Since the onset of the COVID-19 crisis, small and medium wineries have been struggling to continue with their day-to-day operations. This is certainly a very stressful time for wineries with smaller cash reserves.

Wineries, to begin with, anyway have a very small profit margin to investment ratio when it comes to their daily operations. These small and medium businesses are the backbone of the American economy. It is as important to take care of the national economy as it is to take care of public health. Now is the time to take care of your local small and medium businesses. 

Shopping locally can help keep your families, businesses and communities strong. Supporting local wineries can mean getting delivery or curbside pickup from your local winery online, or purchasing store gift cards for future use.

If you’ve checked your email recently, you may have noticed all the businesses sending out notifications letting their consumers know how they are trying to help.

It is indeed admirable to see local individuals and organizations coming together to offer assistance to those in need.

And a good percentage of the dollars spent in locally owned businesses remain in the community, generating economic activity that supports schools, parks, first responders, and other vital community services.

Governments, foundations, and nonprofits everywhere are scrambling to help small businesses stay afloat during this crisis, but everyone can help. Here are some things that you, as a consumer can do to support your local wineries:

1. Take to Social Media & Amplify Messages

Your local winery must have a social media presence. You can help them by sharing their posts and messages in your social groups or just by reposting/retweeting their offers and campaigns. This will help your local winery to reach out to more people online as well as spread awareness about your community's business to reach out to other communities.

And in case your local winery does not have a digital presence, due to less resources or manpower, you can help them by taking their business online. Online presence is a must in this age, and especially on social media and direct-to-consumer channels like the GetDrinksDelivered.com platforms.

2. Order (More) Take Out & Delivery

You can order from your local winery instead of the far away one. This will help you by saving your time and plus, your dollars stay within the community. If your local wineries are providing curbside pick-ups or giving deliveries, in accordance with your state legislations ofcourse, then order from your local wineries. And you coud also order in bulk. In this way, you can minimize outside contact. And they might also have a bulk package or discount.

3. Share Their GetDrinksDelivered.com Profile

If your locality or state allows for curbside pickups or home deliveries, it is very likely that your local winery is listed on the GetDrinksDelivered.com and other such direct-to-consumer online platforms. You can share their profiles among your community where you can see who's delivering in your locality.

Check out who's delivering near you >>>

4. Choose Credits Over Refunds

If COVID-19 prevents a winery from providing the wine you ordered, wherever possible, choose a credit rather than a refund. With the economic hit of the pandemic on small business owners and entrepreneurs, this distinction might be the difference between them making rent this month – or not.

5. Buy Credits or Gift Certificates to Use Later

If your local winery is offering gift cards or credits, you should also consider buying those credits or gift certificates that you can use later on. This cash flow will mean a lot right now while incomes are slow, and you can make use of your purchases when it’s safe to do so. You can use these credits to celebrate your friend's or your spouse's birthday that you're so excited for.

6. Use Your Expertise to Help A Struggling Winery

If you have the time on your hands due to reduced working hours or any other reason which COVID might have caused on your work schedules, you can offer your services and time to your local winery.

It's true that not a lot of businesses are hiring right now, but that doesn't mean that they don't need the resources right now. It's just that it becomes too costly to keep all the resources operational. If you can help your local winery in any sort of way, especially in a digital or technical way, it will be of great help to them. And once this crisis is over, who knows, maybe they might hire you full time also. If they need your services. So you can contact them to see if your services would be of use to them. 

We'd like to highlight here that you can work out some sort of deal as it might be difficult for the winery to pay you a salary right now. Our objective is to help them pull through these tough times. And such experience can often prove to be very valuable, especially if you're in the early stages of your career.

7. Extend Payment Terms

If you’re in a position to offer loans or financial help, you can extend the payment terms to help with their current cash flow situation.

8. Shorten Payment Terms

On the flip side, if you owe money to your local winery and they have given you longer payment terms in the past, see if you can speed up the payment process.

Having good cash flow is more important now than ever for small and medium wineries.