The Sneaky $80B Market: Why Liquor Stores Are the Ultimate Vertical SaaS Play

Today on Verticals, we sit down with Darren Feike, Founder & CEO of Sante, building a complete operating system for wine & liquor stores.   What looks like a niche is actually massive: the US liquor store market is ~$80B, and the average store does ~$2.5M in annual sales, with ~90% of locations independently owned. Darren breaks down why this market has been overlooked, how regulation creates a moat, and the exact playbook Sante used to move customers off legacy systems using AI agents.   We also go deep on: Why liquor stores are way more complex than most Main Street verticals The “rip and replace” problem — and how Sante makes switching seamless Founder-led sales → repeatable outbound at scale Building a platform after starting with a wedge product What it takes to hit real feature parity and unlock referrals   If you’re building vertical software, embedded fintech, or selling into a regulated market, this one’s a must-watch.