S11E140 Chris Corkery/Hundred Acre - From NYC Chef to Wisconsin indoor farmer: Chris Corkery's Hundred Acre Journey

Harry Duran

0:02 - 0:15

Okay. All right. So, Chris Corkery, founder and CEO of Hundred Acre, thank you again for joining me on the vertical farming podcast.

Chris Corkery

0:16 - 0:17Ignore this for outputs

Thanks for having me.

Harry Duran

0:18 - 0:36

So we've been having a couple of technical difficulties, so we're trying to get through this interview, but I had asked earlier, as someone who spent some time as a chef in New York, I was wondering about the impulse for you to start a vertical farm and how that happened.

Chris Corkery

0:39 - 3:52

Not so much. Yeah, the impulse, but more of the impetus behind it is the opportunity to work within some very high end establishments in New York City. So you're in one of the largest cities in the world, you know, urban, urban city centers. And we had a strong attention to our supply chain and a consideration around sourcing local, not to necessarily just support local businesses blindly, but more so what it's supporting on the larger ecosystem level. So I was early on kind of scrambling to get to the farmers markets when they were setting up around 536 in the morning in the dead of summer in these areas like Union Square. And it was interesting because you were in there before anyone else was awake, except for the farmers themselves, coming down from two, three, 4 hours north in the Hudson Valley region and trying to beat out the other low level chefs to get the best possible produce, which is pretty cool. It's sort of like that cooking show where they got to run around the grocery store, grabbing what they can to make what they do. So the first thing was that occurred out of that was really the understanding and respect for the products themselves, because you were trying to get the best, and in order to do that, you had to learn what was the best, and you had to try to get it before someone else did. Secondly, you then learn the story of the farmer and the passion that they put into this. And I think that was a really unique experience for me, living in this large city where we often have everything come to us rather than we go to it. And that's kind of where the light bulb turned on over my head, where I thought, well, geez, I'm technically right now standing in this is an urban farm. But the farm came to us. What if we bring the farm? What if we take it a step further and actually bring the farm to the city permanently? Right. Set up, stop within inner city areas where this can occur year round, not just as a point of sale, but the actual growing, so that there's new jobs, there's community education experiences, and it's not just seasonal, but it's in fact, year round. Every single week, you got a fresh harvest, and you're offering this to your back within your backyard. The freshest possible ingredients, no matter what's.

Harry Duran

3:52 - 4:10

Happening outside, has this passion. You always had a passion for food because obviously you worked in some of these really great restaurants, and now you're actually creating produce. And so is this something that goes far back from you, this love affair with food?

Chris Corkery

4:11 - 7:38

Yeah, it wasn't really a love affair. It was more like it was one of my siblings. I grew up as an only child and within a middle inc. Like just an average family, and my parents had to deal with me. And what that does when you're an only child, there's a few paths that kind of pan out commonly. One is that you, you know, you're along for the ride with your parents at an early age, so you're exposed to a lot and you kind of grow up a little bit quicker. You learn how to turn to talk to adults, whatever it is. Well, one of those components, you know, my mom brought me into the kitchen at like five, which is remarkable. You know, I mean, in the beginning, I'm like, you know, helping, like, make the cookie dough, right? And I'm probably destroying it, and she's throwing it out behind my back and then making the real one that we're going to eat because all the eggshells are in there. But the point is you're kind of exposed to that. And I was exposed to that and I just, I got really into it. And I think at a very early age, I was able to make some basic things like, like an egg dish or, or cookies and stuff like that. Nothing too crazy or fancy. But I don't know that maybe before even the urban farm component with the light bulb going off, I think the food component with the light bulb going off occurred subconsciously, basically, when I was a toddler. And it became this hobby that I carried through. I mean, I was always cooking at home with my, my small little family. I was, because I was an only child, my birthdays, you know, I didn't have to share, right. So I was able to go to some high end restaurants or try things that maybe most kids wouldn't be able to try because it was just me. So I was trying some pretty unique food, like an ostrich burger at eight years old, you know, eating sushi at nine, whatever. And then going into high school, I did what was pretty obvious, which was jump into the hospitality game, food and beverage. And to make money for a job, I think I was cooking cleaning dishes at, like, an irish pub, money under the table at like, 14. And I really never let go of the. What a restaurant, you know, the restaurant experienced is not just for a job, but what it stands for, for the community, you know? And really what I did was everything from back of the house, dishwashing to front of the house, busing, waiting tables, bartending, managing, and then eventually, you know, becoming a high end chef. So I really covered the entire space and I thought it was, to me, it's symbolic, it's emotional. It's almost like the last frontier or horizon for how we interact, because everything is getting replaced with the digital engagement. And I think people really now are starting to regret that. So maybe we'll see a renaissance back into spaces where we interact. And I think it's going to be over food.

