Shownotes
Episode Summary
Tom Adamczyk is the Founder & CEO at Planted Detroit, a beyond-organic farm that grows nutrient-packed greens and micros in a sustainable & controlled environment. Today, Harry and Tom discuss the origins of Planted Detroit, the revitalization of the city of Detroit, and Tom’s background in finance. Tom touches on the lessons he learned as a leader and CEO during the Covid-19 pandemic, the role mentors have played in his journey and why he believes it is critical for any business owner or investor to love the product.
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Key Takeaways
07:13 – Tom Adamczyk joins the show to discuss the revitalization of the city of Detroit, his 2000 Chevy Camaro, and where he got his ‘hustle mentality’ from
13:02 – What Tom learned from his time in the financial sector
16:42 – The impact that mentors have had on Tom’s career
20:50 – Challenges Tom had to overcome throughout the Covid-19 pandemic
24:24 – The origin story of Planted Detroit
29:51 – Lessons learned as a leader and CEO
33:30 – Planted Detroit’s ideal customer and offerings
36:48 – Plans for the future of Planted Detroit
39:24 – A tough question Tom has had to ask himself recently and a specific ask he has for his colleague in the vertical farming industry
45:39 – Harry thanks Tom for joining the show and lets listeners know where they can go to connect with him and learn more about Planted Detroit
Tweetable Quotes
“Within business and as an entrepreneur, you have to be able to understand a little bit of everything. From the finance side to Sales & Marketing, to Operations, you’ve got to be technical and have some IT knowledge. There’s a lot of components of a business that you need to understand at least a little bit about each and every one of them.” (12:07) (Tom)
“Hindsight, again, is 2020, but the team at Planted Detroit did a phenomenal job of being able to support one another, buckle down, keep the business operating as a critical infrastructure business. And we kept supplying food to our community all throughout it.” (23:28) (Tom)
“I surrounded myself with people that had different experiences and backgrounds than me. And now, a lot of those people are still with me today. They are part of my leadership team at Planted Detroit. We brainstorm ideas and we learn from one another. They have backgrounds in Plant Science, Microbiology, Grocery, Marketing, as well as Construction and a lot of different aspects.” (28:06) (Tom)
“It’s an amazing product. As an investor in a company, you’ve got to love the product. And that’s really grown organically into my life where people are constantly talking to me about salad.” (36:13) (Tom)
“As an entrepreneur, there’s a million things that you need to do. You have to prioritize. I think it’s a component of what are you gonna do with your time? Again, I’m a humble person, so I’m not the type to say my time is more valuable than yours. It’s simply that time is valuable. It’s valuable to everybody. You can’t buy time. And so, I cherish that. I cherish my time. I think about what I’m gonna do with it. I think about my family. I think about my businesses. And I think about Planted Detroit specifically. It’s a huge time component and a huge investment, but it has so much opportunity.” (39:35) (Tom)
Resources Mentioned
Tom’s LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/thomas-adamczyk-33b29532/
Planted Detroit – https://planteddetroit.com/
Planted Detroit Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/planted.detroit
Planted Detroit Twitter – https://twitter.com/planteddetroit
Planted Detroit Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/planted.detroit/
Planted Detroit LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/company/planted-detroit/
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Mentioned in this episode:
2025 Precision Ag Report by iGrowNews
2025 Precision Ag Report by iGrowNews
Transcripts
$680 million poured into precision ag last year.
Speaker:Autonomous weeding robots dominated, and John Deere made 2 acquisitions in 3
Speaker:months. A food company, not an equipment maker, bought a
Speaker:robotics startup to protect its own supply chain. The deals are
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Speaker:farm and don't know where to begin or which technology would suit your needs,
Speaker:then reach out to the experts at Cultivated. As indoor farm brokers, they
Speaker:help connect you to the right technology and ensure your project is successful.
Speaker:Best of all, their service is free because they work on behalf of their partners.
Speaker:Visit cultivated.com to learn more. And that's spelled
Speaker:C-U-L-T-I-V-A-T-D.com,
Speaker:or click the link in the show notes. You know, as an entrepreneur, there's a
Speaker:million things that you need to do. It's a component of
Speaker:what are you going to do with your time. Again, I'm a humble person, so
Speaker:I'm not the type that's going to say, you know, my time's more valuable than
Speaker:yours. It's simply time is valuable. It's valuable to everybody.
Speaker:You know, Warren Buffett says that he can't buy— you can't buy time.
Speaker:And so I cherish that. I cherish my time. I think about
Speaker:what am I going to do with it? I think about my family. I think
Speaker:about my businesses. And I think about Planted Detroit specifically.
Speaker:It's a huge time component. It's a huge investment, but it has so
Speaker:much opportunity.
Speaker:Welcome to the Vertical Farming Podcast, weekly conversations
Speaker:with fascinating CEOs, founders, and agtech
Speaker:visionaries. Join us every week as we dive deep into the
Speaker:world of vertical farming with your host, Harry Duran.
Speaker:Vertical Farming Podcast Season 7, 2023 is
Speaker:in motion. It's in effect. And I hope you all had a
Speaker:very, very nice time with your family, with your
Speaker:friends, with your loved ones for the holiday season, and are
Speaker:ready to get back into the swing of things. We took a small break,
Speaker:had a chance to catch our breath, and we're back. I teased out some of
Speaker:the episodes we had recorded at the end of 2022, and I'm
Speaker:really excited to get back in the saddle and get these episodes out to
Speaker:you. If you are a regular listener, or you've been here since season 1,
Speaker:or season 5, or season 6, 2, 3, 4,
Speaker:any one of the previous seasons, any one of the previous episodes, I am eternally
Speaker:grateful for I'm grateful for you to be returning back as a listener. I don't
Speaker:take your time for granted, and I'm grateful that you're spending this
Speaker:hour with me as I learn more about vertical farming, as I learn more
Speaker:about my guests, and I share those stories with you. If you are a new
Speaker:listener, if this is your first time listening to the podcast, we do everything we
Speaker:can to roll out the green mat for you. I love it when new folks
Speaker:find the podcast. And again, I wanna make sure that I'm
Speaker:creating an experience for you that'll keep you coming back. and have you telling your
Speaker:friends all about this show. I'm really proud of the work we've done here to
Speaker:create a show that interviews fascinating CEOs and
Speaker:founders of the leading vertical farming companies from around the world, and that's the
Speaker:mission for season 7 as well. I'm your host, Harry Duran.
