For Retail Associate Mike Recktenwald, Thriving Together doesn’t just happen behind the scenes; It’s something customers feel the moment they walk through the doors at the Evan Williams Bourbon Experience. 

 Mikes’s day-to-day centers on stocking bottles, maintaining visual merchandising, and engaging guests through suggestive selling. But what truly defines his work is human connection. After nearly four years with Heaven Hill, he’s found that it’s the people, both his teammates and customers, that keep him energized.   

“I love interacting with anyone and everyone,” he says. “You meet so many interesting individuals, and there’s excitement in helping them find exactly what they’re looking for.”  

To Mike, every interaction on the floor is an opportunity to represent something bigger. Whether it’s hyping up a limited release like the 250th anniversary bottle or helping a guest track down something they can’t find anywhere else, Mike sees his role as part of a larger mission to invite every guest into Heaven Hill’s story. 

Creating that story begins long before the customer walks through the door. Mike works daily with his team to enhance the customer experience, coordinating floor moves and product rotations, where communication and trust keep everything running smoothly. It’s in those collaborative efforts that the team’s impact on the customer experience truly comes to life. Meeting someone new and sharing a meaningful exchange that sticks with both of them is the part of his job Mike looks forward to most. 

“Mikes always raises the bar on customer service.  A perfect is example is this week: A customer who uses a wheelchair called about purchasing an Evan Williams 250th bottle and needed help with downtown parking. Mike had them pull into the unloading zone, took their card inside to complete the purchase, and delivered the bottle directly to their car. That’s customer service,” Brian Vance, Assistant General Manager Evan Williams Bourbon Experience, said. 

Looking ahead, Mike has a simple goal: to be remembered by both coworkers and customers as someone who made their experience better.