• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Advertise
  • Business Directory
    • Buyers | Licensees
    • Sellers | Ancillary Businesses
    • Submit Product & Service Press Release
  • CBE Exchange
  • CBE Jobs Exchange
  • Events
  • Featured Videos
  • Product & Service Press Releases
  • Sponsored Polls
  • Webinars
    • Upcoming Webinars
    • Archived Webinars
  • Whitepapers

Cannabis Business Executive - Cannabis and Marijuana industry news

Recreational, Medical, Marijuana, Cannabis, And Hemp News for Cannabis Businesses

  • Follow on Facebook
  • Follow on Twitter
  • Follow on Google+
  • Follow on LinkedIn
  • Subscribe to our RSS feed
Newsletter 2
  • Home
  • Policy & Legal
    • Hemp Business Executive
    • International
      • Canada
      • Mexico
      • Israel
    • US A to F
      • Alabama
      • Alaska
      • Arizona
      • Arkansas
      • California
      • Colorado
      • Connecticut
      • Delaware
      • District of Columbia
      • Florida
    • US G to M
      • Georgia
      • Hawaii
      • Illinois
      • Indiana
      • Idaho
      • Iowa
      • Kansas
      • Kentucky
      • Louisiana
      • Maine
      • Maryland
      • Massachusetts
    • US M to N
      • Michigan
      • Minnesota
      • Mississippi
      • Missouri
      • Montana
      • Nebraska
      • Nevada
      • New Hampshire
      • New Jersey
      • New Mexico
      • New York
      • North Carolina
      • North Dakota
    • US O to V
      • Ohio
      • Oklahoma
      • Oregon
      • Pennsylvania
      • Rhode Island
      • South Carolina
      • South Dakota
      • Tennessee
      • Texas
      • Utah
      • Vermont
    • US V to W
      • Virginia
      • Washington
      • Wisconsin
      • Wyoming
      • Guam
      • Puerto Rico
  • Industry News
    • Advertising, Marketing, PR & Research
    • Banking, Finance & Real Estate
    • Compliance and Regulations
    • Corporate Social Responsibility
    • Retailers
    • Hemp Business Executive
    • HR and Staffing
    • North Of The Border
    • Industry People/On the Move
    • Packaging and Supplies
    • Press Releases
    • Processors
    • Producers
    • Security Solutions
    • Science and Technology
    • South Of The Border
  • CBE Lists
    • Ancillary Businesses
      • 2019 CBE Ancillary Business Survey CLICK HERE
      • 2018 CBE 155 A/B
      • 2017 CBE 150 A/B
      • 2016 CBE 100 A/B
    • Producers, Processors, Retailers
      • 2017 CBE 200 PPRs
      • 2015 CBE 100 PPRs
    • Industry Women
      • Glass Ceiling Wreckers: 2019 CBE Power Women of Cannabis
      • 2017 CBE 75 Most Important Women
      • 2016 CBE Top 50 Women
      • 2014 CBE Most Influential Women
    • Most Important Companies
      • 2016 CBE 10 Most Important Companies
      • 2014 CBE 10 Most Important Companies
    • Political 100
      • 2017 CBE Political 100
      • 2016 CBE 100 Political
      • 2014 CBE Political 50
    • 2014 CBE 100 Most Important People
    • CBE RFP Hotlists
      • 2014 CBE Lab Testing Services HotList
      • 2016 BHO Extraction Equipment
      • 2016 CBE Supercritical CO2 Extraction Equipment
      • 2016 CBE Security Solutions
      • 2016 Edibles & Infused Products
  • Company Stories
    • Up and Comers
  • Hemp Business Executive
    • Hemp Policy & Legal
    • Hemp Industry News
    • Hemp State Regulatory Agencies
  • Newsletters
    • CBE Week
    • CBE Human Capital Management
    • CBE Technology & Solutions
    • CBE Policy and Legal Update
    • CBE Product and Service Announcements
  • Op-Ed
    • Cartoons
    • The Buck Stops Here
    • Opinions
    • Comments
  • Associations
  • State Regulatory Agencies
    • Marijuana
    • Hemp
  • Contact
  • AB Survey
  • About Us
  • Account
  • Accounting Services
  • Advertise
  • Advertising, PR & Marketing
  • All Cannabis News
  • Ancillary Business Survey 2018
  • Ancillary Business Survey 2019
  • Archived Webinars
  • Associations & Organizations
  • Banking & Payment Processing
  • Better Start for the Glass Ceiling in this Industry, CBE’s Most Influential Women
  • Book Reviews
  • Business Directory
  • Business Directory Introduction
  • Business Directory Listing
  • Business Directory Manage
  • Business Directory Registration Info
  • Business Directory Welcome
  • Call for speakers
  • Cannabis Investments
  • Cart
  • CBE Exchange
  • CBE HotLists
    • CBE Lab Testing Services HotList 2014
  • CBE Lists
  • CBE Political 50
  • CBE Press LLC Privacy Statement
  • CBE Press News
  • Checkout
  • Consulting Services
  • Consumption Gear
  • Contact
  • Contribute
  • Contributors
  • Create Your Product & Service Press Release
  • Creative Submission
  • Cultivation Products & Services
  • Current Poll
  • Edible & Infused Products
  • Editor’s Page
  • Email Whitelisting Instructions
  • Event Listing Questionaire
  • Featured Videos
  • Funding Options
  • Hemp State Regulatory List
  • Home
  • Human Capital Management Newsletters
  • Industry Jobs
  • Join the CBE Business Directory
  • Join the Directory
  • Lab Testing Regulations
  • Lab Testing Services
  • Login
  • Logout
  • Marijuana State Regulatory Contacts
  • Marijuana Tax Facts
  • Media Kit
  • Medical Marijuana Qualifying Conditions
  • Members
  • MJ Media Kit
  • Most Popular Stories
  • Most Read Stories
  • New Product & Service Listings Welcome
  • News Releases
  • Newsletters
    • Ask CBE
    • CBE Human Capital Management
    • CBE Policy and Legal Update
    • CBE Product and Service Announcements
    • CBE Technology & Solutions
    • CBE Week
  • On the Move
  • Organizations & Associations
  • Packaging & Supplies
  • Password Reset
  • Policy & Legal
  • PPR Survey
  • Product Releases
  • Profile Update
  • Register
  • Security Solutions
  • Software & Technology
  • Sponsored Polls
  • State Cannabis Product Packaging Requirements
  • Terms of Service
  • Thank You
  • The Most Influential People in the Cannabis Industry, The Cannabis Business Executive 100
  • Training & Educational Services
  • Upcoming Webinars
  • User
  • Whitepapers
  • WV Senate passes medical marijuana bill to House
  • Categories
  • Locations
  • My Bookings
You are here: Home / Industry News / Patience, Endurance and Cash Flow: Revisiting Canuvo of Maine and Their Keys to Success
Canuvo