Speaker:I've been podcasting since 2014 with my first show,
Speaker:Podcast Junkies, and started this show in 2020. In case
Speaker:you missed the end of season 6, our last episode was with Brandie Keen, the
Speaker:co-founder and senior technical advisor at Cerna. It's one of the few episodes
Speaker:where we've covered the cannabis industry. Industry. And Brandy was someone
Speaker:that I had met at Indoor AgTech NYC last year. I'm really
Speaker:grateful for her to come on, talk about origin stories of Hydro
Speaker:Innovations, their acquisition by Cerna, and talk a little bit about the
Speaker:impact CEA has on the world's water supply and how her experience in
Speaker:the cannabis industry has been and how her unique take from the cannabis industry has
Speaker:helped her grow and thrive. This week I speak with Tom Adamczyk. He's
Speaker:the founder and CEO of Planted Detroit, which is located in the
Speaker:Island View neighborhood on Detroit's Lower East Side. They're committed to growing and
Speaker:providing clean, nutritious foods such as microgreens, herbs,
Speaker:baby greens, and ready-to-eat salads to the surrounding community. In this conversation, Tom
Speaker:and I talk about the origins of Planted Detroit, the revitalization
Speaker:of Detroit itself, and Tom's background in finance and how that's been helpful for him
Speaker:in managing the company. Tom talks about the lessons he learned as a leader and
Speaker:CEO during the COVID-19 pandemic, the role mentors that have
Speaker:played an important part in his journey, and why he believes it's critical for any
Speaker:business owner or investor to love the product they're working on.
Speaker:A new season means a fresh new start, and that means we're looking for fresh
Speaker:new reviews and ratings of the podcast. If you are enjoying
Speaker:this episode, and if you're new, you'll have to listen to it first, I get
Speaker:that. But if you heard past episodes and you like what we're doing here, I'd
Speaker:love it if you leave a rating and a review at ratethispodcast.com/vfp,
Speaker:and I'll be sure to read yours out on a future episode. Okay, I'm excited
Speaker:to jump into this conversation with Tom, but before we do, here's a few
Speaker:words from the folks that support this show. This episode is brought to you by
Speaker:Indoor AgCon 2023. I'm so happy to have been
Speaker:working with the team last year. Indoor AgCon 2022
Speaker:was my very first indoor farming conference, so it was really eye-opening for
Speaker:me. So I'll always be grateful to the team there for rolling out that carpet
Speaker:for me, and I really had a good time meeting a lot of past
Speaker:guests and excited to join them again this year. Entering its 10th year in
Speaker:a row, it's the largest trade show and conference for vertical farming and CEA,
Speaker:and it's returning to Caesars Forum Conference Center in Las Vegas on
Speaker:February 27th and 28th of 2023. Once again, they'll be co-located with
Speaker:the National Growers Association Show as well, which is a really good fit for them.
Speaker:The conference keeps growing, and this year it's doubled in size. The expo floor
Speaker:now has more than 170 booths filled with new product
Speaker:resources and solutions to explore. You'll hear from experts, including
Speaker:CEOs, growers, investors, and others in the field during this
Speaker:full-scale educational conference. As always, you'll be able to connect with
Speaker:peers, grocers, and other potential new business partners at their great networking
Speaker:events. I haven't even gotten to the best part. The team at Indoor
Speaker:AgCon has given listeners of this show 20%
Speaker:off their full access conference pass. All you have to do is use promo
Speaker:code VFP, as in Vertical Farming Podcast, and sign up at
Speaker:indoor.ag. See you there. Our production team at
Speaker:FullCast is excited to be working with Pipp
Speaker:Horticulture this season on the production of their new show, Cultivation
Speaker:Elevated. If you're a grower or an owner looking to optimize your new or existing
Speaker:cultivation facility, or anyone looking to cultivate more in less space,
Speaker:then this is the show for you. Each week you'll join Michael Williamson as he
Speaker:travels across the country to explore the world of vertical farming and the future of
Speaker:cannabis and food production through his conversations with leading industry
Speaker:operators, growers, and executives demonstrating success and
Speaker:resilience as growers and cultivators. You can find the show wherever you listen
Speaker:to podcasts. That's Cultivation Elevated by Pipp Horticulture. If you're a
Speaker:regular listener to the show, you'll know that this is the space where I get
Speaker:to talk about some of the fantastic sponsors and supporters of this
Speaker:show. If you are interested in being one of those sponsors, by all
Speaker:means reach out to me directly, [email protected].
Speaker:We've got inventory available for season 7 and And the reach of the
Speaker:show just continues to increase year over year. And we'd love to
Speaker:partner with you and get the word out about your company or service. Tom
Speaker:Adamczyk, CEO of Planted Detroit, thank you for joining me on the Vertical Farming
Speaker:Podcast. Thanks for having me, Harry. Excited to be here.
Speaker:So where's home for you? Right now in Howell, Michigan.
Speaker:Howell, Michigan. I'm about an hour outside of Detroit. Got a
Speaker:special place in my heart for Detroit because growing up, I am into
Speaker:electronic music, house music. And so I learned to DJ at
Speaker:16 and was in clubs before I could even—
Speaker:was old enough to drink. So I've been to lots of festivals and
Speaker:specifically Movement with my ex for— we went
Speaker:9 years in a row. So that was a really good experience. And it's amazing
Speaker:to see what it did for the city during that time as
Speaker:well. Yeah, you know, the city of Detroit has produced a lot of
Speaker:great music over the years. A lot has come out of that town.
Speaker:Yeah. Were you born and raised there? I grew up just south of Detroit
Speaker:in a suburb called Southgate, Michigan. Have always lived
Speaker:here though, in and around. Went to the University of Michigan Ross
Speaker:School of Business, worked in Southfield for several years at an
Speaker:investment banking company. And yeah, this has always been home
Speaker:to me. What's life growing up there like? It's awesome. You know,
Speaker:just really hardworking people, you know, people that are neighborly. Willing
Speaker:to help one another. You know, when we go through hard times, there's always a
Speaker:community to call on that you can circle the wagons around and support one
Speaker:another. And that's definitely ingrained in the culture here.
Speaker:You know, I know the city of Detroit has a pretty long,
Speaker:long and rocky history. You know, it's actually a beautiful history
Speaker:and a lot of good things that have come out of it and really a
Speaker:lot of culture and a lot of, you know, people that are all
Speaker:focused around, you know, building things. The history of
Speaker:Detroit has been automating vehicles for over 100 years.
Speaker:And there's a lot of companies and startup companies
Speaker:and opportunities for people that have been created out of that industry.
Speaker:And again, it's speckled with a rocky history along
Speaker:the way, but there's a revitalization that's going on, attracting
Speaker:new businesses back into this community and really doing some
Speaker:wonderful things. So you studied business
Speaker:university, and is that something that you had your eye on when you went
Speaker:into college, that you really were focused on finance and business? Yes.
