Holiday Speech 2021
- Hi, everyone.
- It’s really nice to be here with all of you.
- This is a BIG step up from our Zoom meeting last year.
- First off, a few thanks –
- To James, Robin, Kaysha and Jade for putting together this party.
- And to our family and friends for coming out tonight to celebrate with us.
- And most of all to our 2021 team – for an amazing season.
- Gardenzilla opened in August of 2014, a little over seven years ago.
- In that time, we have grown into one of Toronto’s best-known and best-rated garden teams.
- Looking back it’s been an amazing journey
- Jim, here since 2016.
- James and Graeme, here since 2017.
- Robin and Wallace, here since 2018.
- And in 2019, many familiar faces joining – Sara, Josh, Kailan, Jesse, Hilary, Kaysha, Simon, Vittor, Kevin and Zach.
- In the 2020 pandemic year, we welcomed Jim Cotton, Ryan, Sean, Mackenzie, and Lukas.
- And in 2021, we were joined by Abid, Jade, Claire, Grace, Tom, Mary, Yu, Jess, Tiffany, Lee-Ann, and Harry.
- The work we do has meaning –
- Our clients are busy professionals, middle-income families and seniors who rely on our skills and expertise.
- The reviews and feedback we receive daily tell a story about their trust in us, and the way our work improves their lives.
- I have spent my entire adult career in this industry, and the team assembled here tonight is the finest I have worked with.
- Robin, James, Kaysha and I last updated our Mission, Vision and Values in the winter of 2019.
- In them, we put our Staff first, our Customers second, and our Bottom Line third.
- It is something that goes into every business decision we make, and I deeply believe those values have made us stronger and more successful as a team.
- Going into 2022, I want to put two more values ahead of that bottom line –
- Our Community, and
- Our Planet.
- I have three children of my own, and many of you have or plan to have families of your own, too.
- I want to leave them a better world than the one we are living in, and I want to tell them proudly about the work that we’re doing here.
- We will continue to grow and evolve as a company, and I know we will succeed, because I believe in the people here together tonight.
- It’s become something of an annual tradition for me to share a Gardenzilla-by-the-numbers about what we accomplished through the season. Some of these are pretty crazy.
- 4 – the number of battery powered tools we have in the company. I’ll update you again next winter.
- 20 – the number of vehicles in our fleet. James and I bought our second and third vehicle just four and a half years ago.
- 33 – the number of people working at Gardenzilla mid-season this year.
- 170 – the number of five-star reviews we received.
- 742 – the number of properties we maintained. More than doubled since 2018.
- 5,000 – dollars donated to the daily bread food bank, to support the community that supports us
- 23,000 – approximate number of visits we made to client properties this year.
- 27,240 – number of yard waste bags used this year. Next year we’ll try to get ones with actual glue holding them together. 😛
- 31,000 – the liters of fuel we used to power vehicles and small engine equipment. We’ll be working hard to bring that number down in future years.
- 33,000 – the number of hours we collectively worked together since April
- $2.6 million – our expected sales for the year, up almost 45% from last year
- I have a two more awards to hand out, based on our payroll records –
- First up is the Attendance Award, which goes to the person with the most consistent days worked. This year we had a two-way tie – congratulations and thanks to
- Kaysha & MacKenzie
- Zach, Wallace and Jim Binn were honorary runners up.
- Second is for most hours worked. It was a close call this year, but the award for most hours worked goes to
- Zach
- Sara, Simon, Kevin, Grace, Tom, Claire and Jesse were all close runners up.
- It has been my genuine privilege to work alongside all of you this year.
- I have many happy memories from this season –
- Finally getting to see your faces again, as mask restrictions lifted –
- Seeing Robin take a turn at blower ball at the company BBQ –
- Celebrating another season of Jim Cotton in shorts –
- Seeing Wallace and Jade transform into our very own Mr. and Mrs. Claus
- and
- Seeing the way you jumped in to help one another without even asking this November
- I really look forward to hearing your feedback and goals over the winter, and
- I really hope to see each of you back here next spring.
- Most importantly – for our snow team this year – I will be hoping for
- A green Christmas.
- Happy holidays everyone.