Matt Rollens, founder of Dragon Glassware, has built his virtual company that sells high-end barware to be one of the fastest-growing companies in the West.
Based in Granite Bay, Dragon Glassware had revenue of $2.5 million in 2020, which represented growth of 548% over two years. That was high enough to land Dragon on the Inc. magazine Pacific Regionals 2022 list of Fastest-Growing Companies.
“It is the kind of luxury glassware you can’t find at Target or many other stores,” Rollens said.
His sales, which are online and direct-to-consumer, were up during the pandemic.
During Covid-19, people had to stay at home, and people were looking for ways to have fun at home, Rollens said. “If you have to stay at home, why not make a quarantini?”
The company sells distinctive barware, including double-walled beer glasses and steins, colored champagne glasses, diamond-shaped whiskey glasses, and even branded glasses, including a series of Barbie glassware licensed by toy company Mattel Inc. (Nasdaq: MAT).
Not all the products are glass. The company sells diamond-shaped stainless steel chilling stones, which are used to cool drinks without watering them down.
Rollens said he gets a lot of repeat customers, and he assumes a lot of people buy the barware as gifts. He typically makes about half of his annual sales in the fourth quarter, he said.
“It is sort of a premium gifting company,” Rollens said. “It’s perfect for people who are hard to shop for.”
The boxes and packaging the barware is delivered in is ready for gifting, he added. Rollens sources his wares from contract manufacturers globally.
The company has about 30 different products, and he is adding new products all the time, including more branded items.
The Regionals 2022 list is actually based on Dragon’s 2020 revenue of $2.5 million compared to the previous two years. Dragon had revenue of $3.8 million in 2021, which represents 335% growth over the previous two years.
Rollens graduated from California State University Sacramento with a degree in marketing. He worked for several years for advertising and marketing company Bouchard Communications Group in Roseville, and then he decided to go out on his own. He started Dragon in 2017 as a virtual company using the Fulfillment By Amazon program, a service of Amazon.com Inc. (Nasdaq: AMZN) that handles warehousing, logistics and delivery for startups.
“I always had the entrepreneurial bug,” Rollens said. Using Amazon’s FBA program, he didn’t need to have a warehouse or any employees. He still doesn’t have those, though he does use some outside contractors for marketing and support.
More than half of the items sold on Amazon worldwide are from small and medium-sized businesses, said Amazon spokeswoman Natalie Wolfrom. She said Amazon handles receiving, packing, shipping, customer service and returns for all orders.
Nine local companies made the Inc. Regionals 2022 Pacific list, which includes California, Nevada, Oregon, Washington, Alaska and Hawaii.
These are the rankings for local companies in the 2022 Pacific regional list:
- No. 23: Dragon Glassware, growth 548%
- No. 36: Fortuna BMC, growth 368%
- No. 46: Human Bees, growth 295%
- No. 59: Senga Energy, growth 235%
- No. 94: CryoBuilt, growth 152%
- No. 106: xFusion Technologies, growth 122%
- No. 118: Engage3, growth 100%
- No. 120: Natix, growth 97%
- No. 150: Protelo, growth 61%