Speaker:I think since I was about 12 years old, I have always had an
Speaker:interest in investing and finances and
Speaker:starting businesses. I was that kid in Southgate that had
Speaker:5, 6 lawns that I mowed every single weekend, put that
Speaker:cash in my pocket, save it up, You know, I used to wash
Speaker:cars, paint garages, you name it, just to make some money
Speaker:and save up and save for something that I wanted, which was a
Speaker:Camaro that could just, you know, blow the doors off. And
Speaker:that's where it all started. And then I started investing, you know, I got into
Speaker:the stock market at a young age and, you know, had some good opportunities to
Speaker:make some money and let my money work for me. And that's one way
Speaker:I paid for my first car. What year Camaro? 2000.
Speaker:Okay. Did you have a fondness for the classics as well? I was
Speaker:always like, what was it, these— I think the '69 Camaro. Yeah, I
Speaker:mean, just about every car show, that was always my interest.
Speaker:And, you know, I still have that car. It's sitting in my garage right here.
Speaker:It's got some sentimental value to me. Yeah, there's been a couple
Speaker:times where my wife has wanted me to sell it, but it ain't happening.
Speaker:And also, I mean, obviously for international folks, because I know they listen to
Speaker:the show as well, they may not understand the importance of cars
Speaker:to Detroit and to Motor City and how important
Speaker:it is and how people take their cars and what they drive seriously.
Speaker:There was a period of time that you probably were looked upon or frowned upon
Speaker:if you didn't have a Detroit-made car driving through that city.
Speaker:Yeah, I mean, if you rolled down the street of my neighborhood, just about every
Speaker:other house had a classic car in the garage. Very
Speaker:cool. And so where did you get your work ethic, your investment
Speaker:ethic? Like, where'd that come from? Is that your folks? Yeah, it's a good
Speaker:question. I mean, hindsight's 20/20. It came from a lot of things.
Speaker:Definitely my mom and dad and the way they raised me, just to work hard,
Speaker:have that work ethic. You know, if you want something, you go out and get
Speaker:it. If you don't know how to do something, you go and figure out how,
Speaker:you know, do your homework. And if you're going to do something, do it the
Speaker:best that you possibly can. And that translated to everything in my life, not
Speaker:only business, but sports and, you know, friends and relationships,
Speaker:you know, do it to its fullest potential. That work ethic was
Speaker:ingrained in me. And then, you know, as I matured, I was really
Speaker:passionate about learning a lot of different things and being good at
Speaker:just about everything. You know, it was just a competitive nature in me
Speaker:and I wanted to learn everything. And that really translated nicely
Speaker:into business, you know, because within business and as an
Speaker:entrepreneur, you have to be able to understand a little bit of everything. From
Speaker:the finance side to, you know, sales and marketing to
Speaker:operations, you know, you gotta be technical, have some IT
Speaker:knowledge. There's a lot of components of a business that you need to
Speaker:understand at least something about it, each and every one of them. And that's
Speaker:all of those things. You know, I constantly surround myself with more
Speaker:and more information and just a hunger to learn more all the time.
Speaker:What sports did you play? Basketball, soccer, and baseball
Speaker:primarily. And then I love golf. I like to hunt. I
Speaker:like to fish. I really do a lot of different things and I love
Speaker:every bit of it. Now that I'm older, I've got 4 kids now. They're all
Speaker:into sports and I get to coach them and that's always fun and
Speaker:fascinating. Yeah. And pass on that work ethic as well, I might
Speaker:imagine. Definitely. I'll try and be an example for them.
Speaker:Yeah. So when you got out of school, you were focused on a
Speaker:job in finance and it seems like been doing that for a while. So can
Speaker:you talk a little bit as we move into like Plant Detroit? But I'm just
Speaker:a little bit curious about what that experience was like. And I know that you
Speaker:still do some of that now, so what's it like to be in that world?
Speaker:Yeah, you know, while I was in school, there was, you know, as I kind
Speaker:of think back to even entering the University of Michigan,
Speaker:there was just so much uncertainty at that point in my life, right?
Speaker:Where you don't know what your career is going to look like, you don't know
Speaker:what where you're going to live, who you're going to work for, how it's all
Speaker:going to come together. And the beauty of, you know, being 15
Speaker:years out or so, looking back and seeing, you know, all of the
Speaker:stepping stones, all of the learning opportunities have been
Speaker:amazing. So, you know, in college I was really focused on,
Speaker:you know, taking classes that were focused around finance and in particular
Speaker:around equity markets. Just had a passion early on
Speaker:for investing in stocks and took a lot of classes around that, but also
Speaker:got into the extracurriculars and was involved in
Speaker:what's called the Maize and Blue Fund. It's a student-run fund at the
Speaker:university. Got to, you know, work in small teams to
Speaker:identify stocks and do stock pitches and actually
Speaker:buy, make investments using the student funds. That really
Speaker:was where my passion was, but I needed the job coming
Speaker:out of there and I needed an internship and, You know, going
Speaker:down those paths, I'm looking at, you know, do I move to New York or
Speaker:Chicago? And also my personal life, I had a
Speaker:daughter that I was raising during college. I had some serious
Speaker:family responsibilities to think about. That
Speaker:certainly kicked my butt in gear. And so I ended up
Speaker:finding this company that was absolutely awesome for me. They've
Speaker:rebranded, they're called Stout. It was SRR when I started there
Speaker:and I was an intern and they gave me a ton of
Speaker:responsibility early on. I got to work on mergers
Speaker:and acquisitions across a lot of different industries. I ended up getting
Speaker:a full-time job offer out of my internship and hit the
Speaker:ground running. You know, I was hungry, I was young, energetic, just give me
Speaker:everything I want to learn. And so that was several years of, you
Speaker:know, grinding and long hours and quite honestly not seeing the
Speaker:family for several days or weeks. But it was all
Speaker:necessary in order for me to progress and learn. And I got
Speaker:to travel a little bit. I got to work with the CEOs and
Speaker:CFOs of middle market public companies, large private
Speaker:companies. And I got to see the kind of the whole backend of the
Speaker:corporate world, which was really necessary for me
Speaker:to learn that backend to then make
Speaker:a career transition into private wealth management and
Speaker:running equity portfolios. So I got to
Speaker:take that experience that I got right out of college with really doing a
Speaker:deep dive into company financials and translate a lot of that into
Speaker:the investment opportunities that were available in the public markets. So I
Speaker:started trading an equity portfolio in
Speaker:2014, and since then it's done
Speaker:great. It's been a fantastic market, had some awesome
Speaker:opportunities, and certainly a low interest rate environment's
Speaker:been super helpful for the last decade, but now we're
Speaker:transitioning into a new economic environment and it's a challenge.
