132: How Gratsi Is Scaling Boxed Wine Past 500K Cases With Stephen Vlahos

<p>Gratsi’s boxed-wine business began as a pandemic pivot. It became the foundation for one of the category’s most notable growth stories.</p><p>After selling more than 375K 9L case equivalents last year, the company expects to grow 30%+ this year to exceed 500K cases — driven by subscriptions, repeat purchases, and a carefully sequenced expansion into wholesale.</p><p>Founder and CEO Stephen Vlahos originally launched Gratsi in a half-bottle format designed for casual bars and restaurants. When COVID shut down most of those accounts, he needed a product that could work DTC. Bag-in-box was lighter and less expensive to ship, while offering consumers wine that remained fresh for weeks after opening.</p><p>Rather than persuading value-oriented boxed-wine drinkers to trade up, Gratsi targeted consumers accustomed to buying $20+ bottles. It reframed the box around quality, freshness, convenience, and value, then wrapped it in a simple, Mediterranean-inspired brand that strips away much of wine’s traditional complexity.</p><p>That DTC foundation is now giving Gratsi an unusual advantage in wholesale. Before entering a market, the company can identify existing customers, gather store requests, and activate local demand. Once wholesale launches, retail can quickly become roughly 80% of its volume in that state — even as DTC continues to grow.</p><p>In this episode, we discuss:</p><ul><li><p>How Gratsi grew from 2K cases to 75K cases before entering wholesale</p></li><li><p>How it built nearly 30,000 subscribers averaging approximately three boxes per month</p></li><li><p>How DTC data helps “warm up” a retail market before launch</p></li><li><p>Why Gratsi is building geographic density instead of pursuing national distribution all at once</p></li><li><p>Why its lifestyle content often barely features the product</p></li><li><p>What Stephen means by “escape competition with authenticity”</p></li></ul><p>For drinks entrepreneurs, Gratsi offers a compelling playbook for using DTC not as the final destination, but as the foundation for much larger retail growth.</p><p><strong>For the latest updates, follow us:</strong></p><p><a href="https://www.businessofdrinks.com/" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Business of Drinks website (sign up for our newsletter!)</a></p><p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/@Businessofdrinkspodcast" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Business of Drinks YouTube</a></p><p><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/company/business