Traditionally, January is a time for resolutions

After the excess and the indulgence of the holidays, the country collectively pulls itself together, takes a deep breath, and commits to doing better. We sign up for gym memberships. We reduce our screen time. We swear we’ll figure out work/life balance, and we promise to stop eating so much junk food. A few dedicated souls even give up alcohol in the name of Dry January.

We tried that once.

It was a terrible idea.

For us, anyway. But you do you! We’ll still support you!

Whatever your take on resolutions (or Dry January, for that matter), it does seem natural to use the change of the year to re-evaluate: to check in with oneself (or, in our case, with one’s business) set some goals, make some commitments, and start the year off right, gosh darn it.

We’ve been working on getting 2023 right for a few months, already.

As Root Shoot has grown past the “Argh, holy crap, what are we doing!” stage of starting a new business (all you brand-new business owners out there, we feel your pain!) to an established business at full capacity, we’ve actually had a chance to breathe. A chance to step back and ask ourselves what we’re really doing, and whether what we’re doing is precisely what we want to be doing, and how we want to be doing it. Sure, we’re making malt. But we also hope we’re supporting local businesses, being good stewards of our land, and growing community.

So, how do we wrap that all up in a neat package to keep us on track?

By nailing down our Mission and Vision, of course. Maybe a few Core Values as well.

And while the terms Mission and Vision can sometimes smack of corporate America and stuffy board rooms, at Root Shoot Stuff isn’t really how we roll.

In true craft malt spirit, our Mission and Vision were developed over a weekend retreat in Winter Park in between games of frisbee, visits to local breweries, and a few highly competitive card games.

Because if you don’t want your company to be stuffy, why have a stuffy process?

Help save us from stuffiness.

We’re sharing our work here with you - our Mission, Vision, and Core Values - not because we think people really get their kicks from reading others’ internal documents, but because we want you to hold us to them. We want you to know the standards we expect of ourselves and to call us out if we fail to live up to them.

Better yet, if you catch one of our employees living up to them, well heck - send us that info, too, so we can give ‘em some love.

The Root Shoot Malting Mission:

We sow, we grow, we malt, we deliver

And the Vision:

To inspire exceptional beverages by connecting brewers and distillers to the land.

And the process to get there, our Core Values:

We are a team:

We collaborate with our customers as partners and we partner with our colleagues as teammates. We work as one cohesive group to provide exceptional service and to continually move the malthouse forward. We are honest and straightforward in our interactions both with our customers and with our colleagues. We address issues clearly and directly when they arise and we work together to find solutions. We are, in all interactions, solution-oriented.

We are leaders:

We innovate, and we pave our own path both as a farm and as a malthouse. We take leadership as an inherent responsibility and we play an active role in advocating for and educating about our industry. As an industry-leading organization, our staff is comprised of leaders: each of us, in every role, actively strives to find ways to innovate, to do better, to work better, and to serve as a role model in the greater craft malting and agricultural worlds.

We are consistent:

We deliver consistency: with people, products, partners, and expectations. We provide the same quality of service to our smallest customers as we do to our largest, and our consistency of service for both never wavers. We provide a consistent product: the Root Shoot name is synonymous with quality. We maintain high expectations for all we do, and we work until those expectations are met.

We are professionals:

We are capable, respectful, and professional at all times in all interactions whether they be with team members, customer partners, or other members of the industry. We comport ourselves in a manner that reflects Root Shoot’s good name in all scenarios. We exercise moderation in an alcohol-oriented industry. We are advocates for our customers, our industry, and all players in it, regardless of whether they are direct customers. We “go the extra acre” for everyone we work with and speak positively about businesses we do not serve.

And you? Are you making New Year’s resolutions? Stepping up your 2023 game?

We’d love to hear about it. We’ll even cheer you on!

Because teamwork makes the dream work, and we consider all of you - our breweries and distilleries, our homebrewers, and all you craft drinkers - part of our team.

Wishing you good beer for the New Year,

— Your Root Shoot Malting Team