Speaker:And I still do that. My portfolio management is still
Speaker:ongoing and it's a challenging environment, but it's still where my
Speaker:passion lies. And Planted Detroit was born out of that.
Speaker:So definitely we'll jump into that. I'm just curious, I'm always
Speaker:grateful for the mentors that I've had along the way, and I'm wondering if it's
Speaker:been the same for you as you were having these And
Speaker:building this company, if there were, you know, relationships and mentors
Speaker:that were instrumental or helpful for you. Yeah, I'm always the type of person
Speaker:that is always looking for resources. So reaching out to my
Speaker:network when I have a gap to fill, and, you know, I have
Speaker:my mentors, you know, within my family, you know, my parents,
Speaker:certainly my sister as well. But, you know, outside of
Speaker:family, it's been, you know, colleagues that I've worked with in the past that are
Speaker:just really, really smart individuals. that are typically older than
Speaker:me and have experiences, you know, that they can look back on.
Speaker:And I'm a big fan of, you know, learning from your elders, you know,
Speaker:talking to the folks that are, you know, 70, 80, 90 years
Speaker:old. That's really where I get a lot of my work ethic
Speaker:and inspiration from. And so I think it's important to
Speaker:recognize that people around you all have different
Speaker:opinions about things, right? And They have opinions that are
Speaker:based on their own personal experiences and their diverse
Speaker:backgrounds. And so we need to leverage that, you know, we need to think, listen,
Speaker:and really absorb, be a sponge and listen to the people
Speaker:around you. And then that's how you can kind of formulate your own
Speaker:opinions or your own, you know, pillars that you're going to live by.
Speaker:It's interesting that you mentioned that and brought that up. I've been conscious of just
Speaker:like how society is hopefully waking up to this
Speaker:concept of— I've heard it described as grandma wisdom and
Speaker:grandpa wisdom, right? Like, I mean, you talk about people who are in their, you
Speaker:know, 60s, 70s, 80s, towards the twilight of their career and
Speaker:their life, and then there's something special about the wisdom that they do hold.
Speaker:And, you know, it's something that was obvious for indigenous cultures, and I think hopefully
Speaker:it's coming back around. And when you think about where we're headed as a society,
Speaker:how the aging population, you know, what's happening with them, how are we taking
Speaker:care of them It's something that's been top of mind because there is a lot
Speaker:of wisdom contained in those folks. And I hope we can
Speaker:do better by them than we have in the past. And I think it's valuable
Speaker:and a helpful reminder. So thanks for bringing that up. Yeah, absolutely. I
Speaker:really do think about my grandparents and all of the things that they've been
Speaker:through. My grandma and grandpa Adamchak, they grew
Speaker:up just outside of Detroit, but long history there. They went through
Speaker:the Great Depression and You know, these were the people that, you know,
Speaker:when I grew up, you know, would laugh because they would reuse their
Speaker:napkins or reuse their plastic forks. And they went
Speaker:through this period of time where, you know, even basic necessities were
Speaker:of concern, you know, food shortages and going through in
Speaker:and out of employment and recessions. But, you know, also
Speaker:still with them, the work ethic was instilled. You know, my grandpa
Speaker:worked at Tiger Stadium on the weekends as a ticket guy
Speaker:and at the post office during the week. He had 9 kids
Speaker:and, you know, struggling to support, but he looked to
Speaker:his community and his family to support him.
Speaker:And he had a brother, my great uncle Joe, who had a grocery store in
Speaker:Southwest Detroit. And he was really like the pillar in his
Speaker:community. You know, people depended on him for their basic needs and their
Speaker:food and their milk and their eggs. And he would
Speaker:offer, you know, my grandpa the opportunity to come to the store and get food
Speaker:for free. when they needed it, right? And really, he didn't just do it for
Speaker:my grandpa, he did it for a lot of people. You know, when people were
Speaker:struggling, you know, he's willing to, you know, all right, you can pay me back
Speaker:when you get it sort of thing. And that sense of community was
Speaker:really important to me because, you know, you have to depend on one
Speaker:another. And, you know, just kind of thinking about what my grandparents went through,
Speaker:they saw a lot. And now we're starting to see it, you know, with our
Speaker:generation and going through this pandemic. And, you know, COVID has just
Speaker:ripped a hole in You know, what we thought was normal life. But what I
Speaker:see, at least in my personal experience with it, is that sense
Speaker:of community, people coming together to help one another out. And
Speaker:I think that's really important. And we really got to build on that as a
Speaker:society. Yeah, it's really interesting. And I
Speaker:didn't plan it this way. But I started looking into researching
Speaker:the topic and the show. And then I started the interviews in March of
Speaker:2020, you know, and just kind of chatted about earlier. Like, I didn't even know
Speaker:if people were ready to have conversations. And I think, you know, there's this
Speaker:mindset of like, you know, life has got to go on and we've got to
Speaker:push through some of these hardships sometimes. And I'm glad like everyone in those
Speaker:early guests, you know, stuck with it. And I think what was
Speaker:interesting is just the realization of how
Speaker:fragile, you know, our supply chains were, our ability to have
Speaker:fresh food locally, food deserts, all these topics which sort of came,
Speaker:you know, were front of mind, and dependency on food from outside sources.
Speaker:And so It's been really interesting to hear the stories and to
Speaker:have people be awakened, forced into this conversation,
Speaker:obviously through COVID, but showing the resiliency of coming
Speaker:out on the other side. And a lot of companies and CEOs
Speaker:really figure out what their teams were made of, what they were made of,
Speaker:and how to get through this in a way. And so we saw a lot
Speaker:of very inspiring leaders step up and help
Speaker:carry their team through this. I'm just wondering, I don't get to talk about it
Speaker:too much, but how that period of time was for you, what
Speaker:challenges you had to go through, and then how you came out through it on
Speaker:the other side. Where do I start? I mean, if I
Speaker:think about April of 2020 when everything shut down,
Speaker:first and foremost, the thought goes to, how do I protect my family?
Speaker:And I'm a family man. I just got to make sure, one, I protect my
Speaker:family. And once I got that security, It was,
Speaker:you know, how can I help my neighbors? How do I help my friends and
Speaker:family around me? And that extends all the way to, you know, the
Speaker:business and the teams and the people and making sure you're
Speaker:there for them, supporting them. And also, you know, again, putting
Speaker:weight on your skill sets that you have. And so for me,
Speaker:that was, you know, finance and investing. So I buckled
Speaker:down, right. And it was a tumultuous time. But
Speaker:being able to continue, you know, my investment business,
Speaker:and really, really actually do well during that period of time, as well
Speaker:as grow the Planted Detroit business. That's something that I started
Speaker:in 2018. But, you know, by
Speaker:2020, it was evidence that this is a really
Speaker:critical business, not only for, you know, for
Speaker:me, but for the people that we're supplying food to.
