When Sarah Puil sends her staff out to buy wine at liquor stores, they tell the clerks what type of taste they're seeking. Each staff member buys four bottles.
"We focus on one of our profiles," says Puil, founder and CEO of Boxt, a direct-to-consumer wine subscription service that offers six profiles. "You ask someone to help you find that profile. We come back to the office, and guess how many bottles taste like they were supposed to? We've never hit more than two."
Boxt aims to match customers with the type of wine they prefer.
"I think the power of Boxt is we’re focused on taste expectation. We’re not a wine company. We’re a taste bud company," Puil said. "There are endless possibilities beyond the wine when you think like that."
Customers take a quiz that matches them with a specific profile. Boxt offers three reds and three whites and will introduce a rosé in the spring.
It sold out of its launch memberships and its holiday gifts.
It's all happened pretty fast.
Puil — who had spent her career in performance and sports marketing — was invited to be an entrepreneur-in-residence at Next Coast Ventures in the fall of 2019. Late last year, "I put the idea together, and in January, I had a term sheet."
Boxt received a "healthy" seed round at the end of February. Puil won't disclose the amount.
"It put us in a great position," she said.
The company spent March through September working on legal licensing. Boxt is a fully licensed winery in California, where its wines are made, and in Texas.
Boxt started shipping in October.
“We’ve had incredible growth over the last two months that we’ve been shipping,” Puil said. “A lot of people got gifts in the mail. We’re getting orders from people who got gifts.”
The company’s wines come in wooden boxes and last for more than 30 days.
The shelf life helps with that question about bottles of wine: “Do I feel like a jerk because I didn’t finish it or because I did?” Puil said, laughing.
Each box contains the equivalent of four bottles of wine. Each box costs $69, including shipping. Two boxes cost $130.
“We want to be your house wine,” Puil said.
In her travels in Europe, she said, she could say “ ‘I’ll take the house red,’ and it’d be amazing.”
Boxed wines in the United States haven’t wowed her.
She thought “What if we put fine wine in a box? It truly could be my daily glass of wine.”
Wine culture has become complicated, she said, and she wants to take some of the intimidation factor away.
“We are blending against taste expectations,” she said. “Just knowing the grape doesn’t tell you what to expect when you’re drinking. And who has time to know all of that stuff?”
People can switch their wine profile at any time. Customers also can pause their memberships.
“It’s a no-hassle pause and a no-hassle cancel,” Puil said. “That customer service is really important to us.”
Starting her own business is “the hardest thing I’ve ever done, but it’s also the coolest thing I’ve ever done,” she said. “This time last year I was putting words on paper, and now people can pour a glass of our wine in their home. It’s mind-blowing, frankly.”