Harry Duran

7:39 - 8:01

Yeah. So obviously, people have this outside perspective of what happens in a restaurant because of shows like Chef's table and the new show the bear. And I'm wondering if, you know, if you've had a chance to see it and if you've had feedback from people who probably tend to glamorize what the life of a chef is as opposed to what happens on the day to day.

Chris Corkery

8:03 - 10:20

The show is pretty accurate, which is why it's so popular. It depends on the environment you're in. But I think the average decent restaurant operates like that, where, top down, you got this stressed out, like reactionary management, because they just can't possibly plan for what can go wrong. So you just go with the flow. Each day you wake up that there is a significant alignment to how farmer. The mentality of a farmer and how they operate, by the way, because you can't control Mother Nature, so you kind of just have to go with the flow. But, yeah, back to the restaurant thing. Yeah, I think the average. It does a good job depicting the. The average decent space where hardware breaks, staff break, your customers break you, and the cycle repeats. And I think the point of the show and the point of being successful in the space and why you should get into it is really to try to figure out where the harmony in that whole process, and that's where the successful people live. I worked at one point at Gramercy Tavern, and that's a remark which is part of the. It's under Danny Meyer, part of the Union Hospitality group, Union Square Hospitality group. And the environment is almost like. It's somewhat tranquil and zen like in the kitchen for the most part. And that's because of the ownership and the executive staff and sort of their ethos coming in and how you work and how you plan ahead and then you execute. And it should be a somewhat therapeutic process when working with food. It always was and it still should be, did not become this toxic minefield of stress bombs.

Harry Duran

10:22 - 10:32

So after your time in the restaurants, I saw that you had started and worked at the green design build firm New York seed. Can you talk a little bit about that experience?

Chris Corkery

10:36 - 13:23

Yes. So what you're looking at is sort of the my journey from a yemenite around the ideas of where I am today. I put the cart before the horse in terms of how I wanted to get started. I thought it was a good idea to form companies like an entity with a brand and then fill it in with the business itself of making money. Because I always knew that I had a big idea and I wanted to make sure that I captured it before I started working. And sure, that sounds good on paper, but that was really more my ego and my heart talking, and it wasn't practical. Just start with the basics and build off of it. Work. It cost a dollar, make $2. Print and repeat. NYC was the first of a few different, a few more organizations that I formed along the way. And the idea of NYC is that we really are focused on adaptive reuse of distressed real estate. So how can we take existing properties that they haven't figured out what to do with it? And we come in and apply some sort of food program to the space, because that seems to always be the right fit. And I'm not talking about restaurants, by the way. I'm talking about community, potentially nonprofit based outlets around food, education, commissary operations, where it's a shared space for people to come in part time and do what they need to do, or even growing indoors. So that was really our vision with NYC, was farm food, fun, grow, cook and learn about all things food within these spaces and why it would work, as opposed to other ideas that are out there or like, let's say restaurants. These are generally in more distressed areas, lower income areas. You know, you're talking about manufacturing, you're talking about community education, you're talking about off site cooking. These are all things that generally happen in more affordable areas. We wanted to kind of bring them all together under one roof, and that's what NYC sort of started to bring together.

Harry Duran

13:23 - 14:00

Okay. And then I noticed that you've mentioned a couple of times, you know, based on your history and your experience growing up and how you folk, you talked about NYC. The focus on community is that something that's, like, important for you, like personally, like this idea of giving back to the community or supporting community, because, you know, I did. I grew up in New York, I grew up in Yonkers, and I lived in New York City as well. So the concept of food desert is something that's, you know, very, very common there. And access to fresh food is very rare. Obviously, that's starting to change a little bit, but I'm just wondering if that's something that's been kind of near and dear to your heart, know, based on your experiences growing up.

