This article is brought to you by Franny’s Farmacy, providing entrepreneurs with the tools to start and grow their own CBD business.*
Nestled on a sprawling North Carolina farm, Jeff and Franny Tacy have carved out their own little piece of heaven. The farm receives over 10,000 visitors a year, a result of Jeff’s entrepreneurialism and Franny’s love for agriculture. Away from the hemp, sheep and the chickens, the couple’s other farm-based business venture, Franny’s Farmacy, is re-thinking what it really means to own a CBD business and inviting potential business owners to join in on their adventure.
Franny’s green thumb has already made an impact on North Carolina. As the first woman to grow hemp in the state in over 75 years, she’s in the state history books as a pioneer. Once she started growing, it was only a matter of time before the idea of Franny’s Farmacy started growing too.
(Courtesy of Franny’s Farmacy)
Brand Expansion via Vertical Integration
“I love being a grower and learning everything I can about farming. It wasn’t until the hemp was in the ground that Jeff asked what I was going to do with all of it, and we realized we had something to build on that could reach outside of the farm and outside of North Carolina,” Franny says.
The Tacy’s researched what it would take to begin selling hemp-based CBD and started their own dispensary. It didn’t take long for their business acumen and can-do attitudes to kick in and take the idea to another level.
“When we started with our first dispensary, we saw that a lot of supply vendors were unreliable. We weren’t able to properly develop products or grow on our own terms, so we put the wheels in motion to be able to own and operate our own vertically-integrated business,” says Jeff. “The oil is extracted and processed here, and we manufacture more than 50 branded products that we ship all over the US for free.”
(Courtesy of Franny’s Farmacy)
Cannabis Industry Ownership Opportunities
After establishing themselves in the well-saturated CBD space, Jeff and Franny knew they had to keep the momentum going.
“Franny and I are grassroots people, and we know we need our community. That’s what lead us to begin fundraising inside our community of support, rather than automatically go the private investment route,” Jeff says. “It gives people the chance to participate as we build this business in an industry where it can be hard to get your foot in the door. If we have the knowledge about what it takes to make it, why wouldn’t we invite other people to join us now that we’ve gotten past some of the obstacles?”
Along with offerings of Franny’s Farmacy swag and behind the scenes tours of their CBD operation, the Franny’s StartEngine* provides the chance to invest in the success of the business. It makes each donor a shareholder, radicalizing the concept of ownership in an industry that sometimes doles it out very sparingly.
“We grow ethically, and we want our business to do the same thing. That’s from bringing in farmers to bringing in the money we need to scale. It can go way beyond what people think,” Franny said. “It started as people coming to the farm wanting to know how they could help. Now, it’s publicly offered cannabis stock.”
(Courtesy of Franny’s Farmacy)
The Franny’s Farmacy Franchise
As if they haven’t done enough to turn the cannabis industry upside down, Franny’s Farmacy offers applicants the chance to join the family business by opening a CBD shop of their very own. Franny’s franchisees reap what that Tacy’s have sown, including a thorough onboarding package to help their new business get started on the right foot.
Once a franchisee is approved, Jeff and Franny provide them with a sales rep that serves as their direct contact for supplies from the Franny’s distribution center. They also help the new owners find a location and prime them with brand and marketing training.
“With the direct connection to our distribution center, individual franchise owners don’t have to worry about sourcing their products and finding dependable vendors,” Jeff says. “We also help in areas where there’s often a lot of red tape. We were forced to find answers when credit card vendors won’t work with us, when we were told that we have to redo our website and when we had to get more comprehensive insurance. Now that we’re on the other side of doing it for the first time, we make it so that our franchise owners have turnkey onboarding with more help and less risk.”
No matter how you turn it, Franny and Jeff are champions of hemp-based CBD and honest cannabis culture.
“We want people to come to the farm, connect with the plants, get their hands in the dirt, and feel like they are part of the family,” Jeff says. “We’re proud of our farm, our business, and our transparency and we’re happy to eliminate the guesswork for anyone that wants to own a business selling quality, hemp-based CBD.”