Speaker:And so, you know, that pandemic moment and the months that
Speaker:followed was really a testament to that business and the team there.
Speaker:And hindsight again is 20/20, but the team at
Speaker:Planet Detroit did a phenomenal job of being
Speaker:able to support one another, buckle down, keep the business
Speaker:operating as a critical infrastructure business. And we kept
Speaker:supplying food to our community all throughout it. And it
Speaker:was a blessing in disguise. It allowed us to expand
Speaker:production. It allowed us to focus on the areas that the business
Speaker:needed to grow into. And what came out of the
Speaker:pandemic for us is evidence that a ready-to-eat
Speaker:salad is something that we can sell in volume and people love
Speaker:it and it's healthy and nutritious. And, you know, that's how the business
Speaker:of ultimately coming out of the pandemic. You know, I guess making
Speaker:lemonade out of lemons when you get it. So we were able to
Speaker:pivot, and ultimately the business and the teams
Speaker:came out better on the other side. Appreciate you sharing that.
Speaker:So rewinding the clock back a little bit, I'm just curious, like,
Speaker:when and how did vertical farming come on your radar? And, you
Speaker:know, talk a little bit about the origin story, those early days of Planet Detroit.
Speaker:Yeah, so again, Looking back at my career and all of the
Speaker:things that were really pointing to what ultimately became Planted
Speaker:Detroit came from a lot of different angles, primarily from
Speaker:my experience with working with corporations up and down the food
Speaker:supply chain. Early on in my career, I got to do some
Speaker:really cool mergers and acquisitions with food distributors,
Speaker:grocery retailers, and also I got to work all the way
Speaker:upstream with the farmers and ag land. And what
Speaker:that presented to me was that some of these
Speaker:companies are really struggling in these low-margin businesses.
Speaker:And I was able to think about the whole food supply chain from really a
Speaker:30,000-foot view and ultimately thinking about the
Speaker:end consumer and what the end consumer wants. We want
Speaker:healthy, safe, and nutritious food, high-quality
Speaker:food. And what we're getting is lower and lower quality
Speaker:food, and that's actually becoming unsafe at times. And
Speaker:at the same time, prices are going up. So we're paying more and more for
Speaker:lower and lower quality. So the economics of that didn't make a
Speaker:whole lot of sense to me. And then thinking about the whole supply chain from
Speaker:the farmer to the distributors to the
Speaker:grocery retailers, and many of them were struggling, you
Speaker:know, all along the way. And that didn't make a whole lot of sense to
Speaker:me. I got to look at farmers' P&Ls. And
Speaker:what I noticed within their cost structure is the rising
Speaker:need and cost of fertilizer. You know, they're dependent on the
Speaker:weather, they're dependent on hitting the yields that they need and hoping that
Speaker:prices stay where they're at or go up. And in
Speaker:order to de-risk that business, they have to pump fertilizer
Speaker:into their soils, they have to, you know, fungicides,
Speaker:insecticides, herbicides to protect their crop. And that
Speaker:to me was kind of the eye-opener of, all right, let's look at
Speaker:some of these fertilizer companies. And so that's what I did. And I
Speaker:think it was 2015, there was Bayer's acquisition of
Speaker:Monsanto. That was kind of an eye-opener for me that
Speaker:once you look at that Monsanto acquisition, those guys were making garbage
Speaker:cans full of money. And that to me was a
Speaker:trigger that that's where a lot of the economics are. you know, the economic
Speaker:profits are going to the fertilizer companies, the chemical companies.
Speaker:And I don't— just personally didn't think it was right. And so
Speaker:that's what ultimately led me to doing research and a
Speaker:deeper dive into alternative growing methods, research in
Speaker:hydroponics, and ultimately vertical farming and the economics
Speaker:around it. And got me to the point where I wanted to invest in the
Speaker:space. I want to start, you know, taking some of my funds and
Speaker:allocating it to the space because I think it's going to take off. But once
Speaker:I got into the weeds of it, a lot of the companies were very immature
Speaker:and very risky investments, even from a venture cap startup
Speaker:phase. And I didn't feel super comfortable with that risk.
Speaker:So after several years of research and finally said, you know, I'm going
Speaker:to start something close to home, something that I can de-risk
Speaker:by being involved in it. And by learning it. So that was my due diligence.
Speaker:And that's how Planet Detroit was born. Build a facility that I can
Speaker:learn, I can collect the data and understand every
Speaker:component of it. And so that's when it started in 2018,
Speaker:moved into an old industrial warehouse in Detroit in
Speaker:August and started building the teams, you know, surrounding
Speaker:myself with people that are different experiences,
Speaker:different backgrounds than me. And now, a lot of those people are still with
Speaker:me today. They are part of my leadership team at Planet Detroit. And there's
Speaker:5 of us together and we brainstorm ideas and we learn from one another.
Speaker:They have plant science backgrounds, microbiology,
Speaker:grocery and marketing, you know, as well as construction
Speaker:and, you know, a lot of different aspects. So
Speaker:that's how it started and it slowly grew over time. And what
Speaker:was really fascinating to me was, some of my initial questions getting
Speaker:into the business was, by growing in an indoor controlled
Speaker:environment under LED lights, what is this food gonna taste
Speaker:like? Yeah. And the team ended up
Speaker:growing 66 different varieties of crops, lettuces,
Speaker:herbs, microgreens, and we got to tap
Speaker:into our culinary community in Detroit, work directly with the
Speaker:chefs. And that was that moment when they tasted it and
Speaker:they were able to change the taste of products and really perfect
Speaker:them that, you know, this is a viable option for growing food in the
Speaker:future. The next question was, can you do it economically?
Speaker:And so that's where I sat for a while, pulling data and picking
Speaker:the brains of my people and really building the model around an
Speaker:income statement for every product that we grow. You know, really
Speaker:building out that formula of time from seed to harvest, all of the
Speaker:inputs, and what is your output. And that's what ultimately
Speaker:we've been doing for the last 4 years. It's trial and error,
Speaker:experimentation, and identifying what you can grow really
Speaker:well. And then, there's a lot of tailwinds with
Speaker:the benefits of growing indoors. What's interesting
Speaker:is that entire background that we talked about earlier in the conversation that you brought
Speaker:to bear in these decisions and this decision-making and how you thought
Speaker:about not only building the team, but also the profitability
Speaker:of these individual crops, which ones were performing best, ensuring that
Speaker:you would have a market, ensuring that you would have a buyer. And it's a
Speaker:lot of things people don't give a lot of thought to, but I think it's
Speaker:important that you were looking at it from all the different aspects of it, how
Speaker:this was going to be successful, and even the experience you had in working with
Speaker:these companies on the finance side and understanding M&A perspective.
