Executive Summary

• Chop Value needed to entice non-remote workers back to their manufacturing facility with higher wages in order to operationally recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Chop Value did not have the time or resources internally needed to maximize their grant funding initiatives and felt that they were leaving money on the table. 
• Granted was able to secure ~$77k in grant funding including an administratively heavy yet lucrative grant from Eco Canada.

Introduction

Chop Value manufacturers furniture and furnishings exclusively out of discarded bamboo take-out chopsticks. The ultimate in upcycling, Chop Value is taking something that is often discarded without a second thought and using it as raw materials to create attractive, functional pieces of furniture and furnishings.

Founded in 2016 in Vancouver, BC, Chop value now has “Microfactories” in 11 locations around the world spanning Canada, USA, Mexico, UK, Singapore and Bali.

Goal

Like many companies, Chop Value’s manufacturing operations are recovering from the economic restrictions caused by the COVID-19 Pandemic. However, Chop Value found that re-hiring for non-remote manufacturing, delivery and operational jobs was challenging as many people now prefer remote-based jobs. 

In order to get recover from the pandemic and resume normal operations, they knew that they needed to increase wages to entice people to come back to the plant. They just needed the funding to execute this strategy. 

Grant Challenges

Chop Value was aware of various grants that would allow help partially fund their activities however, they found the process very time-consuming. Additionally, they were only aware of a few grants and did not have time to research additional grants to apply for. 

Further, as manufacturing jobs tend to be higher churn, Chop Value was running into administrative problems when claiming grants for employees that were paid and eligible but had already departed the company.

Chop Value was not maximizing its grant funding potential and was thus limiting its ability to grow as a company. Chop Value then turned to Granted for assistance with securing grant funding. 

Granted

Granted was hired in Sept 2021 to assist with the grant process for Chop Value. After a kickoff call and a strategy session, Granted researched possible grants that fit Chop Value’s business goals.

After a thorough search, many grants were found to be a good fit. Granted then proceeded to help Chop Value apply, manage, claim and report on a variety of grants that fit their growth strategy.

Result

From Sept 2021 to June 2022, Granted was able secure Chop Value approximately $77k in grant funding over 6 grants including a grant from the administration-heavy, yet high-value grants from Eco Canada. 

This allowed Chop Value to provide a more enticing wage to attract non-remote workers back into the manufacturing plant. Additionally, Granted was also able to retroactively secure funding for wages for workers that had already left the company maximizing the funding received. 

Granted saved us a lot of time to procure grant funding. They were even able to retroactively get funding for employees who had already left us. We wouldn’t have been as successful with our grant process without them

Michael Cha

Controller