The Ground Floor revisited: Farmers market regular tries a storefront in Ely

Each week, Ground Floor profiles entrepreneurs just starting out with new business ventures. From time to time, we check back with some of them to see how things are going in Ground Floor Revisited.

ELY - Shea Ryan, owner of the Cedar Rapids Whiskey Sauce Company, said she never planned to open a brick-and-mortar establishment for her business.

'I had no intention to open a store - none whatsoever,” Ryan said. 'I didn't want to have to put all my heart and soul in a store, I just needed to focus on making the sauces and getting my product out to other stores.”

Ryan had leased the storefront along Dows Street in Ely as a space to make her whiskey sauce in the commercial kitchen with the intention to focus on making sauces for area Hy-Vee stores and other local businesses that stock her product.

Then Ryan said she had 'an epiphany.”

'I said, ‘I have all this empty space, why don't I open a show room?'”

The Cedar Rapids Whiskey Sauce Company, owned and operated solely by Ryan, opened in August and sells 16 different flavors of whiskey sauce, the recipes for which are created by Ryan.

Ryan's product is a fruit-based sauce made with whiskey that can be put on any type of meat, fish or vegetable - and is not to be confused with barbecue sauce. Her latest creation is 'Hawkeye Heat,” an apricot-based hot sauce, Ryan said.

Ryan's business was established in December 2014, and she started selling her products at the Downtown Cedar Rapids Farmer's Market in June 2015.

But the switch from a stand at a Famers Market to a full-fledged store has been an adjustment for Ryan.

'Everything changes from when you go to making it in your home to running a commercial business,” Ryan said.

Despite this, Ryan said she's learned to compensate. She recently signed with So Good Inc. in Illinois to make the sauces.

'Even though I'm busy, I'm busy making sauces for my own store versus making them for other stores and taking a huge loss of profit,” Ryan said.

Five sauces are sold in seven Hy-Vee stores in Cedar Rapids and across the Corridor, which Ryan hopes is enough to draw customers to her Ely location.

Right now, the Cedar Rapids Whiskey Sauce Company is self-sufficient, Ryan said, and she hopes to make her store profitable before expanding her product to other stores.

- Know a business that would be ideal for 'The Ground Floor”? Contact Michael Chevy Castranova at michaelchevy.castranova@thegazette.com.

At a glance

- Business: Cedar Rapids Whiskey Sauce Company

- Owner: Shea Ryan

- Address: 1665 Dows Street, Ely

- Phone: (800) 313-1455

- Website: crwhiskeysauce.com