Episode summary
Beyond the Bottle with the CEO of B. Stuyvesant Champagne | Bloomberg Businessweek
Bloomberg Businessweek Daily
· · Hosts: Carol Massar, Tim Stenovec · Guests: Marvina S. Robinson
Summary
Marvina S. Robinson said B. Stuyvesant Champagne is seeing a seasonal lift in tastings and activations heading into February and March, even as daily sales dipped during January’s usual slowdown and dry January. She said consumers are still buying champagne for celebrations, and that her Brooklyn tasting room and on-site events are helping drive interest beyond retail bottles.
Robinson also described how tariffs have hit a bootstrapped small business hard. She said the company paid about $78,000 in tariffs in 2025, reduced production on half-bottles, raised prices modestly, and slowed its next shipment while she waits for the Supreme Court to resolve the legal challenge. She argued that tariff policy is inconsistent and that the burden falls first on business owners and then on consumers.
Beyond trade policy, Robinson said she wants retailers to look beyond the biggest champagne houses and give more shelf space to small growers. She said she built the company to prove proof of concept without outside investors, launching in 2020, growing from her apartment to Happy Cork in Brooklyn and now a full-service tasting spot in the Brooklyn Navy Yard.
Key takeaways
- Robinson said B. Stuyvesant saw an uptick in tasting-room bookings for February and March even as January sales were down seasonally.
- She said the company spent $78,000 on tariffs in 2025 and is still waiting on the Supreme Court outcome.
- Robinson said she reduced half-bottle production and raised prices modestly after tariff pressure and supply changes.
- She argued that tariff policy is inconsistent and hurts both small business owners and consumers.
- Robinson said retailers should expand beyond big champagne houses and make room for small grower brands.
Notable quotes
“the business owners that are affected and and beyond that comes the consumer”
“I have not seen a lot of support or even thought of small businesses with this current administration”
“I worry about consumers I worry about retailers thinking outside a box and not just always heading over to the traditional big houses”
“grower champagne out there and I I always see that they always tend to highlight the big brands”
How the episode opens
Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio, news. This is Bloomberg Business Week with Carol Masser and Tim Stenc on Bloomberg Radio. — In the most recent issue of Bloomberg Pursuits, Kate Crater, who's the Pursuits food editor. She writes about how even though alcohol uses declining, consumers still want that buzz. Mhm.
Uh she writes about how GLP1s or legalized recreational marijuana have changed people's appetite for drinking it as much as they used to. Here's what she wrote. Perhaps this is what best encapsulates where we're headed. Alcohol is still at the table, but it no longer has all the seeds. Now it's got to share with no and low alcohol neighbors and other accepted vices such as THC gummies.
All right, there's a lot going on. We know that. But I have to say even at certain events, family events or you even go out, people are ordering I feel like a glass of champagne more and more.
Um curious to see what Marvina S. Robinson is seeing. She's founder and CEO of Beast Styver Champagne.
Back here once again in our Bloomberg Interactive Broker studio. We celebrated just ahead of New Year's with you and now we're back here on Valentine's Day where I do feel like a lot of champagne comes out. Um, you were optimistic, I think, when we talked with you, uh, ahead of the new year, but you also talked about tariffs affecting your business.
Give us an update. How did January play out for you guys or, you know, the end of the new year and then into this year?
I think January is always a slow season for all industries of business. Um, for us, it was actually the uptick beginning of for February and March as far as people booking tastings because we do have a champagne tasting room, different um, activations they want to have onsite and offsite.
From the episode’s captions: roughly the first two minutes, lightly cleaned. Keep watching on YouTube →
Topics
- luxury beverage
- champagne brand building
- female founder leadership
- experiential retail
- long-term value creation
Companies and tickers mentioned
- B. Stuyvesant Champagne
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Summary, takeaways and quote selection by Octagon. Quotes are short excerpts; the full conversation is in the episode.
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