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Jim Kras

Thanks, Ted. Good morning and thank you to everyone for joining us today. 2024 was a pivotal year for Edible Garden, and I'm proud of the meaningful progress we made across the business. Our gross profit for 2024 grew an impressive 181.3%, and our gross margin nearly tripled from 5.9% last year to 16.7%, reflecting the strength of our core business and the successful execution of our strategic plans and vertical integration.
In May of 2024, we made a strategic decision to refocus our operations around our core herb business and to launch a new shelf-stable products, and a clean-label sports nutrition line. That meant stepping away from some of the lower margin categories like lettuce and floral that weren't delivering accretive levels of profitability.
In Q4 2024, we repurposed and expanded additional shelf space at our leading Midwest retail partner to pre-launch Kick Sports Nutrition into mass market. Associated with this launch, we stepped away from our legacy lower margin way protein products. By narrowing our focus on our core herb portfolio and launching innovative shelf-stable products, we have rationalized our product portfolio with a focus on higher margin, more profitable opportunities.
We began to realize the benefits of these decisions in the second half of 2024 with strong growth in our herb portfolio, improved gross profit, and a meaningful expansion in margins. We're confident that this momentum will carry into 2025 as a vertically integrated model with a more focused approach, and product introductions will drive growth and more and move us closer to profitability.
Total revenue for the year remained relatively flat, reflecting our intentional decision to exit lower margin product lines as part of our strategic realignment.
When you look at our core herb business on its own, revenue grew by $1.7 million, or 16.3% year-over-year, which really highlights the strength of our focused approach. This shift hasn't just improved profitability, it's also made us more efficient operationally and helped reduce our cost of goods thanks to better use of our own facilities and increased buying power. With most of that transition behind us, we believe Edible Garden is now in a great position to ramp-up top line growth and to stay focused on driving long-term profitability.
In addition, we made solid progress in 2024, strengthening our balance sheet through discipline cost controls, successful capital raises, and the execution of our operational realignment. Together, these efforts significantly improved our working capital, giving us more liquidity and greater financial flexibility.
With this strong foundation in place, we believe we're now in a better position to operate more efficiently, move quickly in a -- better position to operate more efficiently, and to move quickly on new opportunities, and to reinvest with confidence in the highest growth areas of our business. It also gives us the ability to better leverage our capital, expanding our buying power, bringing down our cost of goods, and setting the stage for accelerated growth as we head into 2025 and beyond.
These strong results also highlight the broader impact of the operational improvements we've made ranging from the enhanced automation and data-driven decision making to targeted investments in our patented agriculture technology. Combined with the benefits of a vertically integrated model, these efforts are helping us operate more efficiently and cost effectively across the board.
As we expand our retail partnerships and continue refining our processes, we remain focused on driving sustained marginal improvements and long-term profitability, all while creating lasting value for our customers and shareholders. One of the most significant developments this year was signing a non-binding letter of intent to acquire Narayan Group, a European producer of organic coconut and superfood products.
This proposed acquisition marks a major step forward in Edible Garden's strategic growth plans. If completed, it would be a transformative move expanding our footprint internationally and diversifying our product offerings in a meaningful way.
What makes this opportunity even more compelling is Narayan's vertically integrated supply chain, which will give us greater control over sourcing, production, and distribution, boosting efficiency, lowering costs, and enhancing transparency. The transaction also has the potential to open new opportunities for clean-labeled, plant-based ingredients of both North America and Europe, helping us scale the Edible Garden platform and reach new markets, a real cross-selling opportunity.
Edible Garden is continuing to grow its retail footprint across the US, strengthening our presence in key consumer markets by expanding distribution of our USDA Organic herb line and new products. We're making our sustainably grown, high-quality products even more accessible to shoppers. This growth directly supports our strategy to meet the increasing demand for organic, locally sourced products, while reinforcing our commitment to sustainability and innovation, and control of environment agriculture.
Innovation continues to be a key driver of Edible Garden's growth strategy. When the newest product launches, Squeezables, the shelf-stable line of stir-in paste that extends life shelf life without sacrificing flavor, and offering convenient better-for-you option for both consumers and retailers.
Squeezable adds to the Edible Garden's growing presence in the fresh condiments category, which also includes Pulp, a line of fermented gourmet sauces and chili products now available in major national retailers, and Pickle Party, the world's first functional pickle developed with Hermann Pickle Company. Together these offerings reflect the company's focus on clean-labeled ingredients, bold flavors, and sustainable sourcing.
We've also expanded into the active lifestyle space with Kick. Sports Nutrition, a clean-label lineup that includes protein powders, hydration mixes, and formulas for both pre- and post-workout. Kick launched exclusively on Amazon through a strategic partner with e-commerce expert Pirawna, gives us instant access to a global audience and helps strive brand awareness and engagement.
And this is only the beginning. A traditional rollout is just around the corner to coincide with upcoming beach season.
On the technology front, we advanced our work in agricultural innovation through Nanobubble trials in partnership with Brisea Group and NJIT. Early results showed up to a 55% increase in yield and a 30% reduction in harvest cycle time, highlighting the potential of this technology to revolutionize sustainable growing practices.
We're exceptionally proud of Edible Garden's inclusion in the top 50 of the 2024 FoodTech 500, which highlights global leaders at the intersection of food, technology, and environmental responsibility. It underscores our growing reputation as a pioneer in sustainable food innovation.
This recognition reflects the meaningful progress we've made through our commitment to innovation and sustainability across product development, operation, and strategic partnerships. From launching shelf-stable offerings like Squeezables, to expanding into high growth categories with Kick Sports Nutrition, we're meeting evolving consumer needs while advancing our sustainability goals.
We also introduced curbside recyclable pots as part of our sustainable packaging initiatives, contributing to the elimination over 11,800 metric tons of CO2 emissions in the 2024 Walmart's Project Gigaton. These achievements reinforce our vision for long-term growth, stronger retail partnerships, and continued leadership in building a more sustainable food system.
I would now like to turn the call over to Kostas Dafoulas, our Interim CFO, who will review the financial results for the three months and year ended December 31, 2024. Kostas.

