Posted date: 12/19/2005
Small Business Spotlight: San Diego Wine Co.

By JESSICA LONG
San Diego Business Journal Staff

As owner of the San Diego Wine Co., Matt Francke likens his business to an adult candy store where the customers are always happy and the workday is fun.

Francke has owned the retail shop for only about a year but knows the business well, having spent seven years as the shop’s assistant manager.

“Once I really got into this shop, that’s when I knew that I wanted to own my own business because I loved my job,” said Francke, who has worked in the wine industry for about 12 years.

Francke said that he first “fell in love” with wine when he was 21 and visited his aunt at her place of work, a Santa Barbara area winery. Although he is passionate about wine — both from a consumer and industry standpoint — timing was everything when it came to Francke’s decision to become a small-business owner.

“It feels great to be in a position that I have always felt I could excel at,” he said. “Although the idea of ownership was dangled from the first day of hiring, it did not appear that it would happen. I told my wife at the beginning of this year something was going to happen with my future in the business. I thought I was going to start my own business, but this opportunity popped up and I could not pass on something I helped grow over the past seven years.”

VITALS

Name: Matthew G. Francke.

Title: Owner.

Company: San Diego Wine Co.

Company address: 7080 Miramar Rd, Suite 100. San Diego, CA. 92121.

Company phone: (858) 586-9463.

Year founded: 1994.

Prior business experience: Assistant manager of the San Diego Wine Co. for seven years. Worked at Orfila Vineyards in Escondido helping manage the wine tasting room and retail store, as well as the wholesale division.