Mr. Datcher continued, “While the challenges in the California market remain, including low bulk wholesale flower and oil pricing, high taxes and persisting illicit market, we have successfully begun to pivot our focus to our higher margin direct to consumer revenue, doubling DTC revenue as a percentage of sales between the first and fourth quarters. Today more than ever, we believe we are well positioned to win by leveraging our high-quality indoor grown cannabis, strong consumer brands and direct retail insights to innovate, create, and launch new products directly into the market that today’s consumers demand.”
Mr. Datcher added, “With our consumer-first approach, state-wide DTC retail footprint, robust branded products portfolio, and focus on higher value revenue streams, our priority for the remainder of the year will be preserving our strong balance sheet by reducing our cash burn while utilizing our DTC focus to drive improved margin to generate long-term value for our shareholders. Given our progress in 2021 and subject to any opportunistic partnership or acquisition transactions, we have set a goal to maintain a minimum cash balance of approximately $100 million at 2022 year end, sufficient to sustain our business for a minimum of three years, and pivot to generating positive cash flow in fiscal year 2023.”
Mr. Datcher concluded, “I am proud of our commitment to social equity initiatives and thrilled with the initial success of our partners. I look forward to empowering more entrepreneurs of color, who continue to be disproportionately impacted by current cannabis policies, while bringing our customers high-quality products, experiences, and culturally relevant brands. With the investments we made in 2021, we are ready to execute on this mission in 2022.”
Leadership Team Appointments and Board Changes
The Company further announced today the appointments of Tanisha Robinson as Chief Transformation Officer and Esther Song as Chief Marketing Officer. Additionally, the Company announced that Troy Datcher, Chief Executive Officer of The Parent Company, will be proposed as a director nominee to stand for election to the Board of Directors as Carol Bartz and Jeffry Allen have advised their intention to retire from the Board at the Company’s upcoming 2022 Annual meeting.
Mr. Datcher commented, “I am thrilled to officially welcome Tanisha and Esther to the team. We are proactively building a solid foundation for long term success, and I look forward to leveraging Tanisha and Esther’s extensive industry expertise to further mature and scale our organization. I’m confident we have assembled the right combination of high-quality products, compelling consumer brands, and leadership team to achieve our goals.
Ms. Robinson founded W*nder (pronounced “Wonder”), a company focused on creating accessible, reliable, intuitive cannabis and plant-based beverages to enhance and improve how consumers experience the world. Prior to her role at W*nder, she worked as Chief Disruption Officer of BrewDog globally, and was the first CEO of BrewDog USA, leading the company from its initial startup phase to becoming one of the largest and fastest growing craft breweries in the United States. In addition to her experience at W*nder and BrewDog, Ms. Robinson has founded several successful companies such as Print Syndicate, a design, technology, and marketing company, and TicketFire, a mobile app that allows consumers to use, transfer and sell paper tickets by converting them to a mobile format. Robinson also served in the US Army as an Arabic linguist. Her studies in Arabic at Ohio State University provided her the opportunity to work on women’s and human rights in Damascus, Syria, for two years. She is a featured international speaker on entrepreneurship, conscious capitalism, innovation, disruption and leadership and serves on the board of The Columbus College of Art and Design (“CCAD”) and Mount Carmel Health System.