Speaker:So it really feels like you were positioned to be in this
Speaker:place to really have a lot of success with this. And I'm
Speaker:sure going into a new industry, as much as you have learned
Speaker:when you were making those deals, there's nothing like having the hands-on experience,
Speaker:the day-to-day experience of building a team. And I'm wondering what that was like as
Speaker:you were moving and developing into this role and what would eventually become the CEO
Speaker:role. Yeah, it's funny when you start a business,
Speaker:and I think this probably goes for a lot of entrepreneurs, You don't
Speaker:run a business, the business runs you. And you have to accept
Speaker:that fact that you got to go with the flow and roll with the punches.
Speaker:You know, I couldn't predict at day one that we would be
Speaker:exactly right where we are now at year 4. The people, the
Speaker:systems, the complexity, no way I could have predicted that.
Speaker:What was important for this type of business, and certainly for your audience in
Speaker:the vertical farming industry, you got to have a long time horizon. You
Speaker:are inventing an industry and there is not
Speaker:a supply chain built underneath you. And so you got to have that
Speaker:patience and that time and that thought process in place from the beginning.
Speaker:You know, developing that team out has been amazing. What's even more
Speaker:fascinating now is those teams have teams. And as the
Speaker:business grows, we've got almost 70 employees now at Planted.
Speaker:That grew from 11 in April of 2020. When you could shout
Speaker:across the table to somebody, to now having to build processes
Speaker:of, you know, proper communication in place in order to inform
Speaker:one another. And yeah, that growth from 11 to over 50, that was
Speaker:a major challenge in order to maintain consistency and
Speaker:in your end product. And, you know, it's definitely something that we
Speaker:look back on and say, wow, that was a crazy 2 years, a lot different
Speaker:than the previous 2. And it's gonna continue to be, you know, over
Speaker:the next 2 years as we grow. in the name of this business is
Speaker:scale. You got to get to scale, but you got to do it in the
Speaker:right ways. What's been the biggest growth for
Speaker:you as a leader, you know, since you've taken over that role?
Speaker:That's a good question. I would say, you know, just by my
Speaker:nature, I tend to be a bit of a humble person. So,
Speaker:you know, being that person that everybody looks to, you know,
Speaker:as a CEO title, As owner of the business,
Speaker:as, you know, that point person. I don't mind that pressure
Speaker:or that stress, right? Like that's being the captain of a sports team.
Speaker:I love that. But really recognizing that
Speaker:you're responsible for everybody. It's not a challenge. It's just
Speaker:something that you got to utilize to motivate you. It's way bigger than
Speaker:yourself and the business and, and everything you're working
Speaker:towards for growth, for profitability, for sales, for scale. You
Speaker:know, all of that is great and important, but at the end of the day,
Speaker:it's the people that matter and they're looking to you. They're relying on you
Speaker:to make the right decisions when the time is right. And, you know, it's
Speaker:something I definitely, I just think about it all the time. You know, that's what
Speaker:gets me out of bed in the morning and I love every aspect of it.
Speaker:For the listener, for the folks who may not be familiar with Planted Detroit, what,
Speaker:what was the business model and who was the client or the ideal
Speaker:customer and what were the offerings and how has that shifted to present day?
Speaker:Yeah, so, you know, Planted Detroit from a high level, it's a vertical
Speaker:hydroponic farm and on the east side of Detroit, we've got a
Speaker:20,000 square foot warehouse. It really started though in
Speaker:about 10% of that as R&D, you know, 2,500
Speaker:square feet, we were growing a bunch of different crops at low volume and
Speaker:selling to the restaurants, you know, working with the chefs directly in order to
Speaker:perfect the taste profile that quickly transformed
Speaker:into the design of the entire
Speaker:20,000-square-foot facility to incorporate everything
Speaker:from automation, you know, more advanced machinery and equipment,
Speaker:to, you know, the food safety aspect of our operation, you
Speaker:know, selecting, you know, food-safe materials, having food-safe
Speaker:processes in place. All of that was really necessary
Speaker:to develop that strategy early on when you're at small scale
Speaker:before you get to that 20,000-square-foot level. So
Speaker:we built that out and that allowed us to expand our
Speaker:volumes significantly. We incorporated automation
Speaker:into many components of the growing operation. We
Speaker:developed the salad products that are our primary revenue
Speaker:stream right now. And that was developed, I believe, in
Speaker:November of 2019. We kind of put together our first prototype
Speaker:salad. And as the pandemic hit and
Speaker:our restaurants closed their doors and were forced to, That
Speaker:business dried up immediately and we were able to pivot
Speaker:and sell our ready-to-eat salads direct to consumer. And then
Speaker:also on grocery store shelves and then started developing partnerships
Speaker:with, you know, Henry Ford Health Systems and got into the hospitals
Speaker:and, you know, really just started the snowball that really went,
Speaker:you know, on its own downhill from there. And ever since then,
Speaker:you know, we continue to build new products, having new
Speaker:taste profiles. new ingredients, new dressings, and
Speaker:really tackling that direct-to-consumer, farm-to-fork
Speaker:concept where people can go online and buy right from
Speaker:plantedetroit.com, and we're going to deliver it right to your door,
Speaker:right to your office. And you can even set up a subscription and
Speaker:it'll show up at your doorstep whenever you want it. Did you ever thought you'd
Speaker:be in the salad business 10 years ago? No,
Speaker:not to be totally honest with you. I didn't even really like eating
Speaker:vegetables. Honestly, wasn't
Speaker:a salad person. Now I eat a salad almost every day. You
Speaker:taste great. I mean, it's an amazing product. And that was one of the
Speaker:things as an investor in a company, you gotta love the product. And
Speaker:that's really grown, you know, organically into my life
Speaker:where people just, you know, they're constantly talking to me about salad in the
Speaker:business and, you know, and I love talking about it, but it's in every
Speaker:conversation. It seems like. That's great. So what's the future hold?
Speaker:You know, obviously, I'm sure you've got stuff on the roadmap. You know, it's probably
Speaker:given what's happened the past couple of years, it doesn't make sense to look out
Speaker:past 6 months or a year, but, you know, what do you have in the
Speaker:works and where do you see the opportunities for Planted Detroit? Yeah.
Speaker:So that roadmap has become clearer and clearer over time.