Chris Corkery

14:02 - 15:48

Well, I mean, the reason I'm involved in food is that it brings us together. So I burnt out working in the corporate world because I felt very disconnected both from the end product that I was delivering and also the. The workplace culture that I was working within across the industry. I just felt, you know, short. It's. It's the most lonely, crowded room and, you know, in the market, food, inherently, you know, it brings us together. A, we got all got to eat, and b, we tend to like to do it together for thousands of years. I don't think that's going to change anytime soon. No matter what our wacky world brings, brings online. I don't care how much social media or how many new platforms exist. I don't care what Apple comes out with from a VR experiential standpoint. None of this stuff is going to put food in your mouth and recreate that experience. And there's just something innate, and I. And it's almost impossible to describe. I would love your viewers to come up with words on how to describe this, but, like, when you are eating something, there's, you know, there's taste, touch, smell. You know, all the five senses are engaged, and you're having this, like, very interpersonal experience, and then you're looking outward and looking at the person across the table. You might not even talk about it, but it's happening. Every bite.

Harry Duran

15:48 - 15:49

Yeah.

Chris Corkery

15:49 - 18:59

So just think about that. It's pretty cool. So what does that all mean? Well, that's just screaming, you know? Okay, community is surrounded this. There's an inherent community around every bite, every bite, every seed, every plant we grow, every dish we make with our partners, there's always a communal aspect to it. And if that's the business domain, which is growing food and getting it out to the surrounding area, right. I live to serve my neighbors just by default. That's what I do. They're within a close radius intentionally, and we should generally know each other in some way. There's a community that is already pre existing when the farm is up and running. And that's always how farms have existed. I mean, farms literally were probably the first centers of community ever during the agricultural revolution. And we learned how to bring these things together. Different small little pockets of tribes would come together there realizing that they were more efficient and productive together as opposed to a part. And they would, you know, kind of nurture and, and reap the rewards off the land. So farms are at the epicenter of the. And they're the birthplace of community. So all I'm doing is bring going back to the basics and bringing it into a unique new environment within the inner city because we can due to, you know, pseudo technology. So our business model is designed in such a way that we need to make sure that we're able to do that without losing money. I can grow ahead of lettuce from more than a cost within this city. And then you have to start thinking about what touches that. Well, it's all things community. So it's not like an option for 100 acre to give back and it's not an obligation, it's just part of the DNA and how we operate. We are hiring local, we are inherently running an open door policy allowing folks to, from the outside to look in and see what's happening. And we are selling to folks within a close area where then feeding others or they're feeding their families at home and it all kind of comes back to the farm. So that ecosystem is there naturally. And then it's just my job to make sure that it's articulated correctly and managed in a sustainable way and then try to continue to elevate that and scale it up. So we're always giving back, whether it's intentionally or unintentional, it's just there. And that feels really good because I don't have to work too hard to do good.

Harry Duran

18:59 - 19:07

That makes sense. So what is that founding story like? How does someone from New York end up in Wisconsin working at a vertical farm?

Chris Corkery

19:09 - 23:26

Yeah. So you heard a little bit about my. Yes, the childhood was sort of the childhood experiences is what got me turned on to like just, you know, messing around in the kitchen and working with food. And I never really let go of that. Then I worked in restaurants. So I really like that workplace culture. And then I mentioned, you know, fast forward. I went into corporate, corporate America. I was working in the global brand development advertising for almost a decade. And you know, doing the, doing the more prudent thing and making a good amount of money, enough money where I, you know, I burnt out and I retired. And in that retirement, early retirement, I I was asking myself what I want to do. So I then was like, you know what? One thing I haven't really done well or figured out in the whole food space is like being a professional, not just cooking, but. And so I went to culinary school. I quit, went to culinary school, and then kind of went into like a three year circuit of cooking, you know, was, yes. Staff all the way before any, anyone heard, you know, watch the still bear. That's legit. Yeah, we're all chefs, by the way. Everyone's chefs. Even the dishwasher could be chef. And in fact, the dishwasher is probably one of the most important roles in the entire space. And, yeah, the cooking thing, that's where I got turned on to sourcing, sustainable sourcing and high quality products that were freshly harvested due to that farmers market experience. And what that did was I put on my business hat and thought, well, what is this really? And it's really around supply chain resilience and how can we create this process that's occurring on a. How can we reinforce this process and do it in a repeatable way? And I just kept coming back to the idea of controlled environment growing and all that it affords. And so that's what was happening in New York, except as we were kind of testing our model to figure out how the numbers would work. At the end of the day, it just won't. Real estate won't work. The cost of real estate is prohibitive. So someone turned me on to the Midwest and in particular Milwaukee, Wisconsin. And I did a quick market assessment. I visited and did a market assessment and thought, well, wow, there's a lot of empty buildings that have been empty for a while due to the, the exodus of manufacturing. There is an agricultural and manufacturing heritage here that would be sympathetic to my efforts because essentially we're like a renaissance of both in a better way, a healthy way. And there's enough an up and coming food scene in this. And it's, you know, it's now in the news and stuff. And I kind of, I think I timed the market pretty well based on what I saw. But most importantly from a community aspect, you know, this is still a very divided city and it's got a lot of issues. So I think we're solution on the economic, social, environmental front. So we're really hitting all three. And by, by opening something like this. So when looking at this market, I thought this would be a great place to do this. And obviously I had the, I funded this initiative. So I thought, well, my dollar is going to be worth this much more in this market versus another market. So I could build it even bigger and better, which could mean also bigger failure. But here we are having this conversation, and so far it's worked out and we're looking to scale up today.