Kostas Dafoulas

Thanks, Jim and good morning, everyone. Starting with the fourth quarter of 2024. For the fourth quarter ended December 31, 2024, revenue totaled $3.9 million, a slight decrease compared to $4.1 million for the three months ended December 31, 2023. The decrease was mainly driven by a loss of $400,000 related to our strategic exit from the floral and lettuce categories, offset by a growth in the core or herb portfolio.
Cost of goods sold was $3.8 million for Q4 2024, flat from a year ago. Selling, general and administrative expenses were $2.7 million (sic- see press release, "$2.8 million") for the three months ended December 31, 2024, slightly higher than the $2.6 million for the same period in 2023. The slight increase was primarily driven by costs associated with our warrant inducement transaction in December.
Net loss was $3 million (sic - see press release, "$3.1 million") for the three months ended December 31, compared to net loss of $3 million for the three months ended December 31, 2023. Net loss for the three months ended December 31, 2023, also include a one-time, non-cash impairment expense of $700,00 related to the legacy assets acquired from our predecessor company.
According to the results for the year ended December 31, 2024, revenue totaled $13.9 million, reflecting a 1.4% decrease compared to $14 million for the year ended December 31, 2023. The decrease was primarily due to our strategic shift away from the lettuce and floral product lines, which accounted for a $1.7 million decline in revenue.
Additionally, sales in the vitamin business declined by $300,000 year-over-year as we moved to refresh this product line with the launch of Kick Sports Nutrition. However, these declines were partially offset by a $1.8 million increase in sales from the core herb business, which saw continued growth of 16.3% year-over-year.
Costs of goods sold decreased by $1.7 million or 12.7% to $11.6 million for the year ended December 31, 2024, compared to $13.2 million in the prior year. The reduction in COGS was driven by a decreased reliance on third-party growers as Edible Garden Heartland became fully operational in 2024, enabling the company to internalize the production of its herb portfolio.
The transition away from low-margin floral and lettuce products resulted in cost savings of $4.1 million, partially offset by an increase of $2.4 million in costs related to integrating these activities into the company's own facilities. Gross profit increased 181.3% or $1.5 million to $2.3 million compared with $800,000 in 2023. Gross margin improved significantly from 5.9% of sales in 2023 to 16.7% of sales in 2024, reflecting the company's efforts to streamline operations and focus on higher margin products, along with a reduction in our reliance on third party growers.
Selling, general and administrative expenses increased by $1.6 million or 15.8% to $11.6 million in 2024, compared to $10 million in 2023. The increase was primarily driven by higher legal, audit, and accounting fees related to capital market activities of $900,000 and severance costs of $700,000, following the departure of the Chief Financial Officer.
Net loss for the year ended December 31, 2024, with $11.1 million compared with $10.2 million in 2023. This increase in net loss was primarily due to the rise of SG&A expenses and interest costs associated with the Cedar Advanced Facilities that we executed in 2024, partially offset by improved gross profit. Net loss for the 12 months ended December 31, 2023, also included a one-time, non-cash impairment expense of $700,000 related to legacy assets acquired from our predecessor companies.
With that, operator, please open the line for questions.