Speaker:As I said, I couldn't have predicted where we are now 4 years ago,
Speaker:but taking all of those learnings and Everything that we've
Speaker:done and now apply it to a 5 to 10 year
Speaker:plan is really exciting. We're laser focused on
Speaker:our market, the Detroit market, Southeast Michigan.
Speaker:And, you know, our facility is ramping up. You know,
Speaker:we're constantly scaling into our sales with production.
Speaker:We do a bit of just-in-time manufacturing process.
Speaker:And so that facility is still ramping up. to its full
Speaker:production capacity. In the meantime, we're building a second facility
Speaker:right next door. That facility is gonna be another 9,000
Speaker:square feet of production. Different technology investments there in
Speaker:terms of some automation around irrigation and fertigation,
Speaker:environmental controls, and all of those components, but also
Speaker:geared towards expanding our product category. So we're
Speaker:pretty excited about being able to supply edible flowers
Speaker:to our pastry chefs and our restaurant customers. As well as
Speaker:introduce those products to the everyday consumer through our
Speaker:ready-to-eat salads. Those are the things that are currently in the
Speaker:works. And then we are raising capital for the first time,
Speaker:going to outside investors to build a couple of larger
Speaker:facilities that are going to be focused on the Detroit area.
Speaker:And so that's the slow and steady scale that I'm a
Speaker:huge proponent of. A lot of people ask me about, you know, when
Speaker:is You know, Planted Chicago or you name it, coming.
Speaker:Planted Minneapolis. That's a why in our
Speaker:journey that we'll take when we get there, you know? Yeah. Our journey right now
Speaker:is Detroit. We're going to build the best, you know, most
Speaker:food-safe, most highly productive
Speaker:automated facilities with just the best products coming out of them.
Speaker:That's what we're laser-focused on. And we've got a great market here. You
Speaker:know, we haven't really spent a whole lot of money at all on
Speaker:marketing. And so that's a new challenge for us,
Speaker:but it's exciting because that's going to drive growth for us on the top line.
Speaker:Once we start telling the people, you know, in the world what we're doing, we've
Speaker:got 4 years under our belts where we've learned a lot, but now
Speaker:we've got a fantastic product that we're ready to sell, you know,
Speaker:just really to anybody and anybody that likes salad in Detroit.
Speaker:Or even if you think you don't, you know, you got a lot to learn.
Speaker:Great point. If I was converted, so you be too.
Speaker:What's a tough question you've had to ask yourself recently? I would say if I
Speaker:think about, you know, when I wake up in the morning, what do I ask
Speaker:myself? It's a simple question. What are you going to do today? You know, as
Speaker:an entrepreneur, there's a million things that you need to do. You have to
Speaker:prioritize. I think it's a component of
Speaker:What are you going to do with your time? And again, I'm a humble person,
Speaker:so I'm not the type that's going to say, you know, my time's more valuable
Speaker:than yours. It's simply time is valuable. It's valuable to
Speaker:everybody. It's the one thing that, you know, Warren Buffett says
Speaker:that he can't buy. You can't buy time. And so I
Speaker:cherish that. I cherish my time. I think about what am I going to do
Speaker:with it? I think about my family. I think about my businesses. And I
Speaker:think about Planted Detroit specifically, you know, it's a huge time
Speaker:component. It's a huge investment, but it has so much
Speaker:opportunity. And it's something that I think for me
Speaker:personally is a major personal achievement to be able to
Speaker:build and create something new that has an impact on people's
Speaker:lives. It really checks all of the boxes in terms of,
Speaker:you know, environmental sustainability. Shortening the
Speaker:food supply chain, bringing good-paying
Speaker:jobs to potentially impoverished areas.
Speaker:It can solve some of the food insecurity issues that we're experiencing.
Speaker:It checks all the boxes. And to me, with my background in
Speaker:finance, and I think about trading stocks
Speaker:or doing the valuation work that I used to do, I wasn't
Speaker:creating any real value. They're not valued to me.
Speaker:And when you can build something that produces food at a
Speaker:rapid rate, it's pretty fascinating. That's something
Speaker:that I can wrap my head around and really get behind. So that's probably the
Speaker:most challenging question is, hey, what are you going to do? You know, what are
Speaker:you going to do with your time? My answer is I'm going to
Speaker:cherish every minute of it. And I'm going to apply my skill
Speaker:sets to what I think can bring the most value to people. That makes sense.
Speaker:So given the audience of this show, it's your peers, your colleagues in this space,
Speaker:I always like to leave a couple of minutes towards the end if you have
Speaker:an ask or if you have something, you know, you want to say or
Speaker:anything for the folks in this industry. You know, it's such a new industry and
Speaker:I think we're all learning from each other. So I'd like to just give you
Speaker:a couple minutes for anything that comes to mind. I appreciate that.
Speaker:You know, it is, um, at times it feels like you are inventing
Speaker:an industry. And that's a struggle. You know, I really think that
Speaker:there's many of us trying to do, you know, similar things.
Speaker:And as you just mentioned, you have to learn from one another. I
Speaker:think that's something that's going to be necessary over the next couple of years
Speaker:is providing a platform where we can share information, share
Speaker:ideas, share, you know, whatever it might be with one another.
Speaker:The pie is pretty big in terms of market size. And
Speaker:a lot of us are pretty small still. So really putting our heads
Speaker:together to think about, you know, what are you doing that's maybe better
Speaker:than what we're doing? You know, maybe you're growing something just a little
Speaker:bit faster or a little bit better than us. That's something that's of value.
Speaker:And we got to figure out how to build a table where we can all
Speaker:sit around it and talk about those things. And also do it in a
Speaker:way that's, you know, it makes business sense. If you've got
Speaker:the best technology that can grow X, Y, and Z crop, then Man,
Speaker:I'd love to license that from you. If you figured out some sort of recipe,
Speaker:a secret sauce, I'd like to license that from you. We certainly
Speaker:are working every day to create the best possible,
Speaker:most efficient processes. I'm sure we're onto a few things,
Speaker:but I would love for us and other vertical
Speaker:farms to grow bigger and faster sooner so
Speaker:that the supply chain underneath us can build as well. We're
Speaker:starting to see components of that. We're starting to see some automation and
Speaker:technology providers. We've definitely seen it on the LED lighting
Speaker:side with the investment and blowup of the cannabis industry. You
Speaker:know, the economics are getting better and better for our industry, but we need,
Speaker:just like the automotive industry in Detroit, they built tier 1, tier 2, tier
Speaker:3 suppliers. We need that from media companies, from trade
Speaker:companies, from technology providers, from software providers. Yeah.
