Today we’d like to introduce you to Tom Higgins.
Hi Tom, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I grew up as an Athlete in Farmingdale, New York. I attended the University of Delaware and was a scholarship Lacrosse Player. My senior I was involved in a devastating accident which caused me to leave school and transfer to a small business school in NY. Since I have a competitive nature, I was able to push through the grueling two years of physical therapy and get myself back in school. From 1987-1990 I worked full time to put myself through school and ended up graduating in the top 5 of my class. In 1991 I accepted a career in Medical Sales in Augusta Georgia and ended up having a very successful Medical Sales Career with several Executive Management positions. In 2008, I left medical sales to open up my first business. The business was focused on giving young athletes the opportunity to succeed in a new sport Lacrosse. I owned a retail store, a training facility, and multiple high-end travel teams. I was able to mentor these student-athletes through the principles set by FCA, Fellowship of Christian Athletes.
Many of my student-athletes received scholarships to attend top Universities across the USA. This business was very rewarding in many different ways. In 2014, I sold the business to pursue a career in Nutrition. After representing many different companies, I ended up opening up my own Nutrition Business focused on Neutaceuticals and joint repair and healing. In 2018, I started my interest in wine and winemaking. Also in 2018, my lovely wife secured a position at Kaya Vineyards as the retail manager driving the gift shop business. To help support my interest in wine, I worked at Kaya Vineyards as the tasting room manager. This position helped develop my wine knowledge and become a part of a thriving winery business. In March 2023, my wife and I accepted to be managing partners at Kaya Vineyards and Winery and Dahlonega Resort and Vineyards. Within the first three months, we were able to drive our sales past 2022, which was the best year since our inception. My focus at Kaya was to develop a VIP customer experience with every customer visit. We were able to accomplish this through raising the Kaya Standard by providing first-class customer service through our wine stewards. This started with our physical appearance and positive attitude, and positive behaviors.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Life is about how you get through the challenges and obstacles and what you learn from them. My approach is always focused on the positives of these experiences. My first challenge was right after my accident, where I had to learn to walk again. Once I was able to get back on my feet again, I focused on how I was going to establish myself in a successful business while having a positive impact on others. Over the past six months the struggle was focused on how to increase customers coming to the Winery while they have a lot of other choices. We have been successful because of our focus on developing strong relationships with customers. Our wine stewards have been able to connect with our customers and in some cases, our customers have become mentors to our staff. Kaya Vineyards has always been a top-visited winery, but now we are the #1 choice to come for a first-class experience. An example of this is our most recent national appearance on the Today Show. The Dahlonega Resort was toted as the best place to stay and receive a once-in-a-lifetime experience through our lodging, spa, and wine tasting.
Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
Kaya Vineyards and Winery is one of the largest wineries in North Georgia. We have one thousand customers coming to enjoy a first-class experience here at Kaya. We have a full-service tasting room and kitchen and on weekends we host weddings of up to 250 people. Kaya is known for our Estate white wines and our large selection of red wines. We also conduct tours each day of behind-the-scenes that very few people get to see. Our wine stewards provide the best service to each customer on every visit. I am most proud of that we have grown double digits each year and all of our tour groups make Kaya one of the three stops on their tours. As an owner, I am very involved with each customer experience and it is my #1 goal to make each customer feel like they just had a VIP experience. We have the best wine club membership that is very active with events each month. Our motto is ” Our winery is your winery to experience”.
We all have a different way of looking at and defining success. How do you define success?
Success is a choice, and everyone has a choice to succeed. I choose each day to come to work and make a difference in my staff’s lives and in the lives of our customers. Success is when I know that every customer has had the experience of a lifetime and wants to come back. When we make first-timers into life-timers, I know we have made a difference.
With my staff, I serve as not only their leader but also as their mentor in life. They all know that I am very approachable, and they can come to me with any issue they may have.
Pricing:
- Wine club $19.99-39.99 per month
- Tastings $25 for 5 tastings of 1.5 ounces
Contact Info:
- Website: Kayavineyards.com
