Often when businesses grow rapidly, company culture can fall by the wayside, but this has not been the case for Green Lawn Fertilizing, based in West Chester, Pennsylvania, which recently earned four major awards all in the same quarter.
These awards include ranking on the Inc. 5000 2025 list, the 2025 Philadelphia100 list, being named a Fast 50 Honoree from the Philadelphia Business Journal and ranking #2 Best Places to Work (Large Company) by the Philadelphia Business Journal.
“We are growing rapidly because of our company culture,” says Josh Willey, president and COO of Green Lawn Fertilizing. “I don’t view it as something to maintain on the side as we scale – it is the strategy. We are in a field-based, consumer service business with hundreds of team members executing on thousands of interactions every day. When the team is valued, invested in and proud of what we are building together – those interactions are in line with our mission and they fuel our growth.”
Earning the Awards
Ranking on the first three lists is based on the company’s revenue growth. Inc. 5000 recognizes the 5,000 fastest growing private companies in the U.S., while the Fast 50 list is for the 50 fastest growing companies in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
The Philadelphia100 list is the fastest-growing 100 companies in Pennsylvania, based on a three-year rolling average.
Willey says they have been able to grow at this rate thanks to their people.
“The metrics behind the revenue growth are increased retention on all service lines, larger outside sales teams, increased close rates and higher realized pricing throughout the business,” Willey says. “Behind each of those metrics though is a team committed to our mission of delivering a superior customer experience.”
As for the Best Places to Work award, this is based on confidential employee feedback. The survey measures aspects such as trust in senior leadership, compensation and benefits, teamwork, work-life balance and commitment to the community.
Green Lawn Fertilizing first had their team surveyed in 2019 and was recognized in the ‘Small’ business category and has earned the award every year since, including first place overall in the ‘Large’ company category in 2024.
Willey says he is most proud of the company receiving the Best Places to Work award.
“Our goal is for everyone in our organization to win together – to share successes at every level,” Willey says. “As the business grows, our goal is that every team member is growing personally, growing professionally and growing the income they take home to their families.”
The company celebrated these wins by identifying eight high-impact team members selected by their managers to attend each ceremony along with the senior leadership team. Additionally, founder and CEO Matt Jesson, sent out cookies and brownies and a card to all team members’ homes to celebrate and say thank you.
Maintaining Growth and Culture Simultaneously
Green Lawn Fertilizing has had an 18.6% percent growth rate over the last three years and they have 367 employees on staff currently. Willey argues that it’s nearly impossible to grow a business in the industry organically without understanding the importance of a valued, well-trained and engaged team.
Willey says some of the defining characteristics of their culture includes personal accountability, a desire to grow every day and trust in one another that empowers the team to pursue the best outcomes quickly.
“It’s not about who gets credit or who is right, it’s about finding the right outcome – period,” Willey says.
Beyond their standard annual goals, each leader in the business shares core competency goals tied to gratitude, prudence/open mindedness, emotional intelligence, effective communication and collaboration.
Willey recommends that other companies track and measure everything as well as pursue improvements in processes, technology and strategy. The company conducts an annual internal engagement survey and a new hire survey at 45 days. They also monitor engagement levels at branch and company-wide team building events and company service events.
Green Lawn Fertilizing hosts a number of different team events, including family days at Hershey Park, Philadelphia Eagles tailgating, a kickoff meeting at Citizens Bank Park, an annual golf outing and a company holiday party where $15,000 in prizes is awarded. The company also holds over 12 different community service events.
Willey says the company also invests in their team’s growth with 80+ team members having graduated from their internal leadership development program, 60+ technicians moving up the advancement ladder, 40+ becoming certified mentors and 10 leaders completing on-campus programs at Harvard Business School.
“Our people are valuable and certainly valued by our leadership team,” Willey says. “We genuinely believe that we have the best people in the industry and that they are the reason our business is thriving. The business will only continue to grow as our team continues to thrive. We are always looking for new ways to provide opportunities for our team to grow.”
One of the challenges that they have faced as they’ve grown rapidly is outgrowing their facilities. Willey says they outgrew their facilities faster than anticipated and are dealing with a larger-than-planned investment required to move and increase capacity in each of their four hub locations.
Another hurdle is the increase in medical benefits, as the company has made the investment to keep medical insurance costs flat for the team. Green Lawn Fertilizing has absorbed all cost increases for the past eight years.
Willey says they are pulling back slightly on their growth goals for 2026 to 13.2% so they can ensure the focus and resources continue to be on their team and level of service.
“Every success we’ve had starts with the team members out in the field and in our offices who live our values every day,” Jesson says. “These honors validate both their hard work and our shared vision for building something special here.”
