Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey in food and beverage but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Maura Gramzinski, owner of RedCamper, located in Denver, CO, USA.

What's your business, and who are your customers?

We love summertime here at RedCamper. So much so we do everything we can to bottle up every ray of sunshine for year-round consumption. We celebrate road trips, picnics, place, people, and storytelling through a specialty food line called Deliciousness, premier cheeseboard and picnic basket ready handcrafted, small-batch preserves and mostardas that are a result of over two decades of home preserving, a county fair blue ribbon and a lifetime of love for small farms, roadside stands, and back seat sandwiches. Our newest addition to the family are our Bourbon Cocktail Cherries, which are beautiful for mixed drinks or dessert toppings. Our customers are foodies, picnickers, roadtrippers, and storytellers that love to share a meal and a drink with friends and family while telling stories about their latest adventure.

Tell us about yourself

Daughter of hippies, granddaughter of globe trotters, I am eternally curious about other places. I am an artist turned food maker; I love expressing my creativity through food making. I've always had a soft spot for roadside fruit stands and rows of orchard trees casting fruit-shaped shadows on the grass below. I'm motivated to bring authenticity and a sense of place to fruit condiments, allowing a vehicle (if you will) for sharing.

What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?

Possibly the 3 Good Food Awards we have received, but probably the biggest accomplishment is still doing what we do after all these years; through thick and thin, we have figured out how to survive.

What's one of the hardest things that come with being a business owner?

Managing time and finances while bootstrapping. I have found it incredibly difficult to sustain or grow while practicing an organic growth model without any additional funding, especially in these times.

What are the top tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run and grow a business today?

  1. Find a great accountant/bookkeeper to help set up your books correctly from the start.
  2. Don't compromise your own wellness for the business.
  3. Believe.

Is there anything else you'd like to share?

It's an incredibly rewarding but difficult thing, owning a business.

Where can people find you and your business?

Website: https://www.redcamper.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Redcamper/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/redcamper/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/redcampr
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mauragramzinski/

If you like what you've read here and have your own story as a solopreneur that you'd like to share, then email community@subkit.com; we'd love to feature your journey on these pages.

Feel inspired to start, run or grow your own subscription business? Check out subkit.com and learn how you can turn "one day" into day one.