Harry Duran

23:27 - 23:59

So, Chris, as someone who was coming into indoor farming as an owner operator, as a farmer, what were some of the unknowns that you had to figure out, and how did you start to realize what it is that you didn't know? Because there's a lot of moving parts when it comes to indoor farming, some of which we've discussed on this show in previous conversations. Energy concerns, expenditures, capex, and all this sort of stuff. How much of this did you prepare for, and how much of this did you sort of have to learn on the spot?

Chris Corkery

24:03 - 27:21

I would say about a little bit under 50% of what we prepared for applied, and the majority was either wrong or just unknown. That's changing every year as more people do what I'm doing and the information gets out there, podcasts that this exists. The challenge is that there's no single turnkey unit of measurement for how this is all done correctly. There's, you know, in addition to what you're choosing to grow, and there's how you're growing it, where you're growing it, who is growing it. There's just so many variables that apply to the approach, and then you have to take into effect the macroeconomic factors. Like I opened into record inflation, I opened into the tail end of COVID which was a complete breakdown in distribution. I opened into a labor crisis where no one could seem to find entry level or kind of, you know, manual labor working within the food space. They just weren't there. They just disappeared. I don't know where they went. So I had no people, I had increased costs, I had lack of access to materials. And all the while, I'm opening a startup, which in and of itself, it's hard, with a green, highly perishable widget that's got to move very quick, which is fickle to even get it to its quality. And then once it's there, you got to figure out what to do next. So we got sucker punched quite a few times. In addition to what already exists in the startup land, you know, on the flip side, I had some resources. I did reach into my own pocket quite a few times. So this cost me three times as much as I thought it would. I'm all in and invested into this. Obviously, we're now looking at bringing in outside investors, me being able to breathe, but this is not for the faint of heart. I would say start very small. There's no such thing. Creating some kind of apparatus that has a schedule for growing, and you can create and you can understand the inputs and the outputs on a routine basis. There's your foundation. But don't go too big, because what, what couldn't go wrong will. And then also, it'll go wrong again and again and again. It's, it's, it's, it's nonstop. And, and any traditional farmer would say that because, again, they're, they're at the mercy of the, the elements, and, and that's becoming worse and worse. So they've learned to just breathe or they burn out.

Harry Duran

27:21 - 27:22

Yeah.

Chris Corkery

27:22 - 27:39

Just because you open a giant lab type facility that has a controlled environment doesn't mean that it all just works at the push of a button. It's still plants and people. So remember, it takes people to feed people, and there's no perfect science to working with people.

Harry Duran

27:40 - 28:10

So how instrumental was it that you aligned yourself with people that had had experience? Because there's a lot, like you just said, a lot of moving parts, deciding what equipment to use, whether you're going to outsource vendors, whether you're going to sort of roll your own solution, and then challenges in terms of figuring out what the market looks like. You were new to Milwaukee as well, so building those relationships and so, you know, were there partners that helped or people that were instrumental for you and just getting off the ground and running?

