From seedling to success: Cornbread Hemp’s journey to scalable production 

About Cornbread Hemp 

Cornbread Hemp is a fast-growing CBD brand based in Kentucky, producing high-quality, full-spectrum CBD products from seed to oil. With the 2018 Farm Bill opening opportunities in hemp cultivation, Cornbread Hemp was quick to establish a vertically integrated operation—growing, manufacturing, and fulfilling orders in-house. But as demand grew, manual spreadsheets couldn’t keep pace, prompting the need for a cloud-based inventory management solution that could match their growth ambitions. That’s when Katana stepped in. 

The Challenge: scaling operations without the right tools

As Cornbread Hemp expanded into their new 24,000-square-foot facility, Operations Director Karson Hardy realized their spreadsheet-based processes couldn’t keep up with the growing volume and complexity. Managing everything from seed planting to finished goods required a level of visibility and control that spreadsheets simply couldn’t deliver. Their team needed a system that would handle complex production workflows and support scaling into a larger facility and beyond. They struggled with: 

• Manual, time-consuming data management: 10 hours a week spent fixing, updating, and analyzing spreadsheets drained time from more strategic work. 
• Lack of real-time inventory visibility: Without a centralized system, they struggled to see accurate, up-to-date inventory levels for raw materials and finished goods. 
• Complex production and BOM management: Their vertically integrated model required detailed tracking of multi-level BOMs, labor costs, and yields—too complex for static spreadsheets. 
• Traceability and recall readiness: In a tightly regulated industry, the lack of lot-level tracking left them vulnerable to potential recall issues and compliance risks. 
• Integration with other systems: Disconnected workflows between Shopify, ShipStation, and spreadsheets complicated order fulfillment, returns, and overall operations. 

These challenges threatened to slow down Cornbread Hemp’s growth and risked undermining their commitment to quality and compliance. 

Katana solves the scaling challenge 

Cornbread Hemp adopted Katana in early 2023 to streamline their manufacturing and inventory management. Karson led the implementation, customizing Katana to manage their unique vertically integrated operation. From planting seeds to extracting oils to producing finished goods, Katana became the single source of truth for every step of the process. 

With Katana, Cornbread Hemp gained the visibility, control, and efficiency needed to scale operations into their new 24,000-square-foot facility—and beyond. Katana was the right fit for several reasons: 

• Live inventory management: Cornbread Hemp now has real-time visibility into raw materials, batches, and finished goods, eliminating guesswork. 
• Bill of materials (BOM): The company can now easily manage complex recipes for CBD products. 
• Lot tracking: They now have traceability from soil to oil, making it easy to meet compliance requirements and effectively manage any potential recalls. 
• Integrations: Katana is syncing seamlessly with Shopify and ShipStation for e-commerce, as well as third-party lab data for quality assurance.  

Manufacturing orders (MOs): Cornbread hemp can now run living, year-long MOs that track all inputs—labor, materials, yields—on a per-plant basis, providing detailed tracking of the manufacturing process and insights for potential future optimizations. Why Katana? 

The Impact: 10+ hours of manual work saved per week, improved data accuracy and recall readiness 

Since adopting Katana, Cornbread Hemp has: 

• Reduced time spent on manual spreadsheet updates by 10 hours per week—freeing up staff to focus on growth 
• Centralized inventory management, improving data accuracy and reducing errors 
• Enhanced recall readiness with lot-level tracking, ensuring compliance with Kentucky’s strict regulatory requirements 
• Improved visibility into production costs, helping set accurate pricing and maintain margins 
• Streamlined returns and integrated Shopify returns feature—saving hours on customer service 

Katana enables the next stage of Cornbread Hemp’s growth story 

Cornbread Hemp is already outgrowing its current facility and is planning to build a dedicated fulfillment and storage center. Their long-term goal is a “Cornbread Campus,” where all operations—farming, manufacturing, fulfillment—are on one site. Katana will remain the core system supporting this growth.