Grower Stories #38: Alex Herrera

Alex Herrera, Founder of Palm Organix, Talks Past, Present and Future of the CBD Industry and More

We chat with Alex Herrera, a founder of Palm Organix, about their top-quality CBD products, getting started in the CBD industry, and the future of the brand. Check it out!

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Tia (AskGrowers) : How did you start the Palm Organix brand? Were there any difficulties in getting the brand off the ground?

 

Alex Herrera : In the summer of 2018, I was vetting all types of investment opportunities and came across CBD for the first time. After considerable due diligence on the CBD industry, in particular the 2018 Farm Bill, I thought the odds were that the U.S. Senate would Federally legalize CBD before Marijuana. As everyone in the cannabis industry knows, the 2018 Farm Bill passed and today CBD is considered to be a “wonder supplement” by many people. Additionally, CBD is non-psychoactive, and the CBD market is projected to grow to be a $20 billion industry by 2023. For these reasons, I knew CBD was an industry I wanted to be involved in from a business perspective, but I also was amazed at CBD’s ability to positively impact people's health and wellness. Having decided to move forward in the CBD industry, I met with many existing CBD brands but I was not being able to find a suitable CBD brand to invest in that met my level of quality products, a strong management team and world-class customer service. With a little encouragement from my wife and business partner Karen, we launched Palm Organix™ in October of 2018.

The team at Palm Organix™ spent considerable time and made our number one priority sourcing the highest quality broad-spectrum CBD products in the marketplace, and to this day, we are thrilled with the quality of our line of CBD products. However, going to market proved much more difficult than expected. With the passing of the 2018 Farm Bill in December of 2018, by January of 2019, there were literally thousands of brands flooding the marketplace. Differentiating Palm Organix™ from both high-quality and low-quality CBD brands and products, vetting numerous marketing teams, the lack of merchant processing options and fighting to be found on the internet amongst thousands of competitors all proved extremely challenging. Fortunately, we quickly pivoted and Palm Organix™ opened up a retail location at the 7th largest mall in the country, which enabled us to establish a strong presence in the NYC Tri-State area. The steady stream of retail customers entering our store, coupled with the ability to educate them on CBD in person, created a core following of loyal customers that enabled us financially to continue to build our online presence which today is the strongest revenue driver of our business.

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Tia : What is the ultimate goal of the company?

 

Alex : Our ultimate goal is to provide the highest quality, THC-Free (0.0%) CBD products designed to enhance our customer’s health and wellness goals at an attractive price point. We strive to accomplish this each and every day while simultaneously delivering white glove customer service including, free same-day shipping via USPS First Class Mail, and a 30-day money-back guarantee.

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Tia : Tell us more about your products. Are they all hypo-allergenic?

 

Alex : Palm Organix™ sells CBD Tinctures, Softgels, Topicals, Drinks, and an entire CBD Pet Line. Our CBD products are sourced from the finest phytocannabinoid-rich (PCR) hemp plants available in the United States. PCR hemp is considered to be the finest hemp available on the planet and is superior to European and Asian Hemp, which is known to be inconsistent in both CBD potency and THC levels. All of our products are vigorously lab-tested, including third-party lab testing. Additionally, our extremely popular CBD softgels use nanoemulsion technology for high absorption. We offer our CBD Softgels in three blends, curcumin for joint and mobility health, melatonin for sleep, and one with dried yeast fermentate to boost immunity.

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Tia : What’s your current production volume?

 

Alex : Palm Organix™ is a privately held company therefore we do not disclose financials, however we have been fortunate that our business has grown exponentially month over month and quarter over quarter since we launched in 2018. Palm Organix™ is a national brand, we sell to all fifty U.S. States, we wholesale to retailers and practitioners, we white label our products to those looking for their own private label, and we also have a handful of national retail accounts.

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Tia : Do you think one can have a thriving career/business/personal life and consume cannabis regularly? There are still so many who only believe cannabis should be used for medical purposes. What are the benefits of recreational use?

 

Alex : Considering I am on the CBD side of the Cannabis industry, which must contain less than .3% THC and is nonpsychoactive, I wholeheartedly agree that people can have a thriving career, business and personal life consuming CBD regularly. In fact, I would go further and state that not only can CBD be used daily and you can thrive, but I would also argue that the benefits of CBD on the endocannabinoid system would actually enhance the person’s ability to perform at a higher level. The endocannabinoid system is responsible for keeping the human body in homeostasis and, in my opinion, improves all-around body function and performance.

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Tia : What’s the most interesting/memorable moment you’ve experienced working in the cannabis industry so far?

 

Alex : Without question, the most memorable moments are when we speak with a client who tells us an amazing story of how using Palm Organix™ products has significantly improved their or loved one’s health and wellness. We have countless loyal clients that swear by the results of using our CBD products. New success stories from clients using our CBD products are something we never grow tired of hearing.

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Tia : If you could smoke with any one person, living or dead, who would it be and why? :)

 

Alex : For the record, Palm Organix™ does not carry flower, vape or any smoking products; however, I would welcome the opportunity to smoke with my late grandfather who had the best sense of humor.

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Tia : Can you tell us about an exciting upcoming release for Palm Organix

 

Alex : Hands down our number one selling product is our 1500 mg Mint Tincture. Our 1500 mg tincture is a super high-quality CBD oil, priced very competitively at $99.00, which is up to 50 percent less than many of our competitors’ pricing in the premium category. We also offer the 1500 mg tincture in orange flavor which is also a strong seller.

The up-and-coming product at Palm Organix™ is our 10 mg mixed fruit flavor CBD gummies, which we are now selling 10’s of thousands of gummies per month. Each jar contains 20 gummies and is priced at just $27.95. We also bundle our gummies in two packs, three packs, and ten pack jars, which brings their price as low as $18/jar. As you may know, CBD gummies are one of the most searched terms on the internet in the CBD category.

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Tia : How does Palm Organix maintain transparency in its product line from seed to sale?

 

Alex : Palm Organix is very focused on quality and transparency with all our products from seed to shelf. We only use organic farming practices, our products use the most sophisticated extraction processes available, and we top this off with what we refer to as “double lab testing.” We call it double lab testing as we first receive Certificates of Quality Assurance (COA’s) on our product(s) then we further send out each and every CBD batch for the all-important independent “Third Party Lab Testing.” This dedication to high quality ensures that the customer receives the finest available CBD products in the marketplace. In an effort to be completely transparent to all our customers, this information and testing can be found on our website or by visiting www.palmorganixlab.com.

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Tia : Are there any plans for brand expansion? What's the next big step for Palm Organix?

 

Alex : We currently sell B2C and B2B. B2B is both our wholesale and white label business. Unfortunately, like much of the country’s business owners, we did not reopen our retail location post-Covid-19. However, during the Covid-19 shutdown, we were able to focus all of our attention on SEO which has proved to be extremely successful. The goal for Q4 of 2020 and for 2021 is to continue to expand our reach into well-known box stores where we have gotten significant traction. Q4 of 2020 will also mark the launch of our paid advertising as we will be venturing into PPC via Google, Facebook and Instagram for the first time. Many brands start their marketing efforts by first running paid advertising right after launching however we chose to become established first via SEO, develop brand awareness and recognition, and then begin our paid campaigns. Our logic is that the paid advertisement will better resonate with the consumer as they likely have seen us before in organic search engine results over the last 2 or more years.

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You can follow PalmOrganix at:

 

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PalmOrganix

Twitter: https://twitter.com/PalmOrganix

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/palmorganix/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexherreranj/