A loan helped a family-owned wine/beer/spirits retail shop create an international in-store food market.


Keith's story

I get to run Caravan Wine Shop with my partner Lenora. We both gained the experience that inspired our shop while working and living in major metropolitan environments. I spent two decades in New York City studying theatre and in the restaurant world as a beverage director, sommelier and server. Through these parallel paths I developed a love of storytelling and a passion for curating interactive communal experiences.

Lenora also has a background in the restaurant industry as well as a teacher and manager of youth arts programming at the Institute of Contemporary Art / Boston. She returned to the New York City area to study Cognitive Science at Columbia University, with a focus on curiosity.

We met working at a restaurant in Manhattan while attending a Sherry Wines workshop. We realized we wanted to collaborate in life and entwine our interests. We combined our skills and interests by leading historical wine tastings, using alcohol as a lens into the history of humanity and earth events.

Our ideas began to blossom and we envisioned what would become Caravan Wine Shop. To realize this we packed up our lives and moved to central Wisconsin. Caravan has been in operation for over two years and programs have expanded to include a monthly wine club, a documentary video series called Speak Easy where we taste a variety of spirits with our local community members, a live music series called Listen Up!, and ongoing collaborations with other downtown businesses such as Bound to Happen Books, Process General, Agora, and Assembly Shop. Our goal is to expand Caravan Wine Shop as a cultural hub and a center of education, exploration, and taste.


This loan is special because:

It supports a small business owner with 0%-interest, zero-fee capital.



Loan details


About Caravan Wine Shop, LLC

Industry: Retail
Years in operation: More than 5 years
Website: caravanwineshop.com

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Loan details