# CoCo Noir Wine Shop & Bar

The Bay Area and Oakland's 1st Women & BIPOC-Owned Wine Shop & Tasting Room

## Elevator pitch
Our company operates as an on-premise wine retail store, eatery, and event space for women winemakers and winemakers of color.

- Canonical URL: https://wefunder.com/coco.noir.wine.shop
- Entity ID: wefunder:company:63395
- Last updated: 2026-06-19T05:00:22Z
- Generated at: 2026-06-19T23:52:21Z

## Quick facts
- 🍷 The 1st BIPOC/Women-owned Retail Wine Shop & Tasting Room in Oakland CA
- 🍷 Founder deeply rooted in the wine industry w/6 yrs of exp.-owns a Wine Import & Distribution Bus.
- 🍷 Online Wine Sales from 2020 to Date are $125K
- 🍷 Wine exp with diversified revenue streams including onsite, e-commerce, and a mobile app
- 🍷 Opening in Fall 2022 in the Black Arts Movement Business District in Downtown Oakland CA
- 🍷 Community & Social space to amplify and celebrate Women and BIPOC in the wine industry
- 🍷 Headquartered in a beautiful corner commercial space in a new 40-story luxury apartment building
- 🍷 Committed to offering equitable jobs with livable wages and employee ownership opportunities

## Active fundraises
- wefunder:fundraise:69392: 4(a)(6) successful (USD)
- wefunder:fundraise:36769: 4(a)(6) successful (USD)
- wefunder:fundraise:36074: 4(a)(6) successful (USD)

## Story
CoCo Noir Wine Shop & Bar is a woman and minority-owned urban Wine Shop, eatery, Tasting Room,  Event Space, and Online Store opening in Fall 2022 in downtown Oakland, CA. We are bringing equity and diversity to the wine industry by being the first shop to focus on Women and BIPOC winemakers. Our wines are hand selected by the founder, curated specifically to our customer's needs, and available to enjoy on-site. We view the customers’ shopping and tasting experiences as paramount. Our in-store shop and online store are built to reflect the expectations of our clientele.We cannot wait to welcome you to our space and community!Our LocationOur space is located in the heart of the Oakland Black Arts Movement Business District (BAMBD) in the ground floor of the Atlas building. We believe this beautiful corner location is a perfect fit for Coco Noir providing opportunity and support as we grow.The BAMBD was created in 2016 and the organization with the same name was established to create, In the tradition of the Black Arts Movement, a Black culture-driven space dedicated to the growth, cultivation, and sustaining of Black livity, (good strong life.) The organization's (BAMBD, CDC) purpose is to advocate, organize, create, develop, implement, foster, and ensure the thriving of BAMBD, Oakland, CA through vigilant organizing, development of infrastructure, and the creation of mechanisms for stewardship and advocacy. Read more here.More reasons we love our location in the Atlas building:Atlas is the largest residential building in Oakland's history - 633 units projected to house 1000 tenantsLocated in the Black Arts Movement & Business District - an ideal place for the Coco Noir missionAccess to public transit - 12th Street BART station and Lake Merritt3000 additional units under construction in a 5-block radius50% of Oakland's 180K jobs are located in the downtown core including Square, Kaiser Permanente, Clorox, Pandora, Blue Shield of CA, and more!The spaceWe believe CoCo Noir will be the go place for great wine and bites for indoor and outdoor dining as well as private events. We are currently working on transforming the raw space into our vision of an upscale comfortable gathering place for our community to learn about and enjoy wine.Update! Since signing our lease in the summer of 2021, the once raw space is now 80% completed – see attachedNew Wine Economy - Wine meets tech - Introducing CoCo Noir Mobile AppIn addition to being a new-age wine shop that offers premium wines from women winemakers, small producers, minority winemakers, tapas bites from local chefs, and private in-store and virtual tasting events, we will have our own Mobile App.Our mobile app will be a digital epic center for the wine novice, wine enthusiast, wine aficionado, and wine connoisseur all in one. Our mobile app will have many features that offer the wine consumer and wine business consumer the opportunity to access CoCo Noir from their IOS and Andriod Cell phones.The mobile app features will focus on two groups wine consumers and business consumers in the wine and food space. The wine consumer features will include access to the winemaker's directory, interactive discussion boards, rating/reviews/tasting notes options, and access to so much more. The business consumer includes winemakers, sommeliers, wineshops, and chefs. The mobile app benefit offerings include personalizing profile options on our mobile app platform, access to additional marketing services, access to CoCo Noir's growing customer network, and so much more. CoCo Noir Mobile App will monetize from different membership levels that we offer to our wine consumer and wine business consumers.By combining the cafe and retail space with online sales and app subscriptions, we believe we are creating a new more sustainable business model for your local wine shop. The InvestmentWe are raising $250,000 and it will go towards finishing the build-out and to be able to open our doors in Fall 2022, hire an in-store staff of 8 people and livable wages, and Food, Wine, Beer, and Non-Alcoholic Food Inventory, and other business operating expenses. This will be a community gathering place celebrating culture, community, and delicious wine. It will also be the foundation Coco Noir builds on in the years to come. We would love for you to be a part of our journey!We are raising $250K to build out the Coco Noir Wine Shop space in Oakland. This will be a community gathering place celebrating culture, community, and delicious wine. It will also be the foundation Coco Noir builds on in the years to come. We would love for you to be a part of our journey!