Patience, Endurance and Cash Flow: Revisiting Canuvo of Maine and Their Keys to Success

August 29, 2016 by Rob Meagher Leave a Comment

By Rob Meagher

Whether small or large, one dispensary or many, single state or multiple state footprints, vertically integrated or singular licensee holders (Producer, Processor or Retailer), one of my favorite company stories that CBE has presented to our readers since launching almost 2 years ago is “Mom and Pop shop is making it big”, the story of vertically integrated Canuvo of Maine.

Many things have changed since we first covered the company.

  • Sage Peterson became CEO after her husband, Glenn (a newly elected Board Member of the National Cannabis Industry Association), at the company,
  • Canuvo moved into a 120,000 square foot facility and have already harvested 3 crops since transitioning from the innovative tractor trailer cultivation pods that they have grown their product in since becoming one of the state’s eight medical marijuana licensee holders,
  • Maine is one of several states with a November ballot initiative planned to legalize adult-use marijuana and regulate it like alcohol.

CBE recently caught up with Sage Peterson (SP) and below are excerpts from our conversation.

sage in store

CBE: Hello Sage and congratulations on the progress Canuvo has made since we last spoke. I have enjoyed  following you guys and learning about the progress that you and Glenn have been making… What is new at Canuvo?

SP: We have been in expansion mode! Over the course of the last 18 months, we have moved and improved both our dispensary and our cultivation facility. Our footprint for both business units increased exponentially. Canuvo dispensary

CBE: Has that been to prepare for the Maine November ballot initiative or to meet current medical marijuana demand?

SP: Expanding the dispensary and cultivation site was done to support the medical market and the potential for legalization. In this industry when you make changes, they need to be big steps, not incremental. The two locations we expanded into will keep us covered for years to come.

CBE: How do yields at new grow compare to the original tractor trailer cultivation sites?

SP: We have experienced a 300 percent increase in yield!

CBE: Wow. What have you changed or updated etc. since we last spoke?

SP: We have completely revamped our growing methodology. Our internal team designed every component and system and vetted the best vendors to execute on our design.

canuvo new grow building tables

CBE: Care to share some of the vendors that you have partnered with?

SP: Ones that offer financing! Joking aside, choices in the industry (e.g. lighting companies) and companies that are needed to support our industry (e.g. HVAC) are expanding all of the time. When