Episode 1: Mackenzie Magro
Next Era of Napa Experiences
Napa's future growth is about more than luxury. This episode explores how access, experience design, and diversification are shaping the next era.
About This Episode
Napa Valley is entering a new phase of hospitality. In this episode, Napa Valley Bike Tours CEO Mackenzie Magro shares how thoughtful experience design, expanded access, and diversified offerings are helping Napa evolve beyond a luxury-only model. From e-bikes to non-wine experiences, she explains how creating more ways to engage builds resilience and long-term demand.
Key Takeaways
- Electric bikes removed physical barriers, expanding the customer base beyond cycling enthusiasts.
- Treating post-COVID revenue surges as permanent benchmarks creates flawed operating assumptions.
- Uniform luxury strategies weakened Napa's hospitality fundamentals and limited accessibility.
- Operator-led acquisitions reduce execution risk when leadership already runs the business.
- Future demand growth extends beyond wine into sustainability, agriculture, and culinary experiences.
Resources & Links
Episode Chapters
Full Transcript
Andrew Allison: Welcome to wine country business, the podcast exploring the strategy and trends shaping the global world of wine, spirits and luxury hospitality. I'm your host. Andrew Allison, a third generation Napa Valley native and exited startup founder. I'm bringing you inside candid conversations with the business leaders defining our industry today. This show is brought to you by top shelf ventures. Top shelf finds funds and accelerates the premier opportunities in the global alcohol advice categories led by industry experts with a track record of major acquisitions. Their team acts as the catalyst for disruptive startups reaching for global scale. They don't just invest they bring operational horsepower, a huge network to you the entrepreneur, to help you dominate your market. That's top shelf ventures.com accelerating the world's most innovative brands. Let's dive in.
Andrew Allison: Who are you and what do you do?
Mackenzie Magro: My name is Mackenzie Magro and I am the CEO of Napa Valley bike tours.
Andrew Allison: You have had an amazing journey with the business, and you just acquired it yourself, so management buyout, but we will get there. How did you find your way to Napa Valley?
Mackenzie Magro: Okay, so I grew up in Los Angeles on the Santa Monica Venice border. I went to Santa Monica High School. After high school, I went to San Francisco State University, and I was a studio art major in fine arts painting. And I landed a job after I graduated from college, working for a graphic design firm in the Philippines and on a teeny little island called Cebu, and so I moved over there. I lived there for just under a year, and I worked in business development, so I was doing like, cold calls, sales. It was a really interesting experience for me, because I knew that I loved art, so I was kind of a liaison between clients and artists, especially because I spoke English, so I could kind of help bridge that gap for some of them. And it was kind of the moment that I realized art was a passion of mine, and I really enjoyed business and business development. I was 23 and I came back from the Philippines, after working over there, and I continued working for the company in Berkeley. And then after a little while, I decided I wanted to move to Napa Valley because of my husband. He's from here, and we had met one another in college, so I made the leap. I quit the job. I moved out here, and I started working. I started working as a personal assistant for someone in the wine world. And that was kind of what got my foot in the door in Napa Valley and in this industry. And then I in February of 2014 I saw a job posting for I mean, I'm young. Remember a concierge job at a bike tour company called Napa Valley bike tours.
Andrew Allison: Wow, yeah. So that's where the journey started. That's where it started. So you had worked your way up through Napa Valley bike tours over the years. For those that have never been to Napa, give a lay of the land. What are the most common tourist activities that people would do?
Mackenzie Magro: Sure. So in Napa, there's obviously wine tasting. And then there's kind of like vehicle activities that get you to wine tasting. So there's the wine train, there's car service, and then there's Napa Valley bike tours. Amongst there's a sprinkle of other really great fun things that you can do. Or it's very culinary here, obviously. So there's great things in that world, but, um, there are a lot of activities. I think something that's unique about Napa Valley bike tours is the bicycling component is an activity in and of itself, totally so you can come and visit us in the context of athleisure sustainability, but it doesn't have to be wine focused, which I think is a really cool edge that we have.
Andrew Allison: The industry's gone through some technical innovation over the time that you've been here. It was all pneumatic bikes when you started. How did the E bike trend change the business?
