Today we’d like to introduce you to Shannon Siegel.
Hi Shannon, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Spirit & Stone grew from that need. I wanted to take everything I loved about hospitality, the connection, creativity, service, storytelling, and celebration and make it something of my own. I began building the company between restaurant shifts and motherhood, teaching myself the business side as I went. It was not simply an idea for a mobile bar. It became my saving grace and a path back to parts of myself I had lost along the way, including writing, photography, design, and the belief that I could still create a different life.
Today, Spirit & Stone Luxury Beverage Co. creates intentional beverage experiences for weddings, corporate gatherings, private celebrations, nonprofit events, and wellness activations. We are also deeply committed to elevated zero-proof service because I wanted to build a company whose creativity and success did not depend entirely on alcohol. Hospitality is bigger than what is inside the glass; it is about how people feel when they gather around it.
The company is still growing, and I am still building my way forward, but now my daughter can watch me transform years of experience into something that belongs to us. She can see that it is possible to love where you came from while still recognizing when you need to create a better way. I hope to move my business toward more avenues of connection, especially among new business owners. The support of other female owned businesses is where I attribute the confidence to keep moving forward with momentum and I would love to be able to spread that gift.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
It has definitely not been a perfectly smooth road, but I am not sure the smooth road would have led me here anyway. I started Spirit & Stone while working restaurant shifts and raising my daughter as a single mother, so the business was built in the pockets of time I could find. There were late nights, very early mornings, school schedules, events, and plenty of moments when my dining room looked less like a dining room and more like a small beverage production facility. I have also learned far more about transporting ice than I ever expected to know.
In the beginning, one of my biggest struggles was simply learning how to be a business owner. I had years of hospitality experience, but knowing how to take care of guests is very different from knowing how to price an experience, write a contract, understand insurance, market a company, manage staff, and confidently tell someone what your work is worth. I had to teach myself each piece while continuing to work, parent, and actually perform the events I was booking. There were quiet weeks, canceled events, unanswered proposals, equipment problems, and plenty of decisions made through trial, error, and occasionally staring at my computer as though it might volunteer the answer.
I also had to work through the fear of being visible. It felt much safer to stand behind someone else’s bar than to put my own name, ideas, photographs, and story in front of people. Building Spirit & Stone required me to stop waiting until everything was perfect and allow people to see the business and me while we were still growing. That has been uncomfortable at times, but it has also been one of the most rewarding parts of the journey.
Unexpectedly, the business has helped me return to parts of myself that I had placed on hold. I studied writing and have loved storytelling since I was a child, but for a long time, writing felt like something that belonged to an earlier version of me. Through Spirit & Stone, I began writing again first through menus, proposals, website copy, and social media, and eventually through longer personal stories. I also found my way back to photography, design, and the kind of creative experimentation that makes me lose track of time. What began as a beverage company became a path back to passions I thought I had outgrown or simply did not have room for anymore.
The balance is still a work in progress. I created this company partly because I wanted greater ownership of my time and more presence in my daughter’s life, but building that freedom sometimes requires a surprising amount of time. I am learning that growth cannot mean carrying every bar, answering every email, designing every detail, and solving every problem alone. My next stage is about building a team and trusting the systems I have created so that Spirit & Stone can grow without asking me to sacrifice the life that inspired it.
The struggles have been real, but they have not made me regret beginning. They have shown me that it is possible to start again, return to the things you love, and build something meaningful even when your circumstances are not perfectly arranged. My daughter has been able to watch me create a business from an idea, and I hope she remembers that adulthood does not mean abandoning the most creative parts of yourself. Sometimes they are simply waiting for you to make room for them again.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
Spirit & Stone Luxury Beverage Co. is a Maryland-based mobile beverage experience company serving events throughout Maryland and Virginia. We provide professional bartending and thoughtfully designed beverage service for weddings, corporate gatherings, private celebrations, nonprofit events, wellness activations, showers, and community experiences. As a dry-hire company, our clients provide the alcohol while we manage the service experience, including custom menu development, mixers, garnishes, ice, staffing, bar equipment, setup, presentation, and the many small details that allow the host to enjoy the event instead of wondering whether someone remembered the limes.
We specialize in creating beverages that feel connected to the occasion rather than selecting a few generic drinks and placing them on a menu. I love learning about a client’s story, theme, guests, favorite flavors, and the feeling they want the event to have, and then translating those details into a cohesive beverage experience. That may mean developing drinks inspired by a couple’s personalities for their wedding, creating a travel-inspired menu for a baby shower, designing wellness tonics for a fitness studio, or styling a bar to complement the colors and atmosphere of a corporate event. The drink names, ingredients, garnishes, menu design, bar styling, and service are all considered together.
We have become especially known for elevated garnishes, custom presentation, warm guest service, and inclusive zero-proof experiences. Alcohol-free guests are often offered water, soda, or a simplified version of whatever everyone else is drinking. I believe they deserve the same creativity, beautiful glassware, complex flavors, and sense of occasion. Spirit & Stone has provided completely zero-proof celebrations and wellness events, and we are currently designing a full zero-proof wedding beverage experience. This part of the company has become deeply important to me because inclusion should feel intentional, not like an accommodation added at the last minute.
What sets us apart is the combination of hospitality experience and creative storytelling. I have spent more than 15 years in service, so I understand that a beautiful setup means very little if guests do not feel welcomed and cared for. At the same time, my background and interests in writing, photography, and design influence how I approach every event. I do not only think about what we are serving; I think about what the bar communicates, how it photographs, how efficiently it functions, and how it contributes to the memory of the day. Our style is relaxed luxury polished and thoughtful, but still warm, fun, and human.
I am most proud that Spirit & Stone has grown without losing that sense of care. I am proud of the clients who have trusted us with meaningful moments, the referrals and returning partnerships we have earned, and the team I am beginning to build. I am also proud that my daughter can see creativity treated as something valuable and that she is watching me turn years of experience into ownership.
Our tagline is “Created for Connection,” and that is ultimately what distinguishes the company. The beverages may bring people to the bar, but the real purpose is to create a place where guests pause, gather, talk, celebrate, and feel considered. Every event is different, but that feeling of connection is what I want people to remember.
Risk taking is a topic that people have widely differing views on – we’d love to hear your thoughts.
I would not describe myself as fearless, but I have become more willing to move forward while fear is still present. Starting Spirit & Stone was a financial risk, but it was also a personal one. As a single mother, every investment of money, time, and energy matters. Purchasing equipment, building bars, carrying insurance, and accepting events before I felt completely established required me to trust that the experience I had gained over many years could become something of my own.
One of the biggest risks was allowing myself to be visible. Behind someone else’s bar, I could do excellent work without having to publicly claim it. Building my own company meant sharing my ideas, setting prices, appearing on camera, hearing “no,” and occasionally wondering whether everyone on the internet could tell that I was figuring things out in real time. Fortunately, most business owners are doing exactly that.
The greatest risk may have been believing that I could create a life with more room for motherhood, creativity, writing, and meaningful work instead of accepting that exhaustion was simply part of adulthood. Spirit & Stone is still growing, and I still work restaurant shifts while building it. But each calculated risk has given me more evidence that confidence often comes after the decision, not before it.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.spiritandstonebar.com
- Instagram: @spiritandstonebar
- Facebook: https://facebook.com/spiritandstonebar
