Phil Smith

It may have taken a long time to get here, but for Philip Smith and the Freshly Baked Company in Taunton, Massachusetts, things are definitely moving fast now. The company, one of the first microbusinesses and social equity program licensees in the state, blasted into the Bay State’s sizzling marketplace, doing $100,000 in business in its first month.

“We’re killing it with gummies,” Smith says. “It’s a problem keeping up with demand.”

Plus, Freshly Baked’s license makes it the first in the state to legally make deliveries, which Smith says is ready but the state’s notorious red tape is making a summer launch more likely. The company is also in the process of releasing caramels, chocolates and other products.

The gummies fueling the company’s initial growth come from Smith’s own recipe, developed after he returned home from serving in the U.S. Marine Corps during the initial wave of the Iraq War in 2003.

“Cannabis is something I found to help me level out,” he says, adding that while the therapy helped his post-traumatic stress disorder, the meds did not. Once he embraced cannabis as medicine, he was able to get back to life.

But Smith also credits the Marines with giving him the self-confidence and leadership skills that helped him not only build his company, but help change the state’s regulations to allow microbusinesses a delivery endorsement. He also makes sure to give back to the community, working with Girls Inc., local homeless shelters and the Veterans of Foreign Wars.

“I think showing them what I can do by leading from the front, that’s one thing the Marine Corps taught me,” he says.