Female whiskey distiller uses her business wins and losses to drive current success

Serial entrepreneur Rhonda Kallman is evidence of the power of persistence in business. Kallman is currently founder and CEO of Boston Harbor Distillery, a burgeoning whole-grain whiskey and spirits business on the city’s southernmost historic waterfront. She is also co-founder of Boston Beer Company, a wildly successful company that developed the popular Samuel Adams beer. Not all of her ventures have fared as well, but whether she’s been riding high on her successes or facing a setback, Kallman has kept innovating.

She credits her success to hard work, a refusal to give up, and a willingness to seize opportunities. “Jim and I jumped on the chance to start Boston Beer in 1984 when we met at Boston Consulting Group and he realized we had very complementary skills,” she says of Boston Beer founder, Jim Koch. “I had extensive experience working in the bar and restaurant industry from years of waitressing and bartending. He was the sixth generation of men in his family to brew beer and had three Harvard degrees.”

Kallman and Koch built Boston Beer to more than 200 employees and then took it public before she left to launch her next company, New Century Brewing Company. That venture had a promising start, but regulatory challenges and timing doomed the business to fail. It was at this point she returned to her first love, whiskey, and founded current venture, Boston Harbor Distillery.

With her wide array of entrepreneurial experiences, Kallman has had her share of business ups and downs. She provides tips here for entrepreneurs looking to grow their own businesses.

Tip: Be persistent

Kallman approaches everything with a “just do it” attitude and total commitment. She happily performed every task that was needed to build the Boston Beer Company, from driving the delivery truck to building essential relationships with restaurant and bar owners. A woman in the liquor industry in the 1980s was a rarity, and she says she had to work persistently for every accomplishment.

“When a pretty girl showed up, guys would say, ‘oh, why don’t you come back Saturday, or maybe next week,’ rather than just agree to buy, like I saw them do with a male salesman,” she says. “So I’d have to keep showing up. But people knew after spending a few minutes talking to me that I was all business. I’m nice and I'm friendly but I was there to do my job.”

Her perseverance was also essential when the pandemic threatened her current company, Boston Harbor Distillery. The business was nearly five years old when the pandemic lockdown hit in 2020, forcing the company to limit operations and constantly pivot to stay afloat. Boston Harbor Distillery produced hand sanitizer and gave it away to local businesses, nursing homes and other healthcare providers. From the start of the pandemic, the company was forced to lay off almost all of its employees to preserve what little cash there was. Federal and state government programs such as the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) and SBA loans also helped.

“In a way, we’re starting all over again, thanks to lost distribution as a result of the mandatory restaurant shutdowns,” Kallman says about her current situation. “Business will come back, but it will take a little while to get back on the trajectory we were on.”

Kallman’s persistence leads her to bring a positive attitude even to challenging situations. She says that one silver lining of the pandemic was that it gave the company time to develop new products. One example is Demon Seed, a fiery whiskey made with scorpion peppers. “When your back is up against a wall,” she says, “good things can happen.”

Bottom line: Make your own opportunities and try to avoid feeling discouraged, even when your business experiences setbacks. If your current business strategy isn’t working, don’t be afraid to pivot and try something new. Hard times are often a signal that you need to make an adjustment of some type. Look at what isn’t working, or what has not gone according to plan, and identify learnings you can apply to your future endeavors in your company.

Tip: Line up financing

“Raising capital has been the single most difficult thing I’m tasked with doing,” says Kallman, noting that companies solely founded by women only garnered 2% of the venture capital invested in startups last year, according to Pitchbook. “Things are slowly changing, but the pain is real for female entrepreneurs.”

To fund Boston Harbor Distillery, Kallman secured bank loans and raised capital through angel investors. Her advice is to pursue funding long before you need it since most entrepreneurs, even those with successful companies, underestimate how long it may take to secure financing. 

“You know the old expression ‘it always takes twice as long and costs twice as much?’ Well, in the whiskey business, it takes four times as long and costs four times as much,” she says.

Unlike brewing beer — which can be done in a few weeks — the whiskey distilling process takes much longer, which means it is longer before there is a product to sell. “You have to prepay for everything,” Kallman explains, to emphasize the important role financing can play. “That includes the ingredients, the equipment and raw materials to distill the spirits, the utilities, the rent, the labor, the barrels — and then depending on what you’re making, it can be about four years before you have a product.”

Bottom line: Consider all potential options to finance your business and manage financial ups and downs. These can include a line of credit, business loans, investors and grants from organizations that support small businesses. A financial advisor such as a certified public accountant or a business banker can provide advice on the options available and offer ideas for other important financial planning.

Tip: Have a distinct position

Kallman advises anyone embarking on their own entrepreneurial path to have a clear idea about what makes their service or product different from what’s already out there. Without clarity about the differentiated value of what your business provides — unparalleled expertise, unique features, ease of use or another aspect — it may be difficult to convince financial backers, customers, partners or anyone else to pay attention. “If it’s not innovative, better or cheaper,” she asks, “what’s the point?”

For Boston Harbor Distillery, that meant creating a single malt whiskey made of whole grains rather than the typical bourbon whiskey, which in America must be 51% corn. The company’s flagship brand today, Putnam, is a unique line of single malts (made from a single malted grain) and rye (distilled from rye grain). The line is named after Silas Putnam, the original occupant of the building that now houses the distillery, one of the last-standing mill buildings on Boston’s historic waterfront. Boston Harbor Distillery also offers small batch gin, rum, liqueurs and distilled beer.

In the coming year, Kallman hopes to grow the company even further, with plans to hire creative marketing agencies and salespeople to raise awareness and visibility for the brand both in her hometown and in other markets.

“We want to make Bostonians proud of Boston Harbor Distillery, just like they are of Sam Adams,” she says.

Bottom line: Know what truly makes your product or service unique and differentiated from existing competitors in your market. Kallman also advises picking a business that you are passionate about. Your interest in and commitment to a business will help to sustain you through growth ups and downs. “When you start a business, you’re going to spend a disproportionate amount of your time working on it,” she says. “If you’re going to sacrifice not only your own money but time with your family and friends, you really need to be committed.”