginia.
“We see a ton of opportunity that’s untapped in this country for what we do,” Lineberger said. “We’re really on a path to try and accelerate that as we get more and more locations, more people will experience us and help us expand. We see somewhere in the 10 to 12 units per year range with the infrastructure we have. If we want to go up to 15 or 16, we’ll need more infrastructure.”
As part of that growth, Lineberger said Waters Edge is on the lookout for potential franchisees passionate about wine and can build relationships with people.
“We want them to have that passion and for them to also be an extrovert,” Lineberger said. “A lot of stories around wine come from the ability to communicate it to people who come through the door. Who’re able to talk about what region the grapes are grown and what the culture is like.”