Question and Answer Session

Operator

(Operator Instructions) Anthony Vendetti, Maxim Group.

Anthony Vendetti

Just to focus a little bit on the gross margins and then I'd like to ask a question about the proposed acquisition. So on the gross margins, you mentioned that the actual gross profit increased this year, which is a step in the right direction, but for the fourth quarter it was barely profitable. Was that due to an inventory write-off?
And the numbers you provided are excluding any inventory write-offs due to obsolescence, or any other reason for the inventory write-offs? And are those largely complete, do you believe?

Kostas Dafoulas

Yeah, so Anthony, there was two components that drove that fourth quarter number. Part of it, the majority of it was a ramp-up in labor costs for the holiday season and early in Q1. We went into pretty heavy production mode for the holiday and there was some increase in cost of good labor to support those efforts in the fourth quarter. So I would say, tilting more towards those costs in the fourth quarter was a bigger driver of the lower gross profit margin.

Jim Kras

So Anthony, Q4, just to [co-tell] that, we were the first year that we had all of holiday, which is obviously peak business for the core herb business. So we ended up really ramping up labor to make sure that we could execute at the level that we executed with that, which is 98%, 99% fill rate. So that's in order to serve this new Walmart business that had come on prior to Q4, that we were ramping up for.
And then, obviously, the Meyer business, which is substantial at that facility at Harlem. But this is the first year that it was all in-house and we left nothing to chance so we made sure we staffed up appropriately to make sure that we could execute because we knew executing we drive, obviously, the future for us with both those retailers.

Anthony Vendetti

Okay. And then in terms of the acquisition, Jim, you mentioned some cross-selling opportunities. Can you specifically talk about which products do you believe there's cross-selling opportunities with? And what kind of margins does Meyer's foods have that, in terms of gross profit, and does that support your movement towards higher gross margin products overall as a company?

Jim Kras

They have two lines of businesses, right? They're very steep in the water coconut oil business, which is a growing global business. They're number one supplier to Aldi, and Aldi is one of the top grocery store chains in the world and fastest growing grocery store chain in the US.
So that starts to give us somewhere with all there to start to make inroads not only to Aldi, where we've done business in the past, but also into more coconut-informed and developed products, whether it's coconut oils, waters, whatnot.
And then you have superfoods, which is a combination of oat, porridges, and other types of products that are all organic, and they're fully certified. So, for us, what's nice is that starts to allow us to leverage the 5,000 doors here in the US to start to bring those products in.
I know they have a new pistachio butter product that they're coming out with as well. So really all about organic certified products that will help us expand the portfolio. And we go into different parts of the stores leveraging our relationships.
In addition, when you have Kick; Kick is a sports nutrition brand. We would look to add something like coconut water, since it has such great hydration properties to that line.
So, the upside for us is dramatic here to be able to use some of those products on our platform. And then conversely, there's quite a few things that we offer that we could potentially bring over to Europe to plug to their 75,000 doors that they're in throughout Europe,
Their margins are very healthy. We know that. We know that their cost of doing business there is less than ours. We know that they've been very efficient in the way that they source and manufacture.
So, for us, we're pretty excited about it. We know it's very complimentary, not only from a product portfolio and cross-selling, but also just from an operational strength and margin standpoint.

