High Spirits in High Cotton

Photo Courtesy of Cindi Moore RuralLeaderMagazine.com 23 Sara Lee Crumbs

Spirits are moving in Southwest Georgia and the residents aren’t scared. That’s because the spirits flowing in Richland, GA are the kind to be savored in the new business of Richland Rum. The brainchild of Erik and Karyn Vonk, Richland Rum has had favorable effect on the small rural community of roughly 1400. Beginning with a dream to raise sugar cane and make rum, the Vonks, originally from Holland, found their way to Richland after several business ventures in bigger cities including Atlanta. Richland, according to Erik Vonk was the farthest north that you could raise sugar cane.

“I’ve always had this fascination with rum,” Vonk said. “I thought if ever there was an opportunity to buy some land where one cane grow sugar can I’ll do it. And here we were living in Atlanta and I had learned that this area had produced some sugar cane and we looked around for quite a few years and found a place.”

After enjoying the fruits of their labor with family and friends and receiving positive feedback on the quality of the rum, they decided to take the next step. In 2007 they decided to install the still and began the process of applying for a distiller’s license which came in 2010. They built a small space on the farm with the still and were about to venture into the world of rum making on a professional level when Richland Mayor Adolph McClendon approached them on taking their business inside the city limits of Richland. At first, the Vonks resisted the ideas based on the fact that they had just received the license and had invested in the building on the farm. McClendon insisted on moving the business to the city which desperately needed the future revenue and recognition that the potential business could bring.

“After reflecting on it for a while I thought he’s right” Vonk said. “So we packed our bags and acquired the building and fixed it up. When we moved in around 2010 or 2011, the building had been boarded up for about 26 years.”

That was the first building on main street purchased for the distillery. The following year, the business expanded next door to a building which housed a former jewelry store and had been partially closed for about 19 years. Only the front of the building was used for a dance school for a short time.

Now with the location established, the distillery produces about one barrel per day with 52 gallons of rum at 120 proof, approximately, according to Vonk. This breaks down to 380 bottles of rum produced on a daily basis from the distillery or 2,000 a week or 8,000 a month.

The advantages of working and living in a small rural community are quite evident to the Vonks who are eager to point it out to others who are seeking a change of pace in their business and quality of life.

“It’s rural, it’s beautiful and at the end of the day, it is only two hours from the Atlanta Airport,” he said. “The fact that it is a sandy area with rolling hills and we’re above the Georgia Aquifer here and you have access to the purest water that anyone can want.” Vonk says with all those factors combined and the chance to live and work next to some great people and neighbors is the wonderful.

Business is good for the small business and the benefits to the community is tangible in the pride they take in sharing the good news of their latest economic venture in a rural community such as theirs. However, the journey is not yet completed for Richland Rum. The distillery has led to the opening of a nice shop across the street for those interested in purchasing the rum and other Georgia

grown wines and treats. While a great addition, it also hints at an ongoing issue facing the five major distilleries in Georgia. They can’t sell the product at the distillery unlike wineries who are allowed to sell their product on site.

“I would say that the most important one is getting licenses,” Vonk said. “Not for the unwillingness of all the people that we have worked with both at the state and federal level. We’ve only encountered very proactive, very friendly, and very knowledgeable professionals. But who are a part of this archaic legal system which finds its roots back to the end of prohibition. It is very difficult to work through. That has been a huge challenge.”

Vonk emphasizes that the overall interaction with those in the community and varying levels of government have been “It’s rural, it’s beautiful and at the end of the day, it is only two hours from the Atlanta Airport.” Vonk said.

24 RuralLeaderMagazine.com extremely supportive and enthusiastic about a new business that wants to be a part of the community, pay taxes and create jobs for rural Georgia.

“Everybody has been helpful, accommodating and enthused, “he added. The welcome from Richland residents wiped away any lingering doubts he had regarding someone taking issue with such a business in the community for religious or personal reasons. Indeed, he believes the biggest challenge facing distilleries are the antiquated laws regarding the sale of the product on site. This challenge has led him to organize the Georgia Distillers Association to give a voice to their growing concerns regarding this matter at the state level.

