Planting a Dream in Lawrence, KS

Everyone has something they enjoy doing with their time, but not everyone can take that hobby and turn it into a lifelong passion – and a successful business. 

“I started making wine, or trying to make wine, when I was 15 years old,” remembers Ed Irvine, Managing Owner at Irvine’s Just Beyond Paradise Winery. “I wasn't successful. It turned into vinegar, but I've learned a lot since then. It became kind of a hobby, a passion of love for my wife and I.” 

That hobby has now brought national acclaim to this family-owned business just outside of Lawrence, Kansas. Despite only being open to the public since 2020, the Irvines have won multiple awards at the prestigious Finger Lakes International Wine and Spirits Competition in New York.  

“We're striving to get better, and we feel that we have some good wine and the expertise behind it that is necessary,” stated Irvine.

A Partner for Growth 

While the Irvines are the experts in wine making, they needed a partner to bring the expertise in business services to help set their business up for the future.  

“When we bought this property near Lawrence, we knew it was going to have some potential, but it needed a lot of work,” said Irvine. “It didn't have any water. It didn't have any electricity. It didn't have any internet. But we knew if we were going to have a business here, we needed to be able to accept credit cards.” 

At first, they went with a satellite internet provider, but they quickly realized it wasn’t a long-term solution.  

“It was expensive,” recalled Irvine. “The coverage was not good. We didn't know for sure from day to day whether we were going to be able to get service. And when you have a business and you have customers coming in, you need to be able to accept credit cards on demand.” 

After struggling with satellite internet, the Irvines started digging into Midco services. But with being in a more rural area, they weren’t sure if it was going to be an option for them. 

“At Midco, we understand how important the internet is not just for people that live in big cities but for everyone who lives outside those main city limits,” explained Kevin Romary, a Midco Business Sales Market Account Executive in Kansas. “A lot of the places that are serviced by Midco are smaller towns. There might not be a huge business district, but if you live in those areas, it's just as important to have reliable and fast internet.” 

Once the Irvines connected to Midco, they were able to put those struggles of a poor connection in the past. With Midco’s fiber internet, they could serve customers faster and focus more on the business of making wine.   

“Since we've had Midco, we've not had any issues with being able to get the internet that we need to take care of our customer transactions as they occur, not a of couple days later or not at all,” stated Irvine. “That's been very beneficial for us to have that reliability that Midco offers us on a daily basis.” 

Prepare for the Future with Fiber 

That reliability comes standard with a Midco fiber connection, something that the team at the winery had been wishing for since opening their business.  

“Fiber internet, that's the way of the future,” said Irvine. “It would've been a dream of mine in the past to have that. And when I found out that we had fiber optic availability, I was already dreaming about not having any more interruptions.” 

“We’re proud to expand our fiber network to more places across the Midwest, bringing cutting-edge fiber technology to homes and businesses that previously weren’t able to experience this type of connection,” stated Romary. “Through our Fiber Forward investment, we’re putting more fiber miles in the ground to increase reliability, lower latency and improve speed capabilities across the board.”  

Not only does fiber make transactions smoother, it sets businesses up with future-proof technology. Whatever advances take place in the coming years, the Midco Fiber Network is built to handle industry breakthroughs.

Finding the Best Value 

While their connection was of the utmost importance for the winery, there was another checklist item Irvine was determined to find in his business services partner.  

“When you take a look at the value of the product versus what I was paying on satellite, it's a tremendous value,” said Irvine. “There’s one other value that you can't put a number to, and that's the customer service. When you look at the customer service that is worth a lot of money. And I think people take that for granted. That's one of the things we try to provide out here at Irvine's Winery too. It’s that customer service. Because if you want people to keep coming back to you, that's what you have to do, you have to provide that customer service. And that's what Midco does.”