Gold Spectrum to close all East Tennessee locations, lay off 121 employees

BRISTOL, Tenn. — Gold Spectrum is set to close all eight of its East Tennessee locations, eliminating 121 jobs as a state grace period allowing the sale of certain hemp products comes to an end.

Greenbean Ventures LLC, the manufacturing affiliate of Gold Spectrum, filed a WARN notice with the Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development on May 13, notifying the state of permanent layoffs effective July 13.

The company has been operating under a grace period established by Tennessee House Bill 1376, which transferred regulation of hemp-derived cannabinoid products from the state Department of Agriculture to the Alcoholic Beverage Commission. The law allowed existing hemp retailers to continue selling certain products while the transition occurred. That grace period ends June 30.

When the grace period ends, THCA — tetrahydrocannabinolic acid, a hemp-derived product that made up an estimated 75% of Tennessee’s overall hemp market — can no longer be sold in concentrations greater than 0.3% on a dry weight basis.

House Bill 1376, which took effect Jan. 1, specified that THCA in a concentration greater than 0.3% on a dry weight basis is not a hemp-derived cannabinoid and cannot be legally sold. The law defines THCA as the precursor of delta-9 THC.

The legislation established new licensing requirements for hemp suppliers, wholesalers and retailers, imposed taxes on wholesale hemp sales and restricted where hemp products can be sold at retail.

Ashley Ellis, a team lead at the company’s production facility, said the end of the grace period does not have to mean a total shutdown.

“We’re not trying to argue the age restriction. We’re completely on board with that,” Ellis said. “We 100% think that there should be an age limit — and we can do that with stricter ID laws, with lab testing, with several other things than a total ban.”

CEO Zack Green said he has to face reality.

“We just, at some point, you have to accept the writing on the wall. And there’s not going to be an extension past June 30,” Green said.

Green added the closure is devastating.

“We’ve put a lot of blood, sweat and tears into this project here. And having 268 employees in the height of last year — it’s sad to see it crumble. It really is,” he said.

Green founded the company in 2019 after the 2018 Farm Bill Act legalized hemp production. The company started as a farming operation with 10,000 plants and expanded into extraction, product formulation and retail sales.

Ellis, who has worked at Gold Spectrum since February, said she considers her coworkers family.

“We are genuinely like a big family. It’s very heartbreaking, honestly, to be possibly losing out on what I consider to be family already,” she said.

Gold Spectrum’s research team tested to see if out of state retailers are not complying with Public Chapter 526. They found that out of state retailers were sending THCA products to Tennessee purchasers, violating hemp laws and violations.

“That’s dangerous that a 16-year-old in high school can order pounds of untested, you know, hemp or marijuana, who knows what it is, from many, many different websites and just have it directly shipped in with no regulation, no taxation as well too, and no testing,” Green said.

In November 2025, Congress enacted a full-year appropriations act that amended the federal definition of hemp. The law changed the limit to a total THC concentration of less than 0.3% on a dry weight basis rather than only delta-9 THC.

The new definition excludes final hemp-derived cannabinoid products containing more than 0.4 milligrams of THC per container. The change takes effect in November 2026.

Sen. Richard Briggs said “THCA exceeding a level of 0.3% is considered marijuana and illegal by the U.S. Department of Justice and the State of Tennessee,” Briggs said.