Carolina Hemp Company’s foundation dates back to 2014 when the hemp industry started coming online after 77 years of prohibition. At that time, domestic products from food to textiles already had an established market. Due to some unfortunate history Hemp/Cannabis was saddled with an appalling stigma, as such few were willing to take on the challenge to bring “newly” legal products to market. Carolina Hemp Company set out to bridge that gap by being an interface between people and products, farms and markets and questions and answers.
Started as a distribution company, Carolina Hemp Company headquartered in Asheville, North Carolina is presently the premier hemp company in the Southeastern U.S. and is focused on building a business that helps bring hemp to the mainstream market. The company aims to set benchmarks for the industry in terms of quality, production, product, education, and service to the community. Driven by the opportunity to bring real economic growth, sustainable products and viable proven alternatives to pharmaceuticals to our communities, is the passion behind the brand’s efforts.
Customer-centric Services
Carolina Hemp Company offers a wide range of products and services. Carolina Hemp Naturals (Sublingual Products and Skin Care), Carolina Hemp Flower, Carolina Hemp Provisions (Hemp Food), are some of the top quality products provided by the company. Alongside these, it also offers cannabinoid rich Topicals, concentrates for Pets, Edibles, complimentary healthy Food and Beverages and Carolina Hemp Company branded apparel and other goods made of Hemp.
The company is vertically integrated. It has a farm operation with over 7,000 square feet of light deprivation greenhouses and an outdoor grow that sustains its biomass needs for extraction and creation of products. CHC’s anchor product is extracted, formulated, and bottled in Asheville at Asheville Botanicals. The company has worked with the Asheville Botanical team over the past few years to perfect the production of what is arguably one of the most natural and effective products on the market.
All the products and services offered by the company come with an exceptional commitment to customer support, from phone calls to sit-down consultations, each customer’s inquiry is addressed with the care and concern you would expect from a well informed and professionally managed organization. This same level of support to the individual consumer is carried through to the support it provides its franchise partners. With a focus on consistency being a staple of the brands heritage, the staff in the home office in Asheville takes each new franchise owner through every step of the consultative process, additionally supporting all their needs in graphic design and marketing materials as well as participating in onsite events. CHC also supports its wholesale clients outside its franchise network. “We have hosted hundreds of seminars and events that have supported the re-emergence of hemp in NC and the region,” says Brian Bullman, Founder of Carolina Hemp Company.
Multifaceted and Ardent Leader
Being at the helm of the company, Brian has multiple roles and responsibilities. His primary responsibilities include franchise relations, store approvals, design, layout, and installation of custom fixtures. He is back and forth between CHC’s distribution center, HQ, farm, and Asheville Botanicals. His top priority is keeping the whole team moving in the same direction.
When asked about factors to consider when buying a franchise, Brian listed accessibility to good leadership, a quality support team, vertically integrated products, and great margins all supported with thoughtfully curated promotional and educational programs as the essential factors. “Know the people you are buying a franchise from, especially in this market,” he added.
Delivering an Educational Experience
Like any growing company, Carolina Hemp Company also confronts typical challenges. However, in this burgeoning industry there are few extra challenges faced in the lack of knowledge consumers have about products that have only recently become legal, to unnecessary regulatory interference to merchant processing and banking woes. CHC has overcome these challenges by hitting them head-on and maintaining its Plan A only attitude.
The company has always emphasized delivering an educational experience to its customers. It believes that an informed consumer becomes a loyal customer for life. The CHC staff is knowledgeable and all are available to support the customer. Moreover, in an effort to maintain its currently held status as a most trusted brand in the cannabis/hemp industry its franchise partners go through thorough and ongoing training as required to mastering the knowledge of an education centric brand.
Steady Growth in Sales
The COVID-19 pandemic has severely impacted franchises around the country. While some industries such as the food industry have seen catastrophic results, the health and wellness sector has soared during the crisis. Being placed in the latter category, CHC saw a steady growth both in its brick and mortar and online sales. Moreover, the demand for its immune-boosting, anxiety-relieving, and sanity protecting products has also seen a steep rise during the pandemic. As a result, since day one of the pandemic, the company defined its services as ‘essential’. “We literally made and printed out ‘Essential Service’ signs and placed them on our doors and branded vehicles. The reality is that, to our customers and families, we are essential,” asserts Brian.
Supporting the Franchisees
CHC holds each of its franchise owners in the highest regard by treating them as integral partners to the success of the brand. As such, it has created a communication infrastructure that puts all the staff at “HQ” at the fingertips of each store owner. As the baseline of CHC’s operations is centered around cleanliness, health, and wellness, the adjustments made due to the pandemic were not much different from how it operates normally.
Furthermore, CHC has rolled out new programs to incentivize its franchise partners to operate at a high level. It is constantly adding exciting new and branded products to its product matrix. Moreover, each franchisee has its own unique URL that it can market, which is crucial in these times where customers fluctuate between walk in and online purchasing. The products sold through the unique URL’s net nearly the entire retail margin with only the cost of shipping and handling being deducted. This affords store owners a profitable path with no overhead costs for the product sold via their URL.
A Family Environment
The working conditions at the CHC HQ offer a spacious environment where its team can be together and execute at a high paced and professional level without sacrificing the creative nature of what they do. The motivation mantra for the company is “There’s plan A and plan A only.” It has also employed a profit-sharing initiative around two and half years ago that has everyone on the staff sharing the top 3% of the gross sales which engenders a “bring your best game” and high degree of personal accountability. Moreover, the company offers bonuses for exceptional efforts.
Destigmatizing the Industry
CHC has always sought to destigmatize the industry by offering its customers a clean professional environment where they are engaged by caring and knowledgeable staff. The store’s design promotes a comfortable environment for learning and exploring the benefits of Bringing Balance Through Hemp™.
“Our mission and the adherence to our mission proves to support a growth strategy that holds us true to the very things that make us who we are. So long as we maintain our identity and transpose this to our franchise partners we will succeed,” concludes Brian.
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