WINTER HAVEN, Fla.— Baseball is back and inside a “dugout” in Winter Haven it’s business as usual.
“This just hasn’t stopped and hasn’t slowed down and we are on now our fifth consecutive year of triple digit growth,” said Kris Dehnert, CEO of Dugout Mugs.
Dugout Mugs is a local company that turns baseball bats into drinking mugs.
Despite a year filled with uncertainty for business owners, Dugout Mugs didn’t strike out.
“Every single year is growing faster and faster than the year before so I would kind of be a liar if I said yes I expected it to get to this size,” said Dehnert.
They have learned to adapt and field whatever grounder comes their way.
“I guess what it has taught me is to stay fluid. Just be able to roll with the punches and what happens happens and just come up with the best plan that you can and try to execute it,” said Randall Thompson, Co-Founder of Dugout Mugs.
This company started with a dream.
“When I kind of dreamt up dugout mugs I kind of looked at it and I said this is an opportunity to create my own big leagues outside of a baseball field,” said Thompson.
Now that is their reality as they give every baseball fan a chance to create their own big league feel.
“We have a very clear mission and that is to celebrate the heroes of the baseball community by giving them the opportunity to get a gift that brings them closer to the game that they love,” said Dehnert.
They took that mission one step further by creating an initiative called Cheers to Charity.
“Every month we select a different charity that we donate to. We’ve donated baseballs, cleats, gloves, bats down to the Dominican Republic to orphanages with kids that just want to play baseball. There are a lot of cool things we’ve been able to do with that initiative and it’s just getting started,” said Dehnert.
It’s why Dugout Mugs is batting 1.000.
“It’s more than a mug it’s a memory and this is commemorating something very special for the majority of our customers and it doesn’t get any better than that,” said Dehnert.
To shop dugout mugs: https://dugoutmugs.com/