When Dugout Mugs launched in 2016, the corporate provided a single product—a mug carved from the barrel of a baseball bat—and introduced in about $70,000 in gross sales that yr.
Every part modified when CEO Kris Dehnert joined in early 2017. Inside a yr, gross sales hit $1.1 million, and the corporate went on to double income three years in a row, scaling from a handful of hand-crafted mugs to a facility able to producing greater than a thousand items a day. Right now, Dugout Mugs tops $55 million in gross sales, with merchandise offered in all 50 states and major-league stadiums.
That development didn’t come with out challenges. When the pandemic shut down reside sports activities and tailgates—its core market—Dugout Mugs pivoted quick. Within the following interview, Dehnert shares how the corporate’s adaptability, manufacturing evolution and customer-first technique have fueled its rise.
Inform us about Dugout Mugs and the way the corporate has advanced through the years.
Dugout Mugs creates high-quality, customizable, premium items for baseball followers. Our flagship product is the Dugout Mug, a 12-ounce baseball bat barrel, hollowed out and transformed right into a mug. We’ve expanded our roster to incorporate wine mugs, whiskey mugs, residence plate coasters, bat deal with shot glasses, half-baseball bottle openers and extra.
The corporate began in 2016, and I joined as CEO and accomplice in January 2017. Previous to my involvement, the corporate had generated about $70,000 in gross sales. Nonetheless, in that first yr underneath my management, Dugout Mugs hit $1.1 million in gross sales.
We then doubled yr over yr for 3 consecutive years earlier than leveling off. Right now, we’ve exceeded $55 million in gross sales, function in all 50 states and main league stadiums and accomplice with lots of of athletes, influencers and celebrities.
Our development earned us recognition with three consecutive years within the INC 5000—2020, 2021 and 2022. We’ve been featured on FOX & Mates, World Information Tonight, The TODAY Present, Good Morning America, CBS Morning and The View. Main publications, together with Forbes, Yahoo Finance, Entrepreneur.com, Tampa Enterprise and Wealth, and Fast50 have coated our story as properly.
Why did you must pivot a number of occasions?
COVID required our most vital adjustment as a result of nationwide restrictions. We beforehand marketed merchandise for tailgates and baseball video games, however when reside occasions shut down, we pivoted to showcase merchandise getting used for yard grilling and lounge leisure.
This required fully reshaping our advertising campaigns, partnering with home-focused influencers and adjusting product pictures from stadium settings to residential way of life photographs.
Financial uncertainty has repeatedly tightened client spending. We adjusted pricing and provided extra worth throughout troublesome occasions, specializing in smaller value level gadgets that inspired impulse purchases fairly than thought-about shopping for choices.
This technique helped us proceed constructing our buyer base, which we’ve leveraged a number of occasions to keep up operations with out inefficient paid site visitors spending. We launched bundle offers, loyalty packages and limited-time promotions that maintained margins whereas offering perceived worth to cost-conscious customers.
Your manufacturing operations have additionally advanced. Inform us about that.
Our manufacturing course of has remodeled dramatically as we scaled from small-scale operation to a serious manufacturing facility. Early on, we handcrafted every mug with primary tools. The distinction between transport 20 mugs every day versus 200 at present represents a large leap, with present capability exceeding 1,000 items every day throughout peak seasons.
Manufacturing begins with “turning” mugs on wooden lathes—spinning wooden at excessive velocity whereas introducing blades to form the specified type. After turning, mugs are bored out utilizing a customized three-headed drill gun we particularly fabricated, attaining constant inside dimensions and clean finishes inconceivable with normal tools.
Formed and bored mugs ship to our Florida headquarters for the ending processes. Our facility handles sealing for sturdiness and moisture prevention, laser engraving for exact everlasting designs and cautious packing for achievement throughout all states.
How have you ever handled scaling challenges?
Uncooked supplies procurement turned more and more complicated with scaling. We preserve relationships with a number of regional suppliers, guaranteeing constant provide chains and aggressive pricing. Our warehouse administration system tracks all the things from clean stock to packaging supplies with automated reorder factors stopping peak season stockouts.
We carried out complete coaching packages, detailed normal working procedures, multi-point high quality checkpoints and rejection protocols sustaining our excellence status. AI-powered high quality management now identifies potential defects early, lowering waste and guaranteeing constant output. Devoted groups deal with printing, ending, packaging and high quality management, every with particular experience and efficiency metrics.
Money move stays a serious focus in e-commerce. After we wanted important stock with out accessible money, I negotiated producer phrases and secured inventive financing, avoiding extreme curiosity.
We efficiently executed pre-sales campaigns, utilizing incoming funds to facilitate precise buying. These campaigns usually generated 150 to 200 % of goal funding inside 48 hours, demonstrating robust buyer loyalty and correct demand forecasting.
What does the longer term maintain for Dugout Mugs?
Our subsequent part focuses on scaling retail presence. Merchandise are at present accessible in notable shops together with Hallmark, Dick’s Sporting Items, Rally Home and Hudson Information. With dialed-in processes and powerful model status, securing retail partnerships has turn into simpler.
We’re exploring extra verticals—company gifting, weddings and journey ball—to keep away from cyclical e-commerce shopping for patterns. Mom’s Day, Father’s Day, playoffs and Christmas create gross sales spikes whereas different intervals stay flat. These new verticals will clean income fluctuations transferring ahead.
I’m additionally targeted on discovering firms with complementary merchandise, searching for roll-up alternatives that help our efforts, whereas providing clients extra distinctive gadgets. Examples embody picket baseball board video games, serving trays, baseball leather-based cufflinks—primarily high-end baseball-related novelty merchandise.
This strategic method positions Dugout Mugs for continued development whereas diversifying income streams and strengthening our market place within the premium baseball fan reward section.
