Bird Girl Bottle Shop is a unique beer garden within the heart of the vintage Hilton Village in Newport News, VA. The neighborhood was established in 1918 and brings a cozy, historical backdrop. They are known for their incredible and flavorful pizzas, paired with beers from local breweries within Hampton Roads.
Owned by a small family, the owners' mission aims to provide a casual welcoming atmosphere while delivering carefully curated beer, wine, and a rotating selection of pizzas - with gluten-free cauliflower crusts as an option. Their cozy location offers limited indoor seating and plenty of outdoor seating for friends and family of any age! Dogs are also welcome to join in on the fun. After only just opening in 2023, they have had a successful start and have gained a decent social media following due to their charismatic and creative posts on their Instagram and Facebook.
This S.W.O.T analysis aims to analyze the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of a local organization for my Events Management & Leadership course.
Strengths - Internal
Before it ever opened its doors, Bird Girl Bottle Shop did an excellent job at marketing itself in the local area. In October of 2023, they were picked up by the Virginia Pilot before they even opened their doors.
Their engagement with the local community has been successful in how they carried out the launch of their business. As renovations continued, they posted updates on repairs and engaged with locals of the neighborhood in Facebook groups. They created excitement as their grand opening approached.
As a new business, they have established high ratings already through testimonies in their social media comments and through review sites such as Yelp.
Weaknesses – Internal
Although they are renowned for their unique flavors and have many options to add to their pizzas, providing more pizza options on their menu would provide more variety. Additionally, rotating different pizzas more often could also help with this.
Bird Girl Bottle Shop could provide clearer instructions on how to apply to work for them through their website and social media so that they could attract more employees if needed. If they do not need employees because they are family-owned, offering insight that they are not currently offering employment could help provide a clear message.
Funding could be very limited since it is a new business and locally owned.
Opportunities – External
There are so many opportunities for Bird Girl Bottle Shop to provide diverse activities for the community such as D&D night or adults-only tabletop game night. These community events could spread word of mouth and would increase sales.
Collaborating events with local businesses would be beneficial for both businesses and could encourage supporting more local businesses. Some examples could include hosting a book club with local bookshops such as SeeWhich Books in Hampton, VA, or Paperback Ink.
Bird Girl Bottle Shop also has the opportunity to market itself as a venue for smaller wedding receptions or private events. The beautiful outdoor patio under fairy lights and vast yard space makes this location perfect for smaller events.
Threats – External
Threats that affect their business are negative reviews. With it being a new business, a negative review can easily make or break a customer's decision to try out their establishment especially if it is regarding food quality or cleanliness.
Bad weather could also negatively affect the business because it is largely marketed as an outdoor restaurant because of its limited indoor seating.
Unsafe neighborhood conditions is also a threat to the venue. While this area is generally safe, there is occasionally shootings in nearby locations that could deter families from visiting.
Event Recommendation
An event that I would recommend based on this research of Bird Girl Bottle Shop, would be a community event that hosts a “D&D and Beer” night. This could be a once-a-month event that takes place on a Saturday night. The event would invite adults (21+) and older to gather their friends for a night to kick back and enjoy local brews, and pizza, and start or continue their D&D campaigns with the community. The food and drinks could be a "fantasy" theme for the event each month and merchandise could be created that fits the theme and includes the Bird Girl Bottle Shop brand. Not only does this increase sales, but it also spreads marketing when people wear the merchandise in the local area. There could even be a contest for local artists to submit their design ideas which supports the community further.
This event also benefits the community by creating a space for adults to make new friends and share their love of Dungeons & Dragons. The event would have to consider if they have enough space to support all participants so guests would need to register in advance on their website. This would give a headcount before the start of each event so that the owners could announce on their social media if they have reached capacity for the event. Other considerations they would need to keep in mind are noise restrictions, in case the event causes issues to local neighbors, and weather, as the event would take place on the outdoor patio.
By providing this event, Bird Girl Bottle Shop would benefit from the spread of word of mouth, increased profits, and the optics of supporting the local community.
References
“Bird Girl Bottle Shop.” Bird Girl Bottle Shop, birdgirlbottleshop.com/about-us.
Bird Girl Bottle Shop. Facebook. https://www.facebook.com/birdgirlbottleshop.
Bird Girl Bottle Shop. Instagram. https://www.instagram.com/birdgirlbottleshop.
“Bird Girl Bottle Shop - Newport News, VA.” Yelp, www.yelp.com/biz/bird-girl-bottle-shop-newport-news.
Acker, Susan Smigielski. “Bird Girl Bottle Shop to Sell Craft Beer, Wine and Pizza in Newport News’ Hilton Village.” The Virginian-Pilot, 12 Oct. 2023, www.pilotonline.com/2023/10/12/bird-girl-bottle-shop-to-sell-craft-beer-wine-and-pizza-in-newport-news-hilton-village/.
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