Kansas City has a lot of options if you want to go to a bar, restaurant or sporting game. But what if you want to do something where you can have fun with anyone from your best friend to your grandmother?

That’s where Pinot’s Palette comes in. Mother-daughter duo Deb Nemec and Kelly Flowers co-own two Pinot’s Palette franchises, with locations in Prairie Village and Leawood.

It all started with a trip down to Austin, Texas, to visit Nemec’s oldest daughter. All three of her kids decided to bring her out to a paint-and-sip to celebrate her birthday. They had a great time, and the seed was planted—why not bring a location to Kansas City?

Nemec, who has a bachelor’s degree in fine arts and graphic design, already had a passion for the arts, and she loved helping people connect with one another. Plus, the timing seemed to be right. Nemec had just left her job of three decades. Nemec and daughter Kelly Flowers decided to look into the franchise upon returning from their trip.

A month later, in August 2012, they signed the papers to open their first Pinot’s Palette franchise in Leawood, with their Prairie Village location to follow within the next year.

When they opened their Leawood location, they were only the 13th Pinot’s Palette franchise. Now there are more than 160 nationwide.

Nemec and Flowers say the first four to six months were a bit of a struggle. It was difficult to get the momentum going, and it took some time to build up their reputation within the community.

“That’s where the benefit of the franchise came in,” Nemec said. “We were able to lean on corporate a little bit. They supplied us with benchmarks and references, and they enabled us to focus on growing our business while they handled the website development and technology.”

Flowers and Nemec said that, even though business has since picked up, one of their struggles continues to be customers who are self-conscious and say things like, “I’m not an artist!”

Customers quickly get past that way of thinking once they realize Pinot’s Palette is a place where the focus is less on how artistic a person is, and more on bonding and creating lasting memories with friends and loved ones.

Just because they’re a franchise, it doesn’t mean Pinot’s Palette is generic. Nemec and Flowers work with several local artists who create unique pieces of work for them. Between their two locations, Nemec and Flowers have more than a thousand distinct paintings to pull from for classes.

Pinot’s Palette has also been a place where Nemec and Flowers have created lasting memories of their own. When Flowers was pregnant with her first child, she and her husband asked Nemec to stay late one night to check out a new painting with a local artist. When the artist turned the painting around so Nemec could preview it, the canvas was painted with the words “Baby Flowers 2014.”

Nearly three years after opening their first location, they’ve been able to build a family business that allows them to do the things they love.

“Success to us is being able to give back to the community,” Nemec said. “We work with several area fundraisers, charities and nonprofit organizations to raise money for worthy causes. Plus, we love being able to help our neighbors build relationships and create those bonding moments.”