Anthony Vendetti

So maybe just to follow up then on the Sports Nutrition side of the business, you mentioned the movement. And to further scale that business within Edible, where are you at with that as just Edible Gardens? And then, maybe just talk about what the opportunity is in the Sports Nutrition category in 2025?

Jim Kras

Okay, so one last thing that I missed though, Narayan is also EBITDA positive. So when you start to look at the scale of putting the two companies together, not only from a margin expansion opportunity, it's going to allow us to be a much bigger company that, within a pretty short period of time will be EBITDA positive as a totality of the business, especially with the trajectory we're on. So I just want to add that.
As far as Sports Nutrition, that's a lot of my background. That's where I came from originally. It's pretty interesting the journey that we're on, as its supplementation has become such a bigger part of the consumer's life.
Obviously, Sports Nutrition, the dynamic is changing there. For years it was pseudoscience and getting bigger, stronger, faster. People weren't looking necessarily at what was in the bottle. They just wanted the results. I think people have come down to earth and realized that, not only do you have to exercise and eat right, but it's also important to put the right supplements into your body.
I think I've mentioned this on calls in the past, and I know it's in my bio. I started at Nature's Bounty as a brand person relaunching metrics and pure protein and Body Fortress, which is about $300 million worth of business for them, and to this day still is.
With that said, Kick is really contemporary. It's clean-labeled. We partnered with Neutricom. We've done a who I've been working with for going back 20-some odd years, and this is a real growth area and all the research substantiates that consumers are looking for -- they're looking for supplements and they're looking for products that are better, cleaner-labeled, better for you, and that fit what their lifestyle is.
And so for us, the growth is tremendous. It's a huge category. I think, I know the timing is strong for us and right, we're launching exclusively on Amazon. That was a pretty involved a conversation and in order to get that opportunity and to work with Tiana, which is out on the Westcoast and works hand in glove with some of the biggest brands out there on Amazon.
And so to be able to be in this position with the support of Amazon to launch, in a category that Amazon does very well with. I know that one of the category leaders does over $200 million just on Amazon alone and on four SKUs of protein powder. So there's a lot of upside there.
We're just introducing into traditional distribution, right on the heels of the launch, you'll call it. I would say within the next six weeks we'll be in our largest Midwest partner, with Kick, with a traditional retail launch that's going to be, like I said, on the heels, the Amazon launch.
So we've already manufactured and are going to be turning on Amazon in the next two weeks, call it mid-April, and then and shortly after, we'll be ready for beach season in traditional retail, and then we'll be pushing out from there. So, pretty excited about that part of the business.
And then, another line that we haven't talked a lot about, which is and is the pickle line, the Pickle Party line with Hermann's Pickles. They've been making pickles for 75 years for some of the biggest brands out there. We partnered with them to really put our spin on it; fresh pickles that are refrigerated that appear in the produce right along with the trucks that we currently have going into distribution.
We've already lined up some big box opportunities with that coming out of an extremely successful Expo West, where it's just a matter of having enough time in the day to cover off on the meetings that we have in order to deliver on the commitments that we have and the conversations that we have.
So, second half of 2025 looks really bright with these new products. And now that we've got that base set with the core herb business where it's running correctly, and the margins are there, and things are only improving. And like I said, we made a significant investment in people on Q4 and to make sure that we left nothing to chance so we could really drive the business this year and focus on top line. So, I'm pretty bullish on where we're going.

Anthony Vendetti

Okay. And then, just lastly, as you focus on the higher margin products and exit some of the lower margin ones like --
So as you exit the -- I just focused on the higher margin products -- exit some of the lower margin products like lettuce and the floral business, are there any costs expected in the first quarter of '25, one time charges related to the exiting of lettuce and the floral business or any other charges expected? I know that probably some charges or costs associated with the proposed acquisition, but any cost associated with exiting the lettuce or floral business?

