Do you work with operators outside your home state?

Yes. The majority of the work is digital — strategy, automation, platform management, and reporting — so geography isn't a constraint. I work with tasting rooms, wineries, breweries, taprooms, and craft beverage operators across the United States. Discovery calls and onboarding happen over video. If an engagement requires on-site time, I'll scope that separately.

What's the minimum commitment?

The engagement starts with a fixed-price DTC audit and 90-day roadmap. There's no long-term contract required. After the roadmap, retainer engagements run month-to-month. You stay because the work is producing results, not because of a contract.

Do I need to already have a club?

No. If you're considering launching a membership or club program — wine club, mug club, loyalty tier, or something custom — the audit and roadmap phase is designed to evaluate whether it makes sense for your business and what the right structure looks like. I can build the program from scratch.

What does this role actually look like in practice?

It means you get a senior-level digital operator — someone who manages your website, CRM, email, and member platform — without hiring a full-time employee. I embed into your operations on a part-time, ongoing basis and own the digital side of your business.

How is this different from hiring a marketing agency?

Agencies typically deliver campaigns and reports. A digital operations partner owns outcomes. I manage the systems, make the technical decisions, and execute week-to-week. There's no account manager in between — you work directly with the person doing the work.

Outsourced Digital Operations

Most tasting rooms quietly lose 15% of their repeat revenue between guest visits.

I help wineries, tasting rooms, breweries, and taprooms tighten CRM, email, and member systems so more guests come back and buy again.

I'm Matt. I've spent nearly 30 years building the digital systems that fix this for Fortune 500 brands — and 15 years visiting tasting rooms around the world as a guest who noticed exactly where the leaks are. Now I build those same systems for independent operators, at a price that makes sense.

Start Your 5-Minute Digital Leak Check Ready to discuss options? Schedule a consultation

Tools built into real tasting room stacks

Toast POS Shopify Stripe Mailchimp Meta Business HubSpot

Tested on real guests — not theory. Including the Friday night rush at Uncorked Wine Tastings in Dublin, Ohio.

Club web portal showing membership management and billing

Live Platform

Matt conducting a guided wine tasting at a private tasting room in Central Ohio — That's me on the left — conducting a tasting on a busy Friday.

The Mission

You focus on hospitality. I'll run the digital engine.

Help independent wine, beer, spirits, and hospitality operators grow recurring revenue and guest lifetime value by delivering turnkey digital systems and a right-sized custom member platform — so they can focus on hospitality while I run the digital engine.

I’ve spent 15 years visiting tasting rooms across the U.S., Portugal, and Argentina, studying the same pattern over and over: incredible product and hospitality, with digital follow-up that leaks repeat revenue between visits. After nearly 30 years building enterprise digital systems at Accenture, Ernst & Young, Sitecore, and Merkle — managing $30M pipelines and leading technical teams — I now build those same systems for independent wineries, tasting rooms, breweries, taprooms, and craft beverage brands that face enterprise-grade problems without enterprise-size teams. I also work the floor at Uncorked Wine Tastings in Central Ohio, where I test every recommendation against real guests, real POS constraints, and real Friday night rushes.

"Think of me as the operational plumber for your tasting room or taproom — I find where the leak is under the bar and fix it before you lose another season of repeat revenue."

Almost 30 years building enterprise digital systems · Accenture · EY · Sitecore · Merkle

Nearly 30 Years Enterprise Consulting U.S. Patent Holder 2× Sitecore MVP WSET Certified Active Tasting Room Operator

Revenue-First Tech: Designed to increase club signups and repeat visits.
Right-Sized for Your Operation: Enterprise-grade expertise without the overhead of a full-time hire.
Custom-Built Portals: Purpose-built member apps and portals, designed to fit your operation.

Pub carries two meanings — both intentional. Publisher: I ship systems and outcomes into the world, not slide decks. Public House: practical knowledge shared plainly, without ego or performance.

Ideal for:

Independent Tasting Rooms & Wineries

Distilleries & Craft Beverage Brands

Boutique Retailers with Loyalty Programs

Small Multi-Venue Operators (2–10 locations)

Real Results

What changes when your systems actually work.

30 days

Site traffic stabilized within 30 days of engagement — halting a 500-session/month post-opening decline.

Email click rate doubled — 1.66% to 3.36% — after list hygiene and targeted segmentation.

Uncorked Wine Tastings — Dublin, Ohio · Wix Email Marketing, Apr–May 2026

490

Organic clicks in 82 days — from a channel that contributed zero sessions during the entire opening period.

Uncorked Wine Tastings — Dublin, Ohio · Google Search Console, Feb–May 2026

Read the full case study — Uncorked Wine Tastings

Core Offering

Your Digital Operations Partner

Ongoing ownership of your full digital stack — from the website to the CRM to the member app. I manage the systems so you can manage the guest experience.

How this model actually works →

Website Operations

A site that produces club signups, not just visits. I handle the strategy, build, and ongoing operations so every page earns its keep.

Deep dive

Email & SMS Marketing

Automated follow-ups so guests don't silently disappear — first visit, lapse trigger, win-back — running without your attention and actually driving repeat revenue.

Deep dive

CRM & Data Analysis

Message the right guests without a spreadsheet. I connect your data and give you a plain-language monthly read on what's working and what isn't.

Deep dive

Social-to-DTC Strategy

Turn social media into your club's front door — DM automation, link architecture, and a content habit built around driving visits and signups, not just likes.

Deep dive

Omni-Channel Audit

Something is leaking between your Instagram, your website, and your club signup page. This audit finds it — a full map of your guest journey with gaps ranked by what they're actually costing you.

Deep dive

Fit-For-Purpose Member Portal

Member benefits they can actually use — for $20/month, not $400. I built one wine bar's member app, web portal, and staff tool from scratch: the whole stack does more than the off-the-shelf alternatives at a fraction of the cost.

Deep dive

Honest Filter

This probably isn't the right fit if you're…

Seeking paid ads, influencer campaigns, or social content calendars
Looking for the lowest-cost option or a one-time deliverable
Unwilling to change existing processes as part of the engagement
Operating a venue with fewer than 500 annual guests

Not ready for a call? See where your revenue is leaking — in 5 minutes.

Start Your 5-Minute Digital Leak Check

The Transformation

What actually changes when your digital systems work.

Before

— Tech tools that don't talk to each other — website, POS, and CRM all siloed
— Club revenue leaking through manual processes and missed win-back moments
— Paying for agency layers or dev hours with no clear revenue attribution
— No visibility into what's actually driving repeat visits or club signups

After

+ Integrated stack — CRM, email, payments, and club portal all connected and reporting
+ Automated win-back flows and lifecycle emails running without your attention
+ One operator accountable for the whole system — no relay race between vendors
+ Monthly revenue attribution showing exactly where club growth is coming from

The Process

My Process

Every engagement follows the same honest path: understand first, plan second, execute third.

DTC Audit

A fixed-price review of your digital footprint — website, email, CRM, payments, and member data. You get a written report with specific findings, not generalities.

See what's included →

90-Day Roadmap

A prioritized plan for what to fix, build, or improve — scoped to your budget and timeline. No fluff, no 60-page deck. Just the work that matters most.

Ongoing Retainer

Month-to-month execution. I manage your digital systems, report on results, and adjust course weekly. You stay because it works, not because of a contract.

Fit-For-Purpose Member Portal

Member benefits they can actually use — for $20/month, not $400.

I design and implement right-sized member apps and portals that give guests a premium, branded interface for club benefits, history, and exclusive content.