Progress Report: 12.16.22
Grasshopper Family,
The update this week starts with a story one of our team members told me.
This employee was out with folks at a restaurant...wearing a Grasshopper Farms shirt. The staff asked questions. He proudly told his story. Eventually, the chef came out to chat. At the end of the dinner the chef came back out and handed a to-go container to our proud family member. As he handed it to our employee, the chef said, “Try my jalapeños.” The container has some home grown cannabis in it.
Our logo and name initiate conversations everywhere we wear them. I talk to people in airports and on flights all of the time. I really like our name and logo, but I had no idea how comfortable it would make people in approaching us and initiating a conversations. To clarify - very comfortable and awesome conversations. In fact, I just shared the first leg of my return with someone who told me his story and ended up shedding some tears of gratitude...all because of my shirt.
I spent the week at the farm conducting reviews and locking in the 2023 budget with each department. The way I measure myself is my energy. If I am exhausted, then I did my job. And let me tell you, I am exhausted. And, I am SO PROUD. People showed up. They were prepared. They were grateful. They are ready for the 2023 harvest year.
We had three visits this week. On the cannabis side... One from a team based out of Iowa, with operations in Colorado and Michigan. One based out of New Mexico. On the business/finance structuring side... One out of Virginia. They were amazing. The feedback was incredible. And I am grateful.
We had another snowy blanket touch down this week. It came just after we had wrapped up the final and total removal of the harvested stalks. It took three full days to do it! This was also done faster and more efficient than last year.
We are a company that starts with our people. In fact, I have been describing ourselves as a people development company that is growing cannabis. That's because I would take this team with me into a military operation and beyond. So, to that end, our tasking board described today as a "reset" because it was time to push pause and reset ourselves. A time to review where we are and where we are going. A time to ask ourselves if we need to make any adjustments. This was a reset that was driven from the farm, not me. And I love it!
Building 2 continues to buzz with all of our team. The flower is flowing from quality control to packaging. I was so impressed and amazed with what I witnessed this week. Take a look at the different packages and pre-rolls! Pre-rolls, that by the way, that just sold out! Take a look at the packages of beautiful flower!
But wait...how are sales?
December:
(So far!)
Flower 717.22 pounds
Pre-rolls 50,498 (SOLD OUT!)
Adam and Kayla are killing it with the relationships with our retail partners. AND, consumers are clearly happy with what we have produced. The measure? We sell for more than the "going rate" and all of our retailers sell out of our product in 7-10 days.
We have been accepted. We are being demanded.
Sooo....I watch Shark Tank. I saw a pitch by a guy named Winston who founded a company named Woosh that produces smart HVAC filter solutions. We have a lot of HVAC systems. We use a lot of filters. So, I took a chance and reached out to Winston after seeing him on Shark Tank. Well, he got back to me and we received our first Woosh smart HVAC filter this week, set it up, and are now evaluating it with Winston and his team for cannabis. This is not only a smart opportunity for us, but the FIRST cannabis operator for Woosh. Winston and his team are really excited to see what happens! (So are we!)
I am going to wrap up where I started - employee reviews. This week was amazing. Our team is clear on what they did, what they want to improve, and what we will do in 2023. They took ownership of what they are doing well. They took ownership of what they need to improve. Individually and collectively.
We are ready.
We are Grasshopper Farms.
