Grower Stories #99: Greg Warme

Greg Warme, Owner of Bondi Farms Talks About His Brand, Products, Goals, and Predictions About the Cannabis Market for the Future

Greg Warme, owner of Bondi Farms, shared quite a few interesting stories in the interview with AskGrowers. We got the chance to learn more about the company's background, the idea behind it, the products and hear some valuable advice for those interested in practicing sustainability in the cannabis market. #growerstories

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Tia (AskGrowers) : How did you start Bondi Farms? Tell us your origin story!

Greg Warme : So, to be honest, I did not know much about cannabis when I started this business. I had only tried it once or twice in college. When Washington decided to legalize cannabis, I started looking into the idea of a cannabis business. I worked in the food industry for 15 years: Frito-Lay, a Pepsi distributor, and a big meat distributor. So I figured my background would help me start a business in this industry.

I always wanted my own business, and this was my opportunity. I have two other business partners who also were very unfamiliar with the industry. They each have their own other businesses, so they left everything up to me to run this business. Running a business today was something I was very familiar with. Learning and growing the plant was entirely new for me. I am not a grower, but I had to find good people who could bring their expertise and experience growing and convert them into a commercial business. My most significant direct impact on growing was getting the right people, the right equipment, and setting up a consistent process.

I also needed growers that understood I wanted consistency in our products. You learn from working with big food companies that you need consistency if you're going to be around for the long run. So I used my business background to find the right team of people and growers. We started small and have slowly grown over seven years.

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Tia : Why do you think your brand is unique and better than a bunch of others on the market?

Greg : Our goal has always been to provide a high-quality, consistent product at a fair price. It sounds simple, but it is more complicated than you might think. We strive to have the same quality of the product as any other higher-end product, but more affordable. I believe this has allowed us to get a strong following of consumers in our marketplace.

All our flower rooms are the same size, and we don't make lots of changes internally, which helps with our consistency. I love it when our store partners tell us how consistent our product is. It is not easy, and we work hard to be consistent.

We also only focus on flowers and pre-rolls, which helps keep our focus on the plants themselves. We also use beneficial insects in our flower rooms so we can have pesticide-free products. We love using mother nature to help us grow.

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Tia : What advice do you have for someone interested in practicing sustainability in the cannabis industry?

Greg : It is a tricky business. It has been a much more complex industry than we ever imagined. There is so much competition in Washington. You have to provide a good quality product as well as keep your cost and expenses under control. We have also been in the process of converting all our lights over to Gavita LEDs. We find we have happier plants and it helps lower our electricity bill which is good for the environment.

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Tia : What was the first strain you've tried? Did you like it?

Greg : I tried our Super Silver Lemon Haze. It is our most popular strain. I rarely smoke, so it did not have a significant impact on me.

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Tia : Where should people keep weed to make it fresh and up to use?

Greg : Keep it in a cool dark place. Also, a glass jar is the best. Sunlight tends to dry the product out.

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Tia : What's your consumption routine? What are the top three products that you're using?

Greg : As I mentioned, I rarely smoke. So you might ask how I can own or run a cannabis farm. It requires a lot of learning and listening to what our consumers say and do. I listen to and ask lots of questions of the budtenders in the stores. I listen to buyers and store owners. I absorb as much information as I can get. Then we follow up with it. We grow and sell what our consumers want.

Our top 3 strains are Super Silver Lemon Haze and Vortex. They are both very good Sativas, and there are not many good Sativas in our marketplace. Our top Indica is our Cherry Do-Si-Do. It has excellent jar appeal, and it has that nice Indica effect people are looking for in an Indica.

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Tia : If you could smoke with anyone in this world, who would that be and why?

Greg : [tooltip title="Elon Reeve Musk" content="Billionaire entrepreneur, known as co-founder, investor and CEO of Tesla, SpaceX and Neuralink."]Elon Musk[/tooltip]. He is prominent in the business world, but he is also the lead in cutting-edge technology. There are not many people in the business world who are open about smoking weed.

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Tia : Are there any cannabis brands in your state you appreciate and follow? Name them.

Greg : Phat Panda is the biggest in our state. I appreciate they have great marketing and are very business smart. So I appreciate how successful they are. Marketing also is probably one area where we could improve.

There are lots of excellent cannabis farms in Washington. I mostly appreciate seeing the farms that started about the same time as us around 6/7 years ago and are still in business. I know it is not easy in this state and industry, so I appreciate still seeing them around because I know they have good products and have worked very hard to last this long. The variety of farms and competition helps create good products for the consumers in Washington. Variety is the spice of life.

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Tia : What do you think the next five years look like for the cannabis industry in the US and globally?

Greg : As the industry keeps growing, I think you will see large companies keep getting bigger, but I also believe you will see lots of smaller farms like us continue to succeed. Consumers like variety and small companies will hold the array and options open to the consumers. I think you will continue to see lots of small farms similar to the microbrew industry even as the big companies get bigger and bigger.

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You can follow Bondi Farms at:

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Thank you so much, Bondi Farms team, for taking the time to do the interview. To learn more about them, head on over to their website.