Mackenzie Magro: Oh my gosh. It's changed so much for us. So when I first started in the business, the majority of our guests were definitely bike enthusiasts. They owned a bike back home, they went on back road trips in other countries. Bicycling was a passion and a hobby of theirs, both at home and as they traveled. And then when we got electric bikes, we really saw that it bridged a gap between people who wanted to do this activity but maybe didn't have the stamina, or they were a little bit nervous about their fitness level, and so it's been, it's been amazing for us. And we electric bikes are so much fun. We have people who come to us all the time and say, I'm a cyclist. Back at home, I did not want to get on an E bike, and as soon as I did, it's like, you can't go back. And what's cool about them in the rental context. When you're on vacation is you can cover double the amount of ground that you would on a pneumatic bike. And so it really allows you to see everything that Napa has to offer in a short period of time totally.
Andrew Allison: And I'm one of those people that doesn't want to get super sweaty when I'm going wine tasting or overheat and then just not enjoy my wine tasting experience overall, and so I think e bikes, for me personally, is just that ability to get that fresh air, see the views cover a larger distance. But I really, really, I've had the opportunity to go on both guided and just day rentals with your business, and I've loved all those experiences. Thank you. When you realized that you wanted to buy the business. How long ago was that? It was quite a few years ago.
Mackenzie Magro: So you just woke up one day. I think I could do this forever. Yeah, I kind of got to a point where, so I started as a concierge in the business, and then from there, I pretty quickly my predecessor, who was the previous logistics director in the business. He left, and I kind of just organically got put into the role of doing his position, because it was quick. It was kind of like mid season. We just it was go time. We had to go. And I really thrived in his position. We essentially were able to evolve the role and just work smarter and more efficiently. And so I got to a point where I'd reached a ceiling in the company, and I said to the owner one day, I just said, really jokingly, I said, you know, there's gonna come a point where I have to use my brain in a different way. I can't. I'm not gonna stay here forever and do this. And I said, this was like a really quick, brief conversation, almost a joke. If you ever were ready to retire, you know, you'd have to come and talk to me. First two second conversation, he didn't even blink. He just kept going on to something else. Cut to a few years later, he had been spending quite a bit of time in Mexico. Him and his wife had a condo out there, and they were spending weeks, months at a time and just leaving the business in your hands, yeah, leaving the business in my hands. He was pretty uninvolved. Myself and my colleague, Kelly, who's been with the business for a long time as well, her and I truly have been running the show for a long time, which is why I'm so excited about this and confident. I mean, we have good footing. Her and I have both been doing this together for over a decade. Yeah, truly running the business.
Andrew Allison: And when you work with people that you enjoy and you can trust, it really does make the days just fly by.
Mackenzie Magro: Yeah, when the owner called me one day, and they'll never forget, I was in the back of the supply closet in our bike shop, and he called me from Mexico, and he said, Hey, I've been thinking about something, and I want to ask you a question. And I thought he was gonna ask me to move out to Mexico to start a bike tour company out in Cabo somewhere. And I was so excited, like, oh my gosh, that was my first flash thought of what he was gonna ask me. And then he said, I've been thinking about kind of what you said jokingly not too long ago, and I want to retire. Do you want to start this conversation? And so that's kind of where things evolved.
Andrew Allison: You had sowed the seed, and then you had stayed, demonstrated your ability to operate it, yeah, and, you know, like that. That makes a ton of sense. What were some of the highest highs in the lowest lows? And I know post covid was, was a great boom, and then there's been a big tourism drop off after that. But what, more or less in the hospitality space, how has that impacted your business?
Mackenzie Magro: Yeah, so post covid, we saw a huge influx of travelers, especially from the drive market. We were booming. Everyone wanted to do an outdoor activity. It was really, good for us. Our numbers are really on par with pre covid. I think that tourism is doing well in Napa Valley. I'm really confident about I don't really look at that like 2022 I don't even really. I kind of like throw that PNL to the side, because it was a really great year, but it was an anomaly that we're not going to really see that again, sure, but we are right back, if not just a little bit up, from where we were pre covid, which makes me feel really confident. And I think that Napa Valley is definitely going through a shift. There's something going on around here, but I think that it's good. I think we're shaking up the industry. People are having to think a little bit harder about the experiences that they're going to offer to our travelers. And I think it's a good thing.
