Meet Mark Oberle | Meadery Owner

We had the good fortune of connecting with Mark Oberle and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Mark, how has your perspective on work-life balance evolved over time?
I used to think about work and life as two separate categories. You work in order to live but there was no fulfillment from the work side. As I’ve moved into running a business, those two areas are merging. I am working on things that I am passionate about. Those things are my life. I still take vacations and do the normal “life” things, but I changed my mindset. I didn’t want to spend 40 hours every week doing “work” that was not fulfilling. It’s also important to remember that as businesses grow, what you do today isn’t what you will be doing in the future. I might need to hustle more on the “grunt” work tasks because time is my highly available resource instead of capital. As my business (hopefully) grows, my focus shifts more towards building and guiding a team. My “work” in those phases is more strategic rather than tactical. Owning a business is a journey, not a job, and it’s important to recognize that. Otherwise you will feel like you are “working” nonstop with no rest. If you are someone that believes in a work/life balance, don’t start a business.

What should our readers know about your business?
Meadiocrity makes alcohol from honey. The mead industry is the oldest alcohol industry but for a variety of reasons, has not taken off. Meadiocrity focuses on a Bee To Bottle approach. We actually have company managed hives. Hundreds in fact. They collect billions of flower pollinations from the countryside of San Diego. When you drink our mead, you are drinking San Diego sunshine and flowers in a glass. The learning curve for bees is steep and not one to be underestimated. Our ability to scale up the beekeeping operations has been a key to our success.

Our journey to today has been a long and arguous one. We brewed our first batch of commercial mead in 2016 as a contract brew with another local meadery. After gaining support from a grocery store chain, we scaled up slowly, eventually moving into a co-op facility. As we continued to grow, we sought a tasting room space, which we opened in October 2019. Perfect timing, right? 2020 and 2021 were absolutely brutal. Changes in the business structure, our ability to do business, and trying to build a brand were some of the hardest things I’ve ever personally had to go through. Only just this year are we really seeing some traction in the customer base. I don’t think people that don’t own businesses, especially service based business, fully recognize the toll that the pandemic had on customer buying behaviors.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
I’m not a city person and my friends tend to not be either, so our trip would be in the countryside. My favorite place to be is in the Santa Ysabel area. The hiking is phenomenal and landscape is unlike any other in San Diego. We’d of course need to make a stop at the meadery and the food would be exclusively tacos, tacos, and more tacos. We are very spoiled here.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
The mead industry, despite being thousands of years old, has not taken off like you might think. As I’ve worked to build the business, I have had the benefit of numerous industry professionals come along side to offer support, guidance, and recommendations. Navigating the alcohol industry is daunting for any new brand, let alone one that has struggled to flourish. Shoutout to fellow owners, colleagues, and industry personnel that have helped us out along the way.

Website: https://meadiocritymead.com

Instagram: https://meadiocrity.mead

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/meadiocrity.mead

Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/meadiocrity-mead-san-marcos