Chris Corkery

28:16 - 30:12

No, there were some folks who were, I mean, there were business arrangements in place where people were getting paid to do their job, organizations were getting paid to do their job. And, you know, a little word of mouth here, there helps. And there's some folks that were really kind of able to see the vision. And that's, I kind of think, where I would say kind of those folks, those organizations, you know, they were advocates for us, and that helped open doors. And, you know, Milwaukee is nicknamed Small Walkie, where everybody knows your name kind of thing. So, you know, it's, when you're an outsider doing something new and risky, of which it's failed in the past year. So there's a lot of skepticism. Failed everywhere. It's an uphill battle. But we had some early adopters between restaurants and local food. Well, a food bank called Feeding America. Feeding America, eastern Wisconsin. You know, they were an early stage partner. So the kind of, is really the customers. We had some early adopters that really helped, aside from the sale and getting some income in which essential, it's really helping us understand the market, and that's where things exponentially scale up in terms of the networking and additional business. But it takes a lot of time. It takes time to grow. It takes time to grow plants. It takes time to grow relationships.

Harry Duran

30:12 - 30:12

Yeah, yeah.

Chris Corkery

30:12 - 30:39

And it takes a really long time to grow relationships in the midwest compared to New York. I mean, in New York, you could end up being best friends after lunch because everyone's a transplant and is kind of coming from some other background and is, I think, a bit more receptive to the process. And, you know, no one's actually from there and here, everyone is from here. And that's a little bit different of a mentality. So, you know, it takes time to grow the relationships, especially in a market.

Harry Duran

30:39 - 31:14

Like this, but, well, that's hitting home personally because I'm actually in Minnesota right now. And like I said, I grew up in New York, and the biggest shift for me was just interacting with people because in New York, you know, everyone's kind of doing their own thing, but you can kind of like, have your social circles. And here there's a, there's a Midwest friendliness that you have to get acclimated to and saying hi to everyone and how's your day and how's it going? And it's like, slowing down a lot, which I had to get used. And I wonder if it was the same for you, but it just, it is a big shift in way of living and personalities that takes a lot of getting used to.

Chris Corkery

31:16 - 31:58

It does, yeah. Especially when you're trying to get a job done. And no matter, like, and time is money. Like, you know, that the electric company doesn't care about whether or not I spent 3 hours, you know, talking to some folks about the weather. They want. They want to get paid. So then all of a sudden, you got, you're getting squeezed on one end to get paid and on the other end to be, you know, to calm down and be friendly. And it's like, oh, wow, at least in New York, it's like, you know, on both, you're not getting squeezed. Everyone wants your money and everyone wants, and you want everyone else's money, and time is money, and you move it.

Harry Duran

31:58 - 31:59

Yeah.

Chris Corkery

31:59 - 32:28

So it's, it's, it's taught me a lot coming here and doing this because it's really kind of brought me back to the basics of farming and I think the mentality of farming and the, and slowing down a little bit because you can't just like the plants, you can't make them move any quicker than they are. And to a certain degree, actually, we're quite good at growing. You know, we grow, we grow. We grow two and a half times quicker than Mother Nature. Yeah.

Harry Duran

32:28 - 32:44

Yeah. What was the decision process like for determining what you're going to grow? I see on the site that you're growing italian, largely basil and a salad blend. Was there just a lot of experimenting back and forth, or did you kind of have an idea when you got started what you were going to be growing?

Chris Corkery

32:49 - 35:42

We, there was a little bit of experimentation. A little bit. We threw a whole bunch of different types of seeds in the farm when we first opened and just kind of waited to see what would grow and how it would grow. So that's on the production and farming side, but on the sales and distribution side, which is really where my strong point is, I knew that I wanted as few products as possible and to be the best at it and to kind of use that as my, my baseline. And we went with a salad blend on one end and the italian basil on the other. And the strategy there was really, okay, well, the salad is a commodity and it's in large demand, and it's going to allow me to open the door. And we sell wholesale. We exist to support other businesses. We are a b, two b solution around supply chain on, okay. And I thought, well, the lettuce would be a great thing to do because it's easy. It opens up doors. And since it's whole wholesale, it opens up the back door. And the basil, on the other hand, is a premium herb, which is hard to find. It's expensive. It's got a much better profit margin. Demand is much less and or the market's smaller. And, but, but why don't we attack it like a dish where it's bottom up salad and top down premium herb? That sprinkling and really what that looked, what that ended up translating to, which was intentional, was that the salad is almost like our trojan horse. And it came, got us into the restaurants, and then we would upsell with our basil, which is like, where all the profit was. So it's kind of a simple way to break it down. That's kind of our go to market strategy. And then since then, we continued on those products. And because we became so well known as a brand, the end consumers, our customers customer, the end consumers, they wanted to bring us home. So we got a lot of requests to be available in retail. So we then launched the retail line in grocery stores, which is pretty cool. That was last year. And then this year, we moved into our third phase of product development, which is value add premium sauces. So we do joint venture agreements with Steph to take our herbs and turn them into high end condiments. So we have, you know, bulk wholesale, we have retail now. We have these premium sauces. And then since then, we've, you know, that's from, from a product development kind of like shelf placement, but the products themselves, we've also added microgreens line.

Harry Duran

35:42 - 35:42

Okay.

Chris Corkery

35:42 - 35:46

And we're in the works of adding on butterhead lettuce.

Harry Duran

35:47 - 35:58

Okay. So as someone who's new to the vertical farming industry, what's been some of your frustrations or, or realizations working with folks in this space?

Chris Corkery

36:01 - 38:10

I think there's too much. Yeah. Coming in. I came in cold. A couple of Google searches more so talking to a lot of people. I came in completely cold. Couldn't grow a tomato to save my life. I still can't in a traditional format, but I. Too much secrecy and b's and they kind of go hand in hand. But, you know, there's a lot of big organizations out there that are like vc back funding, and they don't share the information. And that's just how it goes. Because it's, at the end of the day, it's just a data mill. It is when you really want to get into it. We try to take some of that operational discipline and apply it, but obviously with the love and care that we're still producing food that feeds our neighbors. But, yeah, so there's a lot of guarding around the IP. But then I think the larger majority of the industry, players, participants, I think they're just full of it. And then they say, you know, I don't want to share my data because it's special. It's like, no, your information is not special. Like, it's really not that complicated. What you're doing. This is not biomolecular engineering. Curing childhood leukemia. Like, give it a rest, calm down. The margins aren't there. You know, it's air, light and water. Relax. You know, you don't see chefs freaking out over the, you know, someone stealing this little piece of paper that's in their lapel pocket that has like the right dose of salt and a pinch of secret ingredient number five to make it sauce. Like, give it a rest. So it's really what, that's what's stifling the industry is that there's no real reliable information out there to help fast track the process and prevent folks like myself and future efforts to, from making the same mistakes, for making the same mistakes over and over.

Harry Duran

38:10 - 38:19

Yeah, yeah, yeah. What about the relationship with buyers and having them understand like the value of growing produce that's grown indoors?

Chris Corkery

38:21 - 39:15

Communicating value is hard and then getting them to believe it is even harder. The, you know, for hundreds of years, thousands of years, you know, food's grown outside by farmers and it's given to the public. Now food can be grown indoors by a different type of farmer and still given to the public, but in a different type of way. And getting buyers, specifically businesses, to understand the value proposition behind the type of the way in which we grow and what that affords you. Um, they gotta just take, take five minutes out of your day to step back and realize this, like what we're offering. I mean it's, it's a, it's, it's, it's really light manufacturing with a green assembly line.

Harry Duran

39:15 - 39:15

Yeah.

Chris Corkery

39:15 - 41:39

Where our widget is a, is a plant and we handle it with care and love and, but it's, it's the same thing every week, 52 weeks a year, guaranteed. So you know, they're, they're used to unreliable supply, meaning it's not available or the quality sucks. Or one day it's this product and let's say it's a different product and it's like, hold on. No. We are a guaranteed resource to reinforce your supply chain. If you know you need lettuce year round, subscribe. That's where I'm going with this subscription. Subscribe, set it and forget it and go focus on the other headaches that you have to deal with. That's why we exist. And then they think, well, okay, well, that's a convenience factor, Bill. You're still too much. Well, okay. All right. CFO, the basil you buy, you have about a 40% loss rate and you're paying $9 a pound. I charge let's say 14 and you have a 0%. Who's more money. Yeah, I mean I learned that in 6th grade, 0% loss. But they're like they'd rather just take the loss and not just buy from one central large source then make the effort to then buy from individuals. And I get it, I get it. It's a headache. They got so much on their plate. But I'm really urging folks to consider, you know, the new way of growing and supplying and to start at, you know, it's really not going to get supported unless the buyers ultimately get behind it. And they are, they are, at least they are here. But you know, I wish it could happen at a quicker, quicker rate where I'm not, you know, pushing. I'm now starting to. Excuse me. Yeah, yeah. I'm not pushing, but rather it's a pull component where just I'm answering the phone instead of making the phone calls. We're onto something. And I think a lot of folks across the country are doing similar things. And it's, it's fantastic and it's so, it's a lower food cost than you expect. It's a better product that's on your menu than any, anything else. And there's a story behind it that your end consumer is absolutely going to pay for because it's in their backyard.

Harry Duran

41:40 - 42:10

Yeah. Yeah. What's been the reception from the, you mentioned, like, you do get support from the people who are buying from you directly, but just in terms of the community, are you getting support from any of the local agencies or any government support? Because we're seeing some states that are actually recognizing the value of CEA. Virginia, for example, had a national CEA day last year, and the governor has made it clear that he wants to make that a focus for Virginia. And I'm wondering if Wisconsin is doing something similar.

Chris Corkery

42:14 - 43:53

I don't know if Wisconsin necessarily as a state is getting behind like CEA in a big way, but what is happening is we're, you know, we're working with the state and local agencies that feed up to the USDA, and we've been very successful in getting resources from them and being recognized. And not only are we grateful for that, but it's promising and it also validates our efforts. You know, not necessarily that our business model is contingent. The success of it is contingent on these subsidies and whatnot, but it certainly supports, you know, we're really kind of a bold trailblazer kind of in a new space. And if it's not going to be the deep pockets of Elon Musk or Dell or IBM, I, and it's individuals like me, like, taking on the risk of trying to do this. You absolutely need subsidies. No individual can afford to just like, figure it all out on their own. So it's been really, it's sort of reassuring that I see big government getting behind this and the funding is literally going towards essentially it's R and D. It's R and D to help cover my expenses, to build up my business. You know, it's not like I'm pocketing anything. And then secondly, it's going into on the sales side, the money that goes into sales, and that's to build a better local infrastructure, and that's involving many parties. So it's top down and bottom up.

Harry Duran

43:55 - 44:09

What has this been like for you as it's leading this team, being the CEO, being the front facing person, and then having to figure out what that team looks like, what you going to be, you know, who you're going to be hiring next and just kind of growing. And how's that been for you as a leader?

Chris Corkery

44:14 - 47:04

It sounded really cool five years ago. It's. It's wild. A good friend of mine is pretty successful running a very large organization. And he said, you know, being the CEO or in this, like, level, you know, owner leadership position, um, the only real stress that, that why your day is different than someone else is that you just have to let make a lot more decisions than the average person. Yeah. And they. They need to be right more, you know, not more often than someone else, but it's just you have to have more correct decisions. Decisions, yeah. Not a higher percentage, just a lot more of them. So you got to be on point. And then when you're dealing with people, and I don't have a background in management, managing multiple people, especially in a space that I created and I own, of which there's no real thing to point to, it's not like I'm poaching people from a competitive business like Burger King's picking McDonald's employees. This is. This is a new frontier, and it's been a. A wild ride. A lot of trial and error. Our turnover was horrific. You know, people don't show up or whatever. It's just a tough, tough spot to be in. But we survived that. We have a really great team. It's a team of four farmers full time. We have a bunch of other folks, but that's really the core. And, yeah, as a leader, it's. It's learning. As a. Like a farm, you can't make the plants grow quicker. And that very same person who gave me this advice around the, um, you know, what are. What is different between a CEO, you know, my role compared to maybe some other people's roles or jobs? Just a lot more decision making, really, at the end of the day. The other thing is when you start, when you have a vision for your business, your business is your baby. He has kids, and he made the example of, like, listen, you have your kid. You get him to, like, a certain point, very young, but at that point, they start to kind of decide who they are, and you got to kind of think of your business the same way. Yes, you have a vision for it downstream. But in the moment after it's birthed and it's there and it's kind of standing up a little bit, it might fall down, it might stand back up. You help it with that process, you kind of got to let it lead you instead of you lead it. Don't force it. Forcing it can go very wrong. You got to listen to your baby and make sure that you are able to adapt and stay flexible, all the while making sure you hold on to the core values and some of the end goals of what you want it to achieve.

Harry Duran

47:06 - 47:09

Is there anything you would have done differently, knowing what you don't know now.

Chris Corkery

47:12 - 47:38

Not do it? No. I've lost years on my life with this thing. I would have gone smaller out of the gate. I would have planned better. From a technical standpoint, I don't know how I would have done that second component. I don't know how I could have planned better because at a certain point I had to pull the trigger and we just did it.

Harry Duran

47:38 - 47:39

Yeah.

Chris Corkery

47:39 - 49:15

And I would have. Would have made sure that I had some other critical support roles in place ahead of time. And again, that's just that as well. I don't know how I could have accomplished that without having to farm there. You don't know. Until you know the first thing, though, I would have gone a little bit smaller than what I did since it's a personally funded and operated business and I don't. I did not intend to do this on my own. I did not intend to be the farmer nor the operations manager. I did not intend to take on this much responsibility. This was not meant to be a one person show. It kind of. It just panned out that way. So now I'm trying to take a step back and make it more of a communal initiative, as it always should have been. Right. I don't need to be the high man on the totem pole. In fact, I try to stay behind the scenes as best I can, but people need a face for the business, so, especially now, especially when it's food and it's a farm. But yeah, I think those are the three things. Plan, you know, go a little smaller, plan and plan again, and know that your plans are probably going to get thrown out and make sure that you have support. Support people. It could be advisors that have some vested interest. It could be a partner. Just make sure you have support. It's very lonely.

Harry Duran

49:16 - 49:19

What's a tough question you've been asking yourself recently?

Chris Corkery

49:24 - 50:10

What is. What is. What is the first stage of success look like? For me, there's multiple stages or phases of success and what will I do with that success? So, yeah, so understanding, like, trying to understand what is. How do I. When can I take a breath and pat myself on the back? And then if that. If that's what I'm doing, what am I doing with that? What does that mean? Is it. Is it profitability? Is it fundraising? Is it, you know, an award? Is it sleeping longer? Yeah. So. And then what do you do with it?

Harry Duran

50:10 - 51:25

Yeah, well, Chris, we're wrapping up here, but I just want to thank you for providing, like, a breath of fresh air for, you know, we talk a lot. You know, we talk to big owners and big farms and a couple of conversations, folks who are, you know, just getting started. But I think your perspective and your experience, you know, having had the experience in restaurants and in this, in New York City and then deciding to do this crazy thing, to start a farm on your own, I think has been, you know, I'm sure, eye opening for you, but it's been helpful for. I think it'll be helpful for this audience just to get a realistic picture of what to expect and to realize that it's not all wine and roses, but if you do have the passion for it and if you believe in it like it's clear that you do, then you develop that resiliency, sort of that. I see it as that New Yorker tough skin to just kind of take what comes at you and just realize that there's no one coming to save you and you got to figured this out on your own, so. And it shows that you've been doing this. Yeah. So I really appreciate you just kind of being frank and open and honest about the realities of running a farm, but it looks like you guys have maybe, you know, turned the corner and you've got some brighter days ahead.

Chris Corkery

51:27 - 52:32

Yeah, we do. We do, indeed. Yeah. Thank you very much for having me. I'm glad I got a platform here to kind of share some of my experiences. You know, we're pretty easy to find on the Internet info at hundred acre.org. just do a quick Google search. 100 acre Wisconsin will be. We're pretty high up there on that. Whatever. However these Google things work, algorithms don't confuse us with the vineyard, which is amazing. They're out in California, 100 acre vineyard. They are good. But, yeah, we're always interested in folks reaching out, whether it's for job opportunities, collaborations, of course. We're now beginning our investor fundraising process for farm two here in Milwaukee, which will be a farm about four times in size due to open next year. So, yeah, it's always open to folks reaching out. So thanks again for having me.

Harry Duran

52:32 - 52:43

Yeah, well, we'll make sure all that contact information is in the show, notes as well, website and all your contact info, your LinkedIn as well, so folks can get in contact with you. I really appreciate your time, Chris. Thanks so much.

Chris Corkery

52:44 - 52:44

Thank you. Bye.