Today we’d like to introduce you to Angela Anderson.
Hi Angela, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
Our Story
In the Summer of 2018, a group of experienced business owners got together to share business ideas, thoughts, and concerns with the common goal of promoting our combined businesses. Some would call this collaboration, teamwork, inspiration, or a think tank. We started calling it “The Syndicate”. With over 100 years of combined business management and ownership experience, this team, along with the combined assistance and experience we have provided local wineries and restaurants through business consulting, decided to start the Syndicate Wine Bar. The goal was to create a place where all can come to brainstorm, share, talk, create, learn, and promote our individual businesses…. through our shared love of wine. At the helm of this venture is my husband David and I, operating, thinking, generating, maintaining and creating everything you see. We still work with our trusted advisors on many things, but day to day operations of Syndicate Wine Bar has turned more to us.
syndicate (noun) syn-di-cate: a group of individuals or organizations combined to promote some common interest.
Our participation in the wine industry began in the mid-1990’s. I started as a hostess at Augustine’s Restaurant while David started with the Linfield College Catering team, hosting special events throughout McMinnville, Oregon. These events included the annual International Pinot Noir Celebration (IPNC). From these experiences, we each learned the intricacies of customer service, food, and hospitality centering around wine and fine dining.
In 2002, David built OregonWines.com, an industry service that connects wine lovers with Oregon’s wineries. This website became a living reference for information about Oregon’s wineries, wines, and viticultural regions. Over the years, he upgraded its contents and features, including a real-time touring system before mobile apps were a thing! The site served as an industry blog and events calendar, before the domain was sold to a local winery.
Since 2013, we have focused our combined passions into hyper-local networking groups and events centered around sustainability. Our lessons learned and support from the Oregon benefit corporation community, are two reason we launched Syndicate Wine Bar. The time was right to unite our communities, to grow our networks in an inclusive and educational manner, and center it all around fantastic wine.
Our commitment to sustainability runs deep, and we have actively sought to integrate the balance of people, planet, and profit throughout business. Our business is a certified Oregon Benefit Company, which calls us to a higher purpose of serving our community and operating on values of ethics, honesty, and transparency.
Combined with our experience in the wine industry and business management, we have created Syndicate Wine Bar to offer you the very best wines, paired with unbeatable customer service, for an unforgettable experience.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
The economic climate was very different in 2019. Our largest challenge at that time was construction costs to build out a 1947 building with many structural issues. We applied for every grant we could with the City of Beaverton. Then in 2020 the world was greeted with a pandemic. To bounce back, we built an amazing outdoor dining structure that became the talk of town. In 2021, there were large forest fires al over Washington, Oregon, and California. At that time, we had to learn what the acronym AQI (Air Quality Index) was and learned that it was no longer safe to be outside.
With COVID, we couldn’t be inside. With a very high AQI, it was unhealthy to be outside. We were challenged once again and had to dig deep into our personal savings to survive. In 2022, we started construction on the neighboring suite to expand our dining room. We had enough saved for this; however, the contractor went $30,000 over budget without informing us according to CCB regulations. We tried to pursue legal rights but in the end were forced to pay these additional funds or be in default of our lease. Construction finished in 2023 but now in 2025 many of our neighbors are scared to eat in public due to ICE raids. We’ve even seen one illegal detainment in our parking lot. The economy in our area is struggling more than during COVID.
We’ve been impressed with Syndicate Wine Bar, but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
Syndicate Wine Bar is a full-service restaurant servicing wine, beer, cider, and non-alcoholic drinks. We have a full-time chef that prepares meals of all sizes for various appetites. Our team provides exceptional table service to every guest, no matter how they come to us.
We also are a community gathering place for educational classes, theme nights, wine dinners, and holiday parties. Many have said that we are the wine version of “Cheers” where everyone knows your name. Centrally located in the middle of a restaurant hub in Beaverton, Oregon, residents from many neighboring communities come to us for quiet date nights, music bingo, winemaker spotlights, wine club events, and even company parties. Our primary demographic is upper middle class with disposable income, many 35 years or older with established careers within 20 minutes of our location.
Syndicate has become home to many going through tough times, knowing that we always greet them with a smile, a hug, or a warm bowl of soup. Our team dedicates their time to listening with intent to everyone, learning each customer’s tasting preferences, likes and dislikes. Our customers have become family over the years. We have seen engagements, receptions, baby and bridal showers, and children walking for the first time right in our small little dining room.
Our tiny little business is deeply entrenched in the community. From the very beginning we registered with the Secretary of State for the State of Oregon as an Oregon Benefit Company, committed to balancing people, planet, and profit. At that time, we made an outward statement of our commitment to sustainability of our resources and our community. We turned this into action from the start. In 2020 when we were no longer allowed to dine inside due to the
constraints of COVID, we turned our outdoor dining space into a community gathering space for al restaurants. Our wine menu offered food pairing suggestions from our neighbors. This kept us alive and extremely busy through these challenging years.
From 2019-current, we have also been very active in community activism. I joined the Beaverton Downtown Association for a year in 2019 as the Economic Development Chair. I also joined the Beaverton Area Chamber of Commerce’s Business Advocacy Council in 2024 for an annual voting seat. Al along this path we have been advocating at Beaverton City Council on issues of outdoor dining rates, public safety, better lighting and sidewalks, and, currently, unlawful detainment of US Citizens by ICE.
In late 2025 we released a new wine brand called Resilience Wines. We are currently donating 10% of all proceeds of these bottles to the Portland Immigration Rights Coalition who are helping many of the affected families in our area.
So maybe we end on discussing what matters most to you and why?
Our business was created with our own hands and with our savings. Many of the furniture and fixtures that you currently see we designed and built by my husband. We have had our hand in every little detail, trying to do most of it ourselves to save money. This brand has become our everything. We don’t have savings anymore, but we do have a very rich life full of wonderful people and amazing experiences. We know that one day we will build up the money invested in this place, but that time is not yet here. We are still paying off the construction loans from 2021-2023. Would we do anything different? Not a chance. We love what we do. Would we love to work less than 7 days a week? Yes, that would be nice, but to earn money to keep the lights on, sometimes you have to make tough decisions and work the shifts yourself until the numbers come back up.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.syndicatewines.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/syndicatewine
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/syndicatewine
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/angelabixler/
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/syndicate-wine-bar-beaverton?osq=Syndicate+Wine+Bar
- Other: https://www.syndicateconsultants.com