## FAQ
1. **Good day to you both: I believe this is a great business plan. I would like to invest but I not like Revenue Share Loan.**
   - Hello Clinton, we greatly appreciate your interest in our Wefunder Campaign and showing interest as a potential investor. To continue this discussion, please view our calendly and book an appointment.  https://calendly.com/thewineno...
2. **I love your idea, but have a question. How does your model work in age of COVID?**
   - Hello Mariza, Thank you for your question. To address your question on whether our business will work in the age of COVID, the answer is Yes. Wine sales are increasing and the type of wines we sell which are from women and minority wine producers, we will be sustainable during COVID. Also, all our wines and tapas meals will be available online for our customers. We have outdoor seating, curbside pick-up, and delivery. Finally, our commercial space is located in an established and gr...
3. **Hi Alicia, I read your revenue share calculation document and 100% plus 150% (early bird) on top of investment amount over 5.25 years seems like potentially a good deal for investors. Assuming you hit your marks maybe a few years from now when you are considering opening anoth...**
   - Hi Kevin, thank you so much for your feedback. Once we launch our wine shop and eatery and meet our revenue goal, we do have plans on expanding to future locations throughout the United States.
4. **I believe there is a typo in the $5000 investment category. It’s states 6 cases of wine are included.**
   - Hi Yasmeen, thank you for bringing this to my attention. You are correct it is supposed to be 6 bottles of wine and not 6 cases. I will make the change.
5. **My husband and I are thrilled that you are opening up shop in our community! Have you signed a lease yet on the space? Cheers, Cassie**
   - Hello Cassie, thank you for your question and your support. Yes, have the location and we are expected to open in Feb/March 2021.

## Team
- Alicia Kidd (Founder and Owner)
- Alfonso Dominquez (CoCo Noir Wine Shop - Hospital Adv & Gen Con)
- Aminah Chefmimi Robinson (Board Advisor - Diversity Inclusion - Wine & Food )
- Robbie Terry-Washington (Board of Advisor CoCo Noir Wine Shop - CPA)
- Carla Titus (Board of Advisor - CFO )

## Recent posts
- Update!! CoCo Noir Wine Shop & Bar (2023-04-19T19:50:57Z)
- CoCo Noir Wine Shop & Bar Grand Opening and Ribbon Cutting (2022-12-12T17:50:01Z)
- CoCo Noir Wine Shop & Bar Update (2022-11-06T19:05:19Z)
- Grand Openning Announcement & Re-Launch Wefunder Campaign, Recap Meet & Greet, and More! (2022-10-03T13:48:57Z)
- CoCo Noir Update! - Health Inspection Passed!! (2022-09-28T16:36:23Z)
- CoCo Noir Online Wine Shop Sale (2022-09-26T18:50:00Z)
- In-Person Meet & Greet Event and Wine Shop Tour - Sept 28th and Sept 29th (2022-09-21T15:52:13Z)
- CoCo Noir Wine Shop - Tour Update Video (2022-08-25T14:50:47Z)
- CoCo Noir Wine Shop Update (2022-07-25T16:56:18Z)
- CoCo Noir Wine Shop Update! Please Watch! (2022-06-24T20:03:56Z)
- CoCo Noir - Events (2022-05-02T14:03:46Z)
- Happy New Month - Wefunder Update - CoCo Noir Founder - Check It Out (2022-05-02T13:09:08Z)
- New CoCo Noir Update - Video Update (2022-03-29T09:00:07Z)
- New CoCo Noir Update! (2022-03-29T07:58:14Z)
- CoCo Noir Wine Shop Update (2022-02-16T01:05:47Z)

