122. How Molly Cheraso Founded Verbena: A Spirit-Free Bar

Our friend Molly Cheraso stops by for a chat about how she founded the first non-alcoholic bar in the city of Cleveland. We talk about why we love the atmosphere of her workspace cafe meets neighborhood bar, plus we get into how we’re relaxing and being social sans the pressures of alcohol. 

More about Molly Cheraso

Molly held a corporate job for 17 years up until this past March. She enjoyed what she did and the skills she was learning each year — yet in the back of her mind she had always dreamt of going into business for herself. At the end of 2021 she talked to a career counselor.

The counselor suggested starting something small on the side to get a taste of the entrepreneur lifestyle. At the time, Molly and her husband were looking for alternatives to drinking, and Molly was super invested in researching and trying out non-alcoholic products.

“I really wanted someone I could talk to about these products,” she said, “or a place where I could try them out before I just ordered everything off Instagram.” Then she read about Spirited Away in New York City. And that was her aha moment. “I wished we had that here in Cleveland. Then I thought — I could bring that to Cleveland.”

The Space That Found Her

She got right to work. On weekends she had a cart in the Van Aken district where she sold the spirit-free products and mixed drinks she had curated. She did tasting events, focus groups, and shows; basically talking to as many people as she could. Was there was a market for this in Cleveland?

“There was. Definitely.” Molly discovered. “So my next question was where would the best place for my shop be?”

Her next event was in Hingetown. It was the first weekend after the holidays and she didn’t expect anyone to be out shopping. But people were there from all over the city.

“It was my best event ever. And I was like, okay this solidifies it. This is the neighborhood where I need to be.”

“So I told Anne and Caroline [from Harness Collective, who put on this event] — if you know of any leases coming up here, let me know. I’m interested.”

Less than a week later she got an email from Amber at Cleveland Tea Revival, located in the heart of that neighborhood. Amber wanted to take her business online, the email said. Would Molly like to purchase the cafe? “Amber and I had one conversation and it just seemed kismet. We were like, yes. This is what we’re both meant to be doing. Things moved really quickly after that.”

That’s how a workspace cafe literally meets a neighborhood bar. Molly shares the rest of the story at 22:01 in this episode.

Getting into a flow that supports everyday mom life

Molly also shared her meditation and groundedness practices. Her daily awakening, as she calls it, keeps her in flow and reminds her to have patience in moments of stress, anxiety, or overwhelm.

She talks about the shift in how her kids and her husband view her work now. In her corporate career she did her work at work and didn’t think or talk about it at home. None of them really knew what she did. Whereas today there’s so much more tangibility to the shop and they love being a part of it.

And finally, we discuss the “grown up” conversations we get to have with our kids now about business and money, plus what it was like for Molly to build up a team at Verbena and build out the space.