Jim Kras

And you're talking about, just to reaffirm, and I know that I think costs may have dropped off the line, but I can answer this question. So just to recap what you're asking in Q1 of 2025, are there any additional costs beyond what's associated with the lettuce and the floral business? Was that the question?

Anthony Vendetti

Yeah.

Jim Kras

Okay. We don't anticipate any. I mean, frankly, the business is pretty clean, excuse the pun. We've been able to get rid of some of these lower margin, no margin businesses that provided some top line revenue. But when you think about what we were able to accomplish last year, we're replacing that revenue in a pretty short period of time.
I mean, we only had six months of benefiting from being more efficient, shedding the contract growers, and driving that margin. And like I said, we look at the numbers that we put in this year with everything just in much better order, we're going to -- we should be able to drive that business and like I said, I don't think we're going to see much drag in Q1.
So hey, Kostas, I saw that you just jumped back on. Anthony's question was in regards to Q1 and any potential one-time charges over and beyond, anything associated with exiting the lettuce and floral business. So I said --

Kostas Dafoulas

Yeah, I don't see any charges coming from those exits, Anthony. It's the growing equipment and stuff like that we took care of all those in 2023, and we can use those assets for other purposes. So nothing else there.

Anthony Vendetti

Okay. Great. Thanks for all the color. I'll hop back in the queue. Appreciate it.

Operator

(Operator Instructions) Nick Pincus with Forest Capital.

Nick Pincus

Well, first off, congrats on the tremendous progress that you guys are making. You touched on this previously in the in the prior Q&A, but you benefited from only six months of the vertical integration implementation, and it really is impacting the gross profit. Can you expand on your plans to leverage these improvements going forward?

Jim Kras

Yeah, look, we, like I said, six months was -- when you think about how far we came in such a short period of time and where the business is now, we're really positioned to focus our energies on that top line growth, right? And so, last year was really, as I like to say around the office, was really about fixing the machine.
And that was something that we were able to not only think about it, bring five acres up and running, put in more automation and be able to -- be ready for the capacity and output in Q4. All of that had to happen pretty quickly last year as we were transitioning out of contract growers.
So I'm really proud of what the team was able to accomplish. We were able to, keep our reputation as someone who could pick, pack, and ship at such a high rate, which is the expectation by all these major big box retailers.
All that drives new opportunity and those new opportunities are coming to fruition now. So, to have that, it's an ongoing process no matter what, but to have that behind us, and focus on the second half of this year and putting in these new products, which I think, are the right products at the right time with the right pricing and the right formulas. I couldn't be more proud of how quickly the team has been able to rise to that occasion.
And when you start to think about what makes smaller companies great and bigger companies, it's the ability to go to market quickly, to be able to react if there was something that was put into the releases and into the script. Which I believe was put in by Kostas, which is he's got the -- he's somewhat new and he's not. Now, he's a vet because he's been here and lived through it for the past year and it's really impacted our business.
But it's really about this ability to move quickly to take the capital that we have. We've strengthened the balance sheet, and we can go after opportunities and really move and on a dime. Whereas bigger companies they're just going to take a long time and the markets, a lot of times, the market opportunity passes them by or they don't have that opportunity of being a first market mover, which is something that I've always prided myself on in what I thought I brought to the table with my marketing background.
And I think here, that's what you're going to see is our ability to really stick and move, leverage off that. We're going to have some good base business growth that, but really it's the new products, the new accounts moving into the likes of big box retailers that are truly going to drive the volume.
And so, this is the first time since I've been involved in the business that I really I feel like we can really put our energies towards growing the business with the right products, with the right margins. And I think we've got -- and I know we've got the right team.
So last year was really still a hey, let's -- we got to fix all of this before we can really start to start to run. And so, that's where I think, when you look at only six months, I mean, that it's only six months. This year is going to be pretty compelling.
And I'm pretty exciting about between the new products, the opportunity with Narayan, which I think is very like-minded companies that are looking to put great products out there, with the right formulas and the right, nutritionals at the right time. And it having that manufacturing leverage now that we we'll have, that we haven't had in the past because we didn't have it. And if we can do something accretive like Narayan, it's really going to accelerate the business and it's going to get really interesting really quick for us, which I think is great.