## Q&A
- Q: Hello, I love your idea and vision! I own a boutique dessert and appetizer company in Chicago and would like to know how I could get some tasty treats in your store. Jacqulyn
  - A: Thank you so much for your interest in our company. Congratulations on your amazing company. Please go to our website www.coconoirwine.com and fill out out contact us form and someone from our team will get back to you.
- Q: Hi Alicia! Alyssa and I really love what you're doing and are excited to be joining you as investors through Wefunder. The potential for the ecommerce play is big, when backed by the authenticity of your physical location in Oakland. However, when Googling "Coco Noir" without "wine," one gets an overwhelming amount of results from Chanel's perfume of the same name. How do you view this dynamic from trademark defensibility and brand development perspectives? Many thanks.
  - A: Hello Phil, Thank you so much for your patience and your question. To answer your question about my company name and trademark process, it is registered with the USPTO Office as CoCo Noir Wine Shop. In trademarking my company name, I made sure in the explanation section that it mentions my company as wine“ Wine Company”. Also, my trademark has the proper classifications. I hope this answers your question. Thank you for your patience and for being a supporter.
- Q: Hey Alicia, first of all congratulations for your upcoming store in Oakland, California. I really love the idea, and would like to invest in the business. I have few questions for you though? Is the funding still open? I do see an option to contribute on the page. Also, what is your backup plan if the sales fail to reach the set expectations. How do you plan on repaying the loan under that circumstance? Also is there any option to own some equity in the business. Thanks and good luck to you! I truly believe you have a great business proposition with a beautiful soul.
  - A: Hello Nikhil Jain, thank you for your question and your support. Our Wefunder campaign goes until April 1st, 2021. When it comes to our backup plan and in the event, our sales fail to reach our expectation, we have 4 to 6 income streams that can operate both in a brick and mortar and in an online setting. With any investment, there is a risk, with our proactive approach and our financial team we will make the necessary pivots to our business model and assess our financials often in order to meet our sales expectations. For more information about the revenue share model, investor returns, and key facts, on our Wefunder page click on the " How to earn a return" and "Learn more about revenue shares" links. In the near future, we do plan on offering equity shares. I hope this answers all of your questions.
- Q: My husband and I are thrilled that you are opening up shop in our community! Have you signed a lease yet on the space? Cheers, Cassie
  - A: Hello Cassie, thank you for your question and your support. Yes, have the location and we are expected to open in Feb/March 2021.
- Q: Congrats, Alicia! So proud of you and your team!! It was a pleasure to meet you on Zoom and get to know your vision. Thanks for your encouragement and marketing insights!
  - A: Thank Ian. Thank you for your kind words of support and it was a pleasure meeting you!
- Q: For investor perks, if I invest $500, does the invitation to the soft opening event and the Exclusive Invite to the Coco Noir Wine Club include a plus one? I plan to bring my partner to the event.
  - A: Hello Paul Calloway, thank you for the question, the investment level does allow you access to the soft opening. Your plus-one can attend.
- Q: I sent an email request asking for someone to get to me. I want to open up a wine bar along with a skating rink, banquet hall. I need to get help doing that can you call me at 412-608-3517 Lynne McKinley
  - A: Hello Lynne, Thank you for your message. I will respond to your email request. However, if you have questions about my business and are interested in investing, please check my Wefunder page. If you have questions, please respond to this post.
- Q: Hello and congratulations! I love your vision and am very interested in investing in your company. Could you please tell me where I can find your revenue share payment term sheet?
  - A: Hello Paul, Thank you so much for your question. I hope you had a nice holiday weekend. To answer your question, I just uploaded the revenue share document and it is in the same section as my business plan, pitch deck, and 5-year projections. F.Y.I. my revenue share document is based on projections and subject to change. Again, thank you so much for your question.
- Q: I see Crowdfund Buzz is claiming you as a "success story"... I am curious, which plan did you purchase from them and how beneficial would you rate their services? I tried to find you on LinkedIn but it's saying your profile is unavailable. We have a campaign called Contractor+ on here, and now that Apple has put a kink in our retargeting efforts, we are considering other options of promotion. Thanks for your verification of their services and congrats on your raising the $166k so far on Wefunder. Very impressive!
  - A: Hello Justin, thank you for your comment. We did use Crowdfund Buzz and we purchased their basic package. However, I would not recommend using them as they did not meet our expectations. Our company strategy for PR is that we have hired an independent PR consultant that pitched our company to media outlets. I would recommend finding a local PR Firm in your area. I hope this answers your question.