Andrew Allison: Yeah, I think the marriage of that wine train station in your bike rental business will be a wonderful opportunity for both you and the wine train team.
Mackenzie Magro: I'm excited the wine train team. Nathan is amazing. And then, you know, noble house, I think that our values really align, and I think that it's just going to be awesome for both of us. I'm super excited.
Andrew Allison: Yeah, I do think Nathan's a wonderful human when you think about the things that you aspire to do, going forward, relocating the bike rental business to the train station is one of them. What are some of the other things you're going to lean into in the years ahead.
Mackenzie Magro: We're really just going to lean into authenticity and hospitality. We're going to continue to offer an amazing experience to our guests who come to visit us. We have such an incredible team, and everyone in our business truly loves what they do, and everything from the guides to the mechanics, guides to the mechanics. I mean, we really are happy to come to work. We all really like what we do, and we're just going to continue moving forward and creating a space that's a positive place to work and a positive place to come
Andrew Allison: how are you thinking about developing partnerships with hotels and other venues that could use bikes on property to make a better consumer experience?
Mackenzie Magro: Sure, yep, I would love to create a bike lease program with local hotels. That's something that's definitely hurt our business over the years, is all of almost all of the hotels in the Valley have a small fleet of their own bikes now, and so. We're not getting that business. People are jumping on a bike really quickly at their hotel and getting their ride in, and they're not coming to us. So I would love to be the provider of the bicycles to the properties.
Andrew Allison: Let's talk a little bit about that St Helena location. So that's a location that's not been a part of the business historically. How are you thinking about up Valley.
Mackenzie Magro: We're really excited to be up Valley and our St Helena locations, it's on site at Charles Krug winery. And why is that significant? That's significant because the portion of the Napa Valley vine Trail, which is a paved multi use path here in the valley, exists right at the front driveway of Charles Krug and it spans 8.2 miles up to Calistoga. It's paved, car free, and it is absolutely gorgeous. It is quintessential Napa vineyard views. It's absolutely beautiful. So you can grab a bike from us, take a ride out of the driveway and ride straight up the vine trail.
Andrew Allison: That portion of the vine trail is some of my favorite section of the vine trail. You pass brass wood. One of my common things is, when I get a spare morning, I'll do that exact same trail, hit brass wood, get a coffee and go all the way to Calistoga and pack. It's a fantastic way to spend the morning. When you think about the trends that are going to your benefit in 2026 what are some of the things that you just really want to double down on?
Mackenzie Magro: I think that there are more people that are interested in coming to the valley and not just drinking wine. And so I think that we have a really good advantage being a company that, of course, visiting wineries and wine tasting is a huge part of what we're doing, or a vehicle to get people there. But I think that we also allow guests coming here who want us maybe a break from that or to skip that part. They've got us as a resource. And we can do so much. We can curate experiences that go to, you know, a private farm in Yountville, we can do culinary experiences. It doesn't just have to be wine facing. I think we're going to see an adjustment of trends here in the valley, reasons that people come to visit us. And it's not just going to be about wine, it's going to be about sustainability, it's going to be about agriculture, it's going to be about culinary et cetera. I'm really excited about that.
Andrew Allison: I'm so excited to see what you do with the business that you just acquired. What are some of the ways that people can follow your work or find Napa Valley bike tours online?
Mackenzie Magro: Sure, so Napa valleybike tours.com is the best way to find us. Can email us info at Napa Valley bike tours. Our phone number is on our website. We are there seven days a week, from nine to 530 you can always contact a real person, myself included. I answer the phones and our Instagram handle is Napa Valley bike tours. Amazing.
Andrew Allison: Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, and congrats again on acquiring this business.
Mackenzie Magro: All right, thanks. Andrew, bye, cheers.
Mackenzie Magro: Thanks for listening to wine country business for more insights and video clips, make sure to follow the show on Instagram at Wine Country. If you found value in today's conversation, please follow us on Spotify Apple podcast, or wherever you get your pods. A brief thank you to our publisher, wine country media, and a special thanks to Napa Valley Car Club for letting us record at the barn their members only club in downtown Napa. I'm Andrew Allison, thanks for joining me, and we'll see you in the next episode.
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