Customer Success – Level Ground
Customer Success – Level Ground Trading was able to secure over $360K in grant funding with Granted
Executive Summary
- Level Ground needed to buy machinery, increase operations and pivot to eCommerce
- Granted was hired and was able to secure ~$360,000 from over 60 grants – in a 3-year period.
- Level Ground was able to grow revenues by ~233% and staff by ~73%
Level Ground Trading
Level Ground Trading is a Coffee bean roaster and
importer of teas, spices, rice, and dried fruit and has been in operation since 1997. Locally owned and operating out of Vancouver Island, Level Ground Trading’s mission is to roast and blend so that the amazing characteristics of the beans shine through in your cup
Judging by the success they’ve had, it appears they have achieved just that.
Like many successful small businesses, Level Ground wanted to grow and share its products with the rest of the world. However, they needed funding to modernize and grow
Goals
It was clear that some initiatives needed to be
achieved so Level Ground would be able to hit its
growth targets:
- Free up funding from existing initiatives so they
- could purchase more machines.
- Hire more staff to run these machines.
- Add e-commerce capabilities to increase sales
- opportunities.
- Expand into additional markets
In 2016, Level Ground was successful enough to want to scale larger and share its products beyond its existing market. However, they needed to procure enough funding to properly execute.
Grant Challenges
Also like many small businesses, they have heard of grant funding but lacked the knowledge and time to really get it off the ground. They needed a guide.
Though the staff at Level Grounds were aware of grants, they were all so busy with the day-to-day to have the time to take advantage of them. Any grant projects that were attempted were all done off ‘the sides of their desks’ and led to limited success.
Granted
Granted was hired in 2016 to assist with the grant process for Level Ground. After a kickoff call and a strategy session, Granted researched possible grants that fit Level Ground’s business goals.
Granted found many grants that would fit Level Ground. Granted helped Level Ground apply, manage, claim and report on a variety of grants that fit their growth strategy.
Results
From 2016 to 2020, Granted was able to secure:
- 5 Market Expansion Grants
- 10 Hiring Grants
- 45 Training Grants
In total, Granted was able to secure over $360,000 in funding during this time.
This funding allowed Level Ground to train their staff in modern business techniques, help fund an eCommerce website, provide assistance with going into new markets and partially cover existing human capital costs so they could buy new equipment. As a result, Level Ground was able to increase operations, hire more staff and expand to additional markets.
With Granted’s help, Level Ground was able secure grant funding to increase sales ~230% and staff 73%
Laurie Klassen
CEO
