Most of us will be glad to usher 2020 out the door. With a global pandemic, lockdowns, an economic collapse, and natural disasters, it's a year that probably won't be missed. But some good things did happen here at Yaupon Brothers that we want to share with you.
The first thing I want to say is THANK YOU to all of you who have supported us along the way. We now have tens of thousands of customers and you are what keeps us going. Despite the pandemic, we managed to grow more than 200% over last year-thanks to you! Here's some of the other great stuff that happened:
Charitable Giving:
With the roll out of our charitable tea program, we were able to give more to non-profits. Year-to-date, (not including December 2020), we have donated $5,832 to non-profit groups. This number will go up when we make December's donations. Here's the breakdown:
Feeding Florida/Feeding America: $2,185.00
NATIFS: $1,527.00
SaveLocal NSB: $830.00
Oceans of Hope Foundation: $690.00
Florida Native Plant Society: $420.00
Community Greening: $180.00
We donate half of the sales value of our charitable teas to these non-profits. If you'd like to check those teas out, please click here.
We hope you will support these non-profits by making a donation. You can click on their links to jump to their page.
Yaupon Leaf Production:
We grew by leafs and bounds in 2020! Over 5,603 lbs. of Yaupon leaves were processed into products that were sold directly to customers, plus additional amounts used for research & development and to supply bulk customers. This reflects an increase in production of over 100%.
We're Building a new Factory!
In October, ground was broken on our new 8,000 sq. ft. facility at 504 Pullman Rd, in Edgewater, FL. The new factory will be open for tours, and will offer a retail shop and cafe. We are so excited to open our doors to the public in 2021! As always, our genius co-founder, Mark Steele, is behind the controls and overseeing our factory's design and construction.
Construction at our new factory site in Edgewater, FL.
We welcomed Shelly to the team:
Back in April, we were joined full-time by our new COO and partner, Shelly Steele. Shelly brings decades of experience from corporate America, including tenures at UBS, EY, and most recently, Charles Schwab. You can read about Shelly here.
We welcomed Ty to the team!
Ty Strode, President of Agristarts, Inc., became a partner here at Yaupon Brothers. Ty is well-respected in the nursery and ag industries, and has years of experience in plant propagation for new and established crops. All of our trees are propagated at Agristarts, and we love them!
Over 10,000 Yaupon trees propagated:
2020 has been an exciting year for Yaupon propagation! We moved all propagation to tissue culture, which can greatly increase our production. Agristarts opened a brand-new 10,000 sq. ft. tissue culture lab, where all of our trees originate!
We got an award!
The Specialty Food Association awarded our CEO the 2021 Leadership Award for Citizenship. You can read about it here.
Delta Rising:
We started a new partnership with our friends at the Delta Arts District in Clarksdale, MS, and together we planted an amazing Yaupon maze/farm, made up of 1,500 Yaupon trees in the shape of a ceremonial Yaupon cup. It's A-MAZE-ING! Look for more details soon about D-A-D and all the cool things going on in the Mississippi Delta.
That's a wrap, 2020! We are looking forward to a brighter 2021 and lots of great things are going to happen! Thank you all for your support. We LOVE you, and Happy New Year!
~Bryon