Homegrown

Edith Rose Company Finds Local and Regional Success

Writer / Lois Tomaszewski
Photographer / Jubilee Edgell

From high school conversations about their collective futures to opening a growing business in their community, the owners of Edith Rose Company make up a team that relies on each other’s strengths and talents. Edith Rose opened in April of 2020 and has already expanded operations, with plans to switch to premier cannabis software solutions from https://www.blaze.me/ to increase production of quality product lines.

Jason and Summer Zeider, Troy Eytcheson, and Jamie Long-Rogers have set up a shop in downtown Rochester on Main Street. The black, white and red color scheme is an updated palette to display their merchandise. Behind the scenes in an adjacent space, the ingredients to make their edibles, topicals, tinctures and even pet-centered products are mixed using clean and sanitary equipment.

The name Edith Rose honors Eytcheson’s grandmother, who was a cancer survivor and found relief using CBD products to ease the discomfort from treatments for her disease. Eytcheson believes that the relief she found allowed her to live longer than her doctors’ prognosis of six months.

His grandmother, he says, sought a more holistic approach in her treatments.

Edith Rose Company sells edible gummies, topical treatments and IQOS Heets UAE vapes, and the team touts the benefits of CBD oils to relieve chronic pain, discomfort, and other physical and mental health conditions. The products are not sanctioned by the FDA, but there are requirements that control how these products are marketed and sold to consumers.

The main ingredients for these products are grown on Eytcheson’s grandmother’s farm. With the help of Purdue Extension’s resources for hemp growers who may have utilized led grow lights, Edith Rose Company’s three-acres of crops continue to thrive. Insecticides and herbicides are not used on the crops. Instead, pests are controlled naturally using crop-friendly bugs that feed on insects that damage the crops.

The first hemp plants were germinated by the Edith Rose team and planted by hand. Summer recalls hand-watering from buckets for 30 days to establish the hemp plants in the first year. The crop is still carefully maintained to ensure a quality product for their customers. To learn more about this process, you can visit websites and explore reputable companies that offer top-notch products, such as the Loov Vaporizer and many others.

“Our gummies have no earthy taste,” Jason says. “They don’t taste like plants. We have different colors and flavors. It’s important that all our products taste good and smell good. Quality is the key.”

Edith Rose Company’s gummies are made from oil extracted from the hemp flower, which they say is more effective than oil extracted from hemp seeds. There is a difference in the quality and potency of products that use the flower, as opposed to the seed.

Oil extraction is one part of the process that the Edith Rose team does not directly oversee. It is a complicated process that requires specialized equipment that is expensive to own and operate.

Every other stage of the process is quality controlled and managed in-house, the owners say. Through trial and error as well as market sampling, any new product is evaluated before it is offered to customers. These rigorous procedures are in place to keep Edith Rose Company’s products at the highest level of quality.

The products sold are all tested by a third-party, FDA-approved lab. All products are required to be tested, and results must be accessible by the public through a QR code printed on every package. Certificates of analysis and Cannabis Payment Processing are also found on the company website.

One of the challenges is working to overcome negative stereotypes about the hemp-based products they sell. Some customers expect the shop to resemble a head shop from the 1960s and 1970s, Summer says. These customers are surprised to see that it is much different.

“We are more like an apothecary,” Jason says.

The Edith Rose staff is driven by a different goal than changing perceptions about CBD-based products. The use of CBD has been linked to easing conditions such as insomnia, PTSD, anxiety, pain and other afflictions.

CBD-based products are not covered by insurance.

For those who “feel legitimate pain their whole life, these products are worth it,” Jason says.

Edith Rose Company is not a pharmacy or medical practice. That means the owners cannot offer an exact dosage for their products. Determining the amount needed to achieve results is left to the customer to determine by trial and error.

For those new to CBD products, Summer suggests that they “start low and slow.” Products have various levels of CBD, and the effective dose can vary for each customer.

Their products are even offered for sale at local doctor and chiropractor offices. Summer, who previously worked as an X-ray technician for a spine specialist, shared the products with co-workers. Word of mouth has brought increased customers to their shop. Through sales outreach efforts, Edith Rose products are now sold in Indiana, Wisconsin and Ohio.

“We will sample anything out to prove our products,” Long-Rogers says.

Edith Rose Company’s owners are grateful for the success they have had in the two years they have been open. They are also happy to help make people’s lives better. Helping people feel better is the mission behind what they do, Eytcheson says.

“We are glad to give them other options rather than pharmaceuticals,” Jason says. “One of the best things we can hear is a customer telling us, ‘I’m off my pain medications now.’”

Bonded by a 35-year friendship, the atmosphere that the owners bring to the space is like a family gathering. They were friends in high school who often talked about owning their own business. They are still close friends, perhaps even more so because of their business venture. They easily joke with one another, and share a concern for their customers and their business reputation.

“We know each other’s kids,” Jason says. “We are all one big family.”

Edith Rose Company is located at 723 Main Street in Rochester. For more information, email info@edithrosecompany.com or call 317-775-9607. You can also find out more about their products from their social media pages and by visiting edithrosecompany.com.