Nick Pincus

I agree. I think you said it very well. And this isn't really a question, but what I'm excited about is you've built a very impressive distribution platform, access to 5,000 plus stores, contracted business with Walmart, Meyer. And so now, what I'm looking forward to is seeing how you guys could leverage that for the new products Pickle Party, Pulp, Kicks. So good luck.

Jim Kras

Well, I appreciate it, and that's always been a discussion, right? It's like one of the biggest assets going into this. And when you look at the fact that so many of our competitors, when you just look at CEA specifically, which is controlled environment agriculture, have gone out of business. And they've raised in 10 times the money and that's just not -- that's a real number 10 times, and most recently, the company had raised 20 times.
Relationships aren't just about, hey, I know the buyer, it's about performing. When we make an investment like we did in Q4 in people to drive to drive in stocks and ship rates, you get the theory is you'll get rewarded for that down the road, and we have. And we continue that when we have a seat at the table at major retailers and we make the investment in the shows and in the marketing, and the advertising so that we can not only, sell it in but sell it through.
So I'm, like I said, we're there. It's taken years, frankly, Nick, to get there and we're there now. And like I said, we're at a great inflection point, and I'm pretty thrilled. I appreciate it. Thank you.

Operator

Brian Kennedy, Capital Market.

Brian Kennedy

That's a very impressive gross margin improvement and the fact that it's such a short period of time that you achieved it in. I'm looking at the numbers. I mean, when I look at year-to-date numbers annually, you're approaching 20% there. And you only did it for what part of the year?
I'm just trying to understand a little bit though in terms of what the gross profit was in the fourth quarter. I mean, the drag doesn't really reflect what your full year was, so can you speak a little bit about what maybe impacted it, because I think you're on a trend here taking 20%. And normalized, is it fair to say you'd be more approaching 30% once everything works through the system?

Jim Kras

Yeah, I think that's fair. I think, look, I think we've got a target GP that's 35% to 40%. We think that's definitely achievable as the product mix starts to iron out with some of these more shelf-stable products coming in at much higher rings as they would say, right? So when you think about the fact that how many basil plants you have to sell versus how many jars of Sports Nutrition or pickles, it's considerable.
Q4 was -- we continue to invest in people. I think Anthony had asked this question earlier, and I'll hand over to Kostas in a second to talk a little bit more about the nothing bolts and the numbers, but it was really about Q4 tends to be our heaviest type of year, time of year. It's, obviously, in the States, it's Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's, and herbs are a big part of everybody's meals and parties, so we see a considerable lift.
And when we see it at some of our key retailers, and in this instance, Meyer, does a huge, what's called the holiday program that really kicks off in the middle of -- to the end of October all the way through the first week in January where we see a 10 times lift in volume coming out of the facility. So this year was a combination of labor ramp-up plus there were some items that we ended up having to pay a little bit more for because of the fires that were out in California. So whether it was time or sage that were impacted, all of that went into our cost of goods?
But the label was a big piece of it that really we ended up investing in to make sure that we nailed holiday because we knew that that drives the next year. If you fall down during the holiday and you don't ship at 98% plus. That's the expectation from these retailers, whether it's Meyer or Walmart, which was in that facility this year as well.
So that was really where that -- I look at it more of an investment knowing that this year, we're going to be a lot more prepared since this was the first year, Brian, that we had that all that program for both those major retailers in our Heartand facility. So we didn't have, the year before, we had outsourced it, so we ended up making sure and left nothing to chance by making sure we had enough people and that was a lot of what that expense was related to.
Kostas, do you have anything to add there?

Kostas Dafoulas

I think you hit the highlights on the head, Jim. The COGS was certainly related to the ramp-up and the labor component and the purchases component really drove the decline versus a year's trend. But I think it's all normalized as we get through 2025 and we have a much better understanding of our demand and how to properly adjust for those things from an inputs perspective.