“We have been trying over the last several years to get small portions of the law changed,” Vonk stated. “ There has been the most active representative gentleman named Rusty Kidd (GA State Representative) from the Dawsonville area. He has authored House Bill 185 that proposes limited retail sales in distilleries. HB 185 hasn’t made any progress yet in either the Senate or the House,” he added. “There are only five distilleries in the state of Georgia because of the limitations the state puts on any production, sale, or trade of alcohol: beer wine and spirits. By comparison, Washington State has 70 distilleries which have created over 3,000 jobs in the last 10 years and create over half a billion in Photos Courtesy of Richland Rum

revenues at the moment,” he added. “By contrast to Georgia, Washington State is very accommodating and welcomes distilleries like most state have welcomed years ago micro-breweries and before that small wineries. Georgia still is far behind and from an economic development point of view I can’t make a strong enough plea to you and everybody around us to try and make our legislators understand how far behind we are as a state and how much we are missing out on generating revenues, on generating taxes on creating jobs, etcetera because of that.” In other words, Georgia has a homegrown business in place ready to create jobs and revenue without the need to try and court other companies to come to the state and create jobs.

“There is potential within the state of Georgia to expand wineries, to expand breweries and distilleries,” he echoed. “ It’s all here. We don’t have to invest in activities to market the state of Georgia as a place to do business to attract people from out of state or even from out of the country. It’s all here. It’s all ready, but it’s all being stymied by the old fashioned three tier system that doesn’t allow the producer, a distributor or a retailer to do any of its business. It’s such a pity.”

Vonk thinks the system can be changed easily by communicating to legislators and making them aware of the fact that this law exists. He cites an

example of speaking with the Georgia’s Lt. Governor and other legislators about this issue and they are shocked at the situation and have stated that they did not know of the law on the books. Karyn recounts a story she read in a Southeast Georgia newspaper about a small farmer who grows sugar cane. In it he states that he chose not to go into the distillery business because of the many laws and legislation regarding the business. Karyn points out how the law has had a negative effect on a potential economic boon to rural Georgia.

“The state (Georgia) has such an enormously positive track record on economic development,” according to Vonk. He refers to the Randstad Staffing Agency he worked with in Amsterdam. The company was ready to set up their American presence in New York and was contacted by then Georgia Department of Industry, Trade and Tourism Commissioner Randy Cordoza to consider moving to Atlanta. After insisting that Vonk travel to Atlanta to see the potential behind a move to Georgia, he was on board to move to Atlanta. After 10 years in Atlanta, the company generated up to $1.7 billion in annual revenue.

“ I would say that if this would change, Georgia would immediately see tens of businesses like these sprout up within one to two years. I can guarantee it,” Vonk said. “It’s happened in other states. Think about what that can mean to small rural communities like this and even Atlanta.”

Focusing on educating the legislators on the law and how it holds back economic progress in rural communities and throughout the state, he finds

lobbying going on regarding this issue,” Karyn adds. She also points out that they have also become a driving force within their newly adopted community of Richland.

“We started here to start a business, but we are now drawn into becoming initiators of more economic development,” she said regarding their role within the community. She speaks about influx of visitors to the distillery and the need for reopening the closed restaurant across the street to feed the visitors. They are working on that by speaking with others who may be interested in opening the restaurant and other shops in the community. The mayor is also working on re-opening the Old Richland Hotel for visitors as well.

And what advice would they give up and coming entrepreneurs who may not consider rural Georgia as a viable place to relocate?

“Do it!” Vonk exclaims. “Explore and come and see it. We are looking for an employee and were making a list of what we have to offer and what the environment here has to offer. When you start to write it down, you really want to put this in the Wall Street Journal or the New York Times because it has all the attractions that are written about and talked about on TV as the determining the quality of life. It’s all here. I would like to make an appeal to entrepreneurs out there to consider environments like this in a very strong way. It’s such a pleasant eye opener and it has so many contributing factors that contribute to quality of life that cannot be found anywhere else.”—

himself acting as a leader and activist for their cause. He created the Georgia Distillers Association. “We now have a common voice and there is