- Q: Hi Alicia and team! Congratulations for taking this initiative. I will invest here for sure. I am Native African woman Entrepreneur myself... A wine named with "Mandela" is awesome! Make sure that cuvee is REALLY GOOD! You remind me my mom who made the equivalent of Dry Gin (high alcohol drink). What is your diversification plan? Cheers!
  - A: Hi Lydie, thank you so much for your comment. To answer your question, our business model is diverse in how we make revenue. We will generate revenue from our in-store sales, e-commerce sales, and mobile app sales. The "Mandela" wine you saw in our crowdfunding video is a wine that we will have in our wine shop. The Mandela wine is from the Nelson Mandela family and it is really good. I hope I have addressed your question. Thank you for your comment and support.
- Q: I want to learn more about your business and investment opportunities
  - A: Hello Felicia, thank you for checking out our page. To learn more about our business and business model check out the crowdfunding video and then review the " Overview section". The overview section has our business plan and additional information. If you have additional questions, please feel free to post. Thank you so much.
- Q: Hi, what are some of the tech features mentioned in your offer? Thanks
  - A: Hello Frank, Thank you for checking out our Wefunder page and inquiring about our mobile app. Please see the information below to learn about some of our mobile app features. The mobile app features will focus on two groups wine consumers and business consumers in the wine and food space. The wine consumer features will include access to the winemaker's directory, interactive discussion boards, rating/reviews/tasting notes options, and access to so much more. The business consumer includes winemakers, sommeliers, wineshops, and chefs. The mobile app benefit offerings include personalizing profile options on our mobile app platform, access to additional marketing services, access to CoCo Noir's growing customer network, and so much more. Again, thank you for your comment.
- Q: i am glad you know how to respond that is huge for my decision some of the companies my goodness takes months to respond, they didn't get my money. i am going to invest wednesday or thursday. i sure hope you put one in texas, houston or dallas. i have many of investments there and do realestate. would love to be able to drop in with friends etc when i am in the area. i have access to millions to grow businesses if i am happy.
  - A: Hello John, thank you so much for your support and wanting to invest in CoCo Noir Wine Shop & Bar. I agree with you it is important for company's like us to be transparent with our current and potential investors by providing updates and answering questions in a timely manner. As far as opening future locations, that is in the works. The Oakland CA location will be our flagship store, but we plan or expanding to other states and houston could be one of them. I will definitely keep in mind. Again, thank you for supporting!
- Q: Hi Alicia, I read your revenue share calculation document and 100% plus 150% (early bird) on top of investment amount over 5.25 years seems like potentially a good deal for investors. Assuming you hit your marks maybe a few years from now when you are considering opening another location you’ll consider a new raise that converts those investors that are interested to equity. Anyway, wishing you both the best on your endeavor. Thanks, Kevin
  - A: Hi Kevin, thank you so much for your feedback. Once we launch our wine shop and eatery and meet our revenue goal, we do have plans on expanding to future locations throughout the United States.
- Q: Hi - has anyone heard updates about when investor payments will begin? I invested in Feb 2021 and the agreement called for payments to begin 1 year from the effective date (which is not a defined term). There have not been any meaningful updates posted here (i recall a video was supposed to come out last fall) nor has the founder responded to individual outreach. Would love to hear if others have similar questions. Thanks !
  - A: Dear James Wilson, I sincerely appreciate your valued investment in our business. I want to extend my apologies for the delay in responding to your emails. Rest assured, I have received all your correspondence, past and present, and have addressed each of them. If my responses were not as prompt as desired, I apologize for any inconvenience caused. It is not my intention to leave you or any of our investors feeling neglected either through email or on this platform. Please verify this at your convenience. I've taken the liberty of sending you a detailed email yesterday, and I've just published an investor update today. Your specific queries regarding expected returns can be addressed directly through direct contact with me. Furthermore, the latest video I've posted will provide you with more comprehensive insights. I highly value your role as an investor, and it's crucial to me that you don't harbor any negative perceptions about my responsiveness towards our other investors. Regarding your expected returns, please feel free to reach out to me directly. To maintain a positive experience for all parties involved, I encourage you to send any investment-related queries via private message. As a Black woman entrepreneur, I am deeply appreciative of your support, along with that of our other investors. I am fully committed to fulfilling my obligations to all stakeholders. In summary, if you haven't had the chance yet, I invite you to explore the offerings at CoCo Noir Wine Shop. There are many exciting developments underway. Thank you once again for your ongoing support. Sincerely,