Jim Kras

No, I just want to make it -- look, the reality is there's some room for improvement there at the facility. We brought in a new production manager who ran the program. It was his first program and like I said, we probably overstaffed to make sure we didn't have any problems.
And look, I'll take responsibility for that because I hang our hat on our operational excellence as it relates to our ability to fill orders. And so I don't think you're going to see that this year, now that we'll have a year under our belt, we have a full year plus of the facility operating the lines won't be new, and new to the people. And I fully expect Q4 to outperform Q4 of this past year because we just won't have some of those hurdles. I made sure that we didn't have to (multiple speakers) --

Brian Kennedy

It's all about the investment and growth, and I think the fact that you were able to -- and I mean this is what I wanted to highlight a little bit because you did so much in such a few months to have such a strong margin for the whole year.
You can just see that trending for '25. It should be very strong. So we look forward to that. Look forward to increased revenues too. I think you've got a lot of great initiatives there to certainly increase the upline. So you guys are well on your way.
I noticed in your financials you paid down some debt, so that was nice to see that you've got that rolling in the right direction. You got just a little bit of debt left. So that's -- and I take that's on your fixed assets, your greenhouse facilities.

Jim Kras

Yeah, primarily, yeah, we're -- yeah, that's, I mean, that's good debt, right. That's lower interest debt we've got a little bit of receivable debt out there that we'll be working through this year. But, like I said, we're in a great spot, and the team's done a great job. And frankly, Kostas has done a great job. I think he deserves a lot of credit as well as bring just allowing me to focus on new products and some of the things that I know that I do well to drive revenue.
I'm excited to get after it this year and, I'm less worried about, I don't know what the right phrase is, but it's just like I'm less worried about certain things, more focused on driving the business because that's what I enjoy to do. And I think, driving that top line and this Narayan opportunity I think is huge, and I think really will change the dynamic and really put an interesting face on Edible Garden.
I think position us differently in the eyes of some of the bigger players out there since, like I said, we're so quick to market. There's a real strong team, in Slovenia, where Narayan's based, that I think is going to help deliver some really interesting products into the platform and the shared platform.
So I think growth could be exponential moving forward now that we can focus on that growth versus worrying about contract growers and a constant negotiation on a lot of stuff. So being vertically integrated now really gives us a lot of strength and we're not carrying a lot of debt to your point, which is -- just gives us a lot of flexibility and we had a nice cash balance going into the year, so that takes some of that worry away.
Kostas, do you want to speak to that a little bit at all?

Kostas Dafoulas

I think you hit the main points, Jim. We, in Q4, we did pay down about $3.2 million in debt to shore up the balance sheet, which was -- put us in a really good position entering the 2025. From a balance sheet perspective, we're looking to make smart investments like we mentioned in the Kick line and others along with this Narayan transaction, which I think could be really transformative for us in 2025.

Brian Kennedy

I know you've got a nice cash balance going in from last year, so that shows really well. The last point I just want to make or ask, and this is just the -- you see all these metrics working in the right direction, I just don't understand the market cap of Edible.
This company to me looks really well undervalued. You've got tremendous customer base. They're hard to get. You've made investment to keep the customers, as you pointed out there. That's just a tremendous investment to get those customers and keep them, and they're worth a lot of money.
So, I'm looking forward to seeing what you guys are going to do this year in terms of, I guess, investor relations and letting the world know about this terrific growth opportunity. Because I mean at this market cap today, it's ridiculous compared to what your business is really doing. So congratulations.

Operator

Thank you. As we have no further questions on the lines at this time, I would like to hand it back over to management for closing remarks.

Jim Kras

Thank you for joining us today. We've demonstrated that we can grow intelligently by prioritizing higher margin categories, investing in sustainability, leveraging vertical integration, and embracing technologies that are shaping the future of agriculture. And we're not just getting -- and we're just getting started.
With our Heartland facility fully transition to growing our products line in-house, cleaner, more strategic product mix, and global expansion opportunities on the horizon, we're heading into 2025 with strong momentum, a clear vision, a solid foundation to drive long-term shareholder value. We're excited about what's ahead and we remain committed to delivering value for our customers, our partners, and our shareholders.
Thank you very much, and have a good day. Thank you for the support.

Operator

Thank you, ladies and gentlemen. This does conclude today's call. You may disconnect your lines at this time and have a wonderful day, and we thank you for your participation.