Worcester Business Journal

14 Worcester Business Journal | May 27, 2019 | wbjournal.com P O W E R 5 0 F O O D , D R I N K & M A R I J U A N A Sam Barber CEO CULTIVATE, LEICESTER Maureen & Robin Fabry FOUNDERS; CRAFTROOTS BREWING, MILFORD Paul Sellew FOUNDER & CEO LITTLE LEAF FARMS, DEVENS Residence: Boston College: Babson College Barber, just 25 years old, quickly found himself in the national spotlight last fall. His company, Cultivate, opened one of the first two recreational marijuana shops east of the Mississippi River, ushering in a new industry for Massachusetts, a state slow to roll out the adolescent industry. Barber's company was also the first to open a medical dispensary in Worcester County in 2017. When traffic and cannabis enthusiasts descended upon Leicester aer the recreational side opened, Barber weathered the NIMBY storm and quelled those concerns aer a few rough days. Leicester is his only location actually in operation now, but the company plans to expand its cultivation operations to Uxbridge and open additional stores in Worcester and Framingham. Barber regularly holds clothing, food and school supply drives and volunteers with the Special Olympics. Where is Central Mass. headed? Central Massachusetts will be the fastest growing region in the state. We are adding jobs every day, and other businesses are clearly seeing the talent within our region. Snow-covered roots: When I do have a day or two off, you can find me on the slopes. I grew up in Maine and skiing with my family has always been a part of my life. It connects me to nature and to my roots. Residence: Milford Colleges: Robin: Worcester State University, UMass Amherst; Maureen: American Brewers Guild, Boston University, Loyola University, University of Notre Dame As cra breweries eye geographic and output expansions, the Fabrys focus on what brought consumers to the industry in the first place: high-quality beer. From 2016 to 2017, Craroots was the fastest growing brewery in the entire country, going from 20 barrels to 308. Yet, instead of pursuing more growth, the Fabrys decided to keep their brewery small. Maureen – the sole brewer – prefers small batches to keep the flavor exactly as she envisions it. Although Craroots has taps at about a dozen restaurants, the married couple focuses on the experience at their Milford location, where Robin coordinates live music, fundraisers and exercise classes. e Fabrys are heavily involved in the Pink Boots Society, a women brewers organization whose Boston chapter is the world's largest. Robin has some great stories to tell: I was a crime scene investigator for more than 20 years! Maureen is a fool for huskies: One weekend, I drove 2,000 miles to adopt a puppy from a Siberian husky rescue in Indiana. I ended up adopting his mom, too! Residence: Carlisle College: Cornell University Sellew had already figured out how to grow and distribute greenhouse-grown tomatoes as the founder of Backyard Farms. en he founded Harvest Power, which he says grew into the largest organics recycler in North America. For his third act, Sellew led the creation of Little Leaf Farms in Devens, which has attracted widespread attention for its year-round technologically advanced, hands- off, nearly completely automated leafy greens growing facility. Only rainwater is used for irrigation, and the entire growing process takes place on automatically moveable trays. e 10-acre greenhouse could show the rest of New England and other areas with short growing season how fresh produce can make its way to grocery stores with far less impact on the environment, a far shorter shipping distance and much less necessary land. Sellew knows our salads don't have to come from the West Coast, and now he's proving it. Where is the Central Mass. community headed? Continued growth for Little Leaf. We are building new greenhouses and trying to keep up with the demand for our product. Hoop dreams: I am a former professional basketball player with teams in South America and Europe. Alec Lopez & Sherri Sadowski OWNERS; ARMSBY ABBEY, THE DIVE BAR, CÓNICO, WORCESTER & HUDSON Shaleen Title COMMISSIONER CANNABIS CONTROL COMMISSION, BOSTON Damien Goudreau, Nate Lanier & Dean Rohan FOUNDERS & OWNERS TREE HOUSE BREWING CO., CHARLTON Residence: Worcester Colleges: Lopez: Worcester State College; Sadowski: Bryant College Some of the best beer in the world is found in Worcester, and that's thanks in large part to Lopez and Sadowski. e married couple opened Armsby Abbey on Main Street in 2008 on the belief Worces- ter was desperately missing some quality handcraed food and drink. e restaurant's food and produce is sourced from local farmers, but its beer is sourced from around the world. Vermont-based Hill Farmstead Brew- ery, commonly hailed as one of the finest breweries in the world, maintains on its website its beer isn't available outside of Vermont. However, the beer is a staple on tap at Armsby Abbey and e Dive Bar, the latter of which has been operating for 24 years. Both establishments have been pushing Worcester as a foodie and beer town for over a decade. A third restaurant, Cónico, is planned to open this fall in downtown Hudson. Lopez's restaurant introduction: I was born in Argenti- na, and my grandfather owned a German bistro named Hamburgo there. Sadowski's farm-to-table start: I grew up on a farm in Rhode Island where my first job was a farm stand where we sold the fruits & vegetables we harvested. Residence: Malden College: University of Illinois Title has quickly become one of the most recognizable figures in the Massachusetts cannabis industry. e former attorney-turned-government official helped write the 2016 ballot question that ultimately legalized the possession and sale of recreational marijuana. She has been the main advocate for some of the most progressive marijuana laws in the country, including the first state-mandated programs to help and encourage minorities and small businesses to get into the $1-billion industry. Title has taken leading positions on social equity and has pushed back on municipalities demanding extravagant community payments from marijuana businesses. She founded a women-led recruiting firm and was a founding board member of the Minority Cannabis Business Association. As Worcester County has the most marijuana business applications and the CCC moves its headquarters to Worcester this summer, Title will become an even bigger figure in Central Mass. Where is Central Mass. headed? At the rate we're going, Central Massachusetts may become the cannabis capital of the East Coast! I hope it will be filled with all kinds of local and diverse businesses. Hindi cinema: Even though I'm from Chicago, I grew up watching Bollywood movies and didn't see an American movie until I was in high school. Although the founders of Tree House Brewing Co. prefer to stay out of the spolight, their beer and business model have been making headlines for a few years now. Rohan, Lanier and Goudreau moved the brewery to Charlton aer spending a few years in Western Massachusetts, and the site is now the Mecca of the cra beer world. Drinkers from all over the country can be found making the pilgrimage to the nearly 70-acre site to purchase the beer in the only Tree House-authorized place to buy the popular beverages. e brewery's founders rarely make public statements and most of their outreach is done via social media or blog posts, but a public relations strategy isn't critically important when the beer is critically good. Beer-rating platforms like Beer Advocate or Untappd have Tree House beer among the highest rated in the country. Like most in the cra beer industry, the brewery's founders have a penchant for sustainability, and that has manifested itself in their $1.6-million purchase of a 93-acre farm in Connecticut for a planned produce-and-flower program and orchard. A portion of the farm will be set aside for a fruit program to serve both as a farmstand operation and the brewery's fermentation program.

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