The Challenge
The Canadian Cannabis Chamber, recommended us to the new owners of Acreage.
It has been recently taken over by a new group of investors that tried to keep the same team from the previous ownership, and wanted to put the facility up and running with the right direction…
First approach to know the case
So they invited us to visit the Acreage facility in November 2020, Acreage Pharms, is a 100.000Sq Ft facility located in Peers, Alberta, beautiful landscape surrounded by nature, lots of space and expansion potential, being one of the first federal licenses in Canada in 2018, made this project very interesting, a new challenge for the team and an opportunity to show what we can do. Started working in January 2021 presenting a new strategy on production and operations to turn it around as fast as possible, easier said than done, we encounter many challenges along the way, to list a few:
We assessed the challenges ahead, and proceed to fix the ones we could get out of the list quick.
Cultivation and Processing
We saw all challenges and focused on the ones we could fix, we were constantly training the employees, some of them catch the program fast and some of them did not accept the changes and new programs.
We pushed on the direction of:
In a business where the revenue comes from your plants, other than having a capable team to take care of them, you need to get a hold of great genetics. At Momentum we have very passionate breeders like Benjamin and Daniel, they have been hunting special Cannabis plants for more than 15 years, between them two they hold more than 500 different, very genuine varieties.
After a good market study we introduced 3 different genetics:
Caramel Drip a cross of: (Cream Caramel #42 x Underdog) x (Aya purple x Blue Ecstasy) a powerful Indica ideal for the end of the day, for a good sleep with a mix of Salted caramel & fruity flavor. Averaging 26-28% THC and 3% Terpenes.
Purple Gelato Punch a cross of: (Gelato 41 x Mike Larry) x (Fuzz Pedal #16 x Animal face) Sativa leaning hybrid, Keeping the vigor of one of the most flavorful and big producer Gelato phenotypes, this cut, has a very delicious flavor with menthol berry, cream tones and uplifting effect. Averaging 29-32% THC and 4-5% Terpenes.
Bamboo Honey a cross of: Honey boo boo x Platinum. Sativa leaning, with a sweet flavor and big yields. Averaging 23-26% THC and 3-4% Terpenes.
All of them are very resistant to stress…
These new cultivars made an instant upgrade, helping us a lot in supporting the journey, taking Acreage Pharms LTD to the next level, not only in the Medical market the Recreational as well.
We changed a lot of SOPs in the beginning, built solid training programs, put a lot of effort on having a strong team of the correct managers, Improving mother plant efficiency, reducing cloning times, Increasing flower quality, developing the new genetics, improving harvest times, built a curing and storage program, hand trimming team, building a solid supply chain, Developing a good Q&A team, with a solid tracking system, monitoring the teams building a solid KPI system to reward them for the well done job.
Results after applying our methodology
3 months after we harvested our first crop with pleasant numbers, we went from 14-17% Cannabinoids to 28%+, terpenes climbed from 1.2-1.8% to 3% yield was increased by 30%. We sold the entire batch clean, for a great price.
Internal growth of the company at a professional level
6 months after we decreased operation expenses by 25% and numbers were consistent on quality and yield, introduced new genetics that brought new sales and contacts, Q&A department was solid, the team was getting more engaged, training was still going and hired some talent to support the new brands that we were launching.
Birth of a whole new company
After 1 year and half we were selling 300kg/month, we created 2 brands in the recreational market that were doing consistent sales under solid contracts, the team was in a whole other level of knowledge, trained and solid, with a great environment and culture.
30%
Yield Increase
Significant growth in product yield within three months.
25%
Expense Reduction
Operation costs cut by a quarter in six months.
300kg
Monthly Sales
Achieved consistent sales and brand development in 1.5 years.
“The arrival of the Momentum team at Acreage Pharms LTD, was a milestone for the success of our organization. Benjamin and Roberto made the team adapt to the new procedures very quickly in a friendly way, everybody was learning a lot, for the first time our numbers were consistent, in the first 3 months we did a great improvement with quality, education and financially, the culture at Acreage changed for the better, we were reducing our yearly expenses as much as 25% and being more efficient, that gave us the opportunity to have better connections and partnerships and we were selling all of our product, thank you to Benjamin and Roberto for your dedication and quality work”
Mike Le
COO, at Acreage Pharms LTD