Speaker:And I feel like we're having to create a lot of that in-house
Speaker:ourselves, which at times can become frustrating to me, at least
Speaker:personally coming into this industry. And I think considering where
Speaker:you're from and considering the automotive industry, it's a great
Speaker:model when you think about all the different ways the partners work with each
Speaker:other and support each other. And everyone's focused on their specialties. And
Speaker:when everyone is aiming for the bigger picture of the growth of the
Speaker:industry is where you see a lot of the innovation happen. And I think To
Speaker:your point, I'm glad you brought that up because it's important to think about the
Speaker:rising tide lifting all boats metaphor and just how we are
Speaker:still new. And there is a tendency sometimes to kind of hone in and
Speaker:sort of like secret sauce and like, I'm doing something that's
Speaker:super special. But I think there is some opportunity. And I think maybe by virtue
Speaker:of these conversations or maybe just kind of these connections, we can think
Speaker:about opportunities to facilitate some type of coming to the table and
Speaker:just sharing best ideas, best practices. We may
Speaker:walk away still with everyone keeping everything under wraps, but I think, you know,
Speaker:there's no harm in trying to see, you know, where there's opportunities and where there's
Speaker:people that are looking to, you know, think more expansively for where
Speaker:we want this industry to go. Yeah. You know what? This podcast is
Speaker:one element of it, right? Getting information out. That's really
Speaker:important. And I don't think was really necessarily available several years
Speaker:ago. The academic world is also pushing along. You know, there's some great
Speaker:groups that we're a part of that are starting to provide that
Speaker:medium for sharing information. You know, there's industry groups that are
Speaker:starting to form. It's great to see. But my background comes from M&A.
Speaker:And I do have a prediction that at some point in the
Speaker:next 8 years, you know, a couple of these farms
Speaker:need to come together under one umbrella, and really formulate
Speaker:that table of bringing all this know-how to the table. And
Speaker:let's make the biggest and best, you know, food producing
Speaker:company possible. Very inspiring, Tom. Thank you
Speaker:for your time today. Thank you for sharing your origin
Speaker:story. It's very inspiring to see how, like, you know, and your
Speaker:humility comes through in this conversation, but it's also a testament
Speaker:to, you know, the way you were raised and your background. And
Speaker:we talked about, like, the inspiration from your grandparents, and that's clear
Speaker:in terms of, like, how you've been able to build your career and then figuring
Speaker:out what's important for you and what type of legacy you want to leave and
Speaker:how important family is to you. So I think it's just a really inspiring story.
Speaker:I appreciate you sharing it. It's really one of those things that gets
Speaker:people inspired about the possibilities of what we can do if we just stay focused
Speaker:and we share common values. Well, I appreciate it. I appreciate you having
Speaker:me. I hope that you find your way to Detroit at some point.
Speaker:I would love to get you a salad. And certainly for
Speaker:anybody that's thinking about or traveling to or
Speaker:connected within this Detroit community, You know, reach out to us.
Speaker:We're an open book. We're transparent. We're a great team. And we're
Speaker:really trying to be a good neighbor to our other businesses. We partner a
Speaker:lot with, you know, small businesses, medium-sized businesses,
Speaker:again, trying to be a good neighbor and facilitate growth for one another.
Speaker:And then certainly if you're a salad lover, you know, go on
Speaker:plantedetroit.com and try us out. From here on
Speaker:out, it's going to be a whirlwind. And I think what you're going to see
Speaker:is some of the best products coming out of Planet Detroit. I can
Speaker:totally see it happen. I'll definitely take you up on that. We're not too far
Speaker:from Minneapolis, so it shouldn't be too far to get over there. I think
Speaker:even make a drive over there. That's it. There may
Speaker:be a day where you might be able to get it shipped to you over
Speaker:there in Minneapolis, but I really am trying to avoid doing
Speaker:that. Yeah, trying defeats the purpose of having everything local, but
Speaker:we'll have to work on Planet Minneapolis and see how that comes around.
Speaker:I'm a big fan of it. So Planet Detroit for the website. Anywhere
Speaker:else you want to send folks to connect with you or the company? Yeah, we
Speaker:have some great partnerships with Plum Market in the Detroit area.
Speaker:Also out in Ann Arbor, you can find our products at Henry Ford Health
Speaker:Systems and the hospitals. So you can try us out there. We're at
Speaker:probably your local restaurant, either listed there on the menu or
Speaker:maybe a component of their salads
Speaker:or a microgreen or herb on top. So keep an eye out
Speaker:for that. And, you know, look for us doing big things for the city.
Speaker:Really excited about what we have in the works here. And hopefully in not too
Speaker:long of time, we can come back on this and talk about, you know, that
Speaker:next set of facilities. Yeah, that'd be great. I appreciate you
Speaker:sharing your story. Thanks again, Tom. Appreciate it. Thanks again to Tom for coming on
Speaker:the show and spending an hour of his time. I'll say it every episode, it's
Speaker:not something I take for granted. And I'm really grateful for him for sharing his
Speaker:story. With you. As always, full show notes available at
Speaker:verticalfarmingpodcast.com. We take a lot of time and pride in putting together
Speaker:a complete summary, timestamped takeaways, any resources
Speaker:mentioned in the show, and a couple of quotes which past listeners have mentioned
Speaker:they share on social and have been helpful for them as well to spread the
Speaker:word. So if you feel the urge to do that, please do so and make
Speaker:sure you tag us @verticalfarmpod on all the socials. Grateful to be
Speaker:working again with our Season 7 title sponsor, Cultivated. If you are looking into
Speaker:a vertical farm and don't know where to start or which technology would suit your
Speaker:needs, reach out to them today. Best of all, their service is free because they
Speaker:work on behalf of their partners. Learn more at cultivated.com, and
Speaker:that's spelled C-U-L-T-I-V-A-T-D.com. Just leave out that
Speaker:last E. Podcast production and marketing provided by Fullcast. Learn
Speaker:more at fullcast.co if a podcast is right for you.
Speaker:And as a reminder, if you're enjoying this show, please leave us a rating and
Speaker:a review. at ratethispodcast.com/vfp.
Speaker:I'd be more than excited to read those out on a future episode. Tune in
Speaker:next week for another conversation with a fascinating leader from the world of vertical farming,
Speaker:Isaac Burzin. It's our first trip out to Iceland, of
Speaker:all places. He is the CEO of VaxaLife, and this is a
Speaker:really fascinating and fun conversation about the work they're doing in vertical farming.
Speaker:So please make sure you tune into that. Until we meet again, here's to
Speaker:your health. Cheers. Thanks for listening. To read the full show notes for this
Speaker:episode, which includes any links mentioned in the episode, as well as
Speaker:a full show transcription, visit
Speaker:verticalfarmingpodcast.com. There, you can sign
Speaker:up for our email list to be notified when new episodes are published.
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