Progress Report: 5.6.22

Grasshopper Family,

Well...the tide has turned. We are post 4/20 and supply has started to normalize. In addition to that, the market is also starting to normalize.

BUT, let's talk about last Saturday first.

Reggae by the Riverside was fantastic!

The weather was tough. It was cold and it was sprinkling from time to time. While we expected ~5,000 people, we ended up at around ~1,200 people. BUT, we were really able to maximize this opportunity.

First and foremost, the team was AWESOME. This was an incredible opportunity to get the team off property to talk about what we are doing at Grasshopper Farms. We had an incredible display. Everyone was in Grasshopper Farms shirts and hats. We had blown up pictures of the farm. We had samples. We even had some branded inflatable furniture!

And we had a LOT of happy visitors.

One by one, most of the performers stopped by our booth. At first it seemed like we just had curious people. But then they kept coming back. And hanging out. Everyone loved our team and what we are doing. They loved our product. They loved our branding. It was a really good event to keep investigating our approach to the market. What we learned is that we are doing something special.

Yes, we already believe we are doing something special. But, it really helps to start hearing people with no connection confirm what we believe to be true. Consumers. Musicians. Industry partners. They all agreed. Grasshopper Farms is showing up and bringing something special and different to the market.

One of the musicians even decided to start posting some video reviews of our product without us even asking!

I was with the team at one point when one of the musicians' team members drove up in a golf cart and told me to hop on and go with him. His name is Patrick. I joined him and his brother and off we went. He said he needed to take me to meet someone. Patrick took me to a trailer. It was Bob Marley's son's trailer, Ky-Mani. Ky-Mani was there with his wife and three other people. We talked about our flower. He shared that he, his brothers, and his team all love our flower. His favorite is Wedding Cake, which he was smoking. He then picked up his guitar and started doing a Wedding Cake jam session. We posted it on social.

I grew up in Santa Cruz, California. There were days when I headed to surf before school. We would listen to Bob Marley and barely make it to class. To be with Bob Marley's son, jamming and talking about Grasshopper Farms was epic.

This was not planned. I wish I could have pulled the entire team back, but Ky-Mani was nursing a hurt knee and was preparing for the stage. Alas, I am very grateful for the opportunity and the reviews of the flower our team put their blood, sweat, and tears into bringing to the Michigan market.

The whole event was incredible. We also got to recognize two Green Ticket award winners on stage! I am so happy to report that the first winners were so amazing. Deserving. Humble. Gracious. Kind. Good. They are grateful for us and we are grateful for them. The picture of Shawn with a Green Ticket was Shawn being Shawn in bringing smiles to all of the team. He does a great job with that!

One of the retailers, The Patient Station, had people with interesting animals and bikes at the event. Check out some of the pictures of the different bikes! And, there were WAY more!

I have been contacted by four of the musician groups after the reggae festival with requests to partner with us. They tried our product. They met our team. They hung out with us at our booth. They felt the connection.

The farm continued crushing the work! We have all of our clones! Now we wait for roots and then select the plants that will head outside. This is an incredible milestone. We are now in the field prepping everything - pots, ground cover, support, irrigation, etc. Meanwhile, the indoor team got everything ready for the reggae festival and they continued to quality control and package flower.

And now we move to sales.

We are clear of 4/20. Supply and the market are normalizing.

We hit the streets and developed some awesome new partnerships.

We sold 424 pounds this week to nine new retailers and we have four more retailers who are asking us to come see them next week to talk about deals. I know, I know. We should have stopped at 420 pounds. This was pointed out to me. LOL. We will do better next time.

As I headed to the airport, I received more calls from retailers who want to work with us.

Building a brand is hard. We are not just growing and selling flower. We are building a brand. And building a brand takes a LOT of work. We knew this going in. We are good with it. Three words keep us aligned and on course.

Patience. Quality. Consistency.

We are headed into the weekend with a fire that is only getting stronger.

This is hard work - especially at this time in the Michigan market. All that we stand for is being validated by consumers and industry partners. We just have to be patient and continue to stand on quality and consistency.

We are a family building a business.

We are Grasshopper Farms.