This story is part of a series spotlighting the contributions of Black Portlanders to the regional economy. The Business Journal is profiling one Black-owned business a day through February. You can read the coverage here.
Chaunci King has been building her distilling business for years. She has found success with flavored vodka and a whiskey. She now wants to help others break into the industry and sees her new tasting room and production facility as a venue to do that.
Company: Royalty Spirits
Founded: 2014
What it does: Makes Miru Vodka, Rex rye whiskey, premium mixers and canned cocktails
Addresses: New tasting room under construction at 4532 SE 63rd Ave.
Web: royaltyspirits.biz
What was your biggest success of 2022?
Signing the lease on my commercial property. That’s always been my scaling plan and exit plan. Eventually my goals is to start to co-pack for other (startup distillers). One side of the space is production side and the other side is a tasting room.
What was your biggest challenge and how did you overcome it?
Funding. That is still my biggest challenge, funding for this space. Rivermark Community Credit Union did help a lot giving me a line credit. I do want to start fundraising this year, and possibly take another loan through Prosper Portland if possible.
What are your plans for 2023? What can we expect to see from Royalty?
2023 I am hoping to be in full speed with operating my tasting room and branding myself. I am going to start teaching other entrepreneurs that want to get into the beverage industry, whether liquor or nonalcoholic, teaching classes on how to go from ideas to on the shelf. That is a big goal of mine — helping folks break into this industry. I also want to hold private events (in the new space) like live jazz and performances, spoken word, mixology classes.
What should the city or the state be doing to support small businesses like yours?
They should make more funding available. And they should have some type of navigation and support for building permits. That is a hassle I know many people have. The city hangs them up for months on permitting and they are paying leases and (businesses) die before they get started. They should have something to navigate that successfully or funding around permitting. Like right now they want me to hire a fire marshal type person to sign off (on plans). I need to identify if it is a requirement or something they want to see, and it’s another fee. And I have to find out who are the correct folks to handle such a technical report. I’ve been working since august to get all the permits and I am still nowhere near being finished. And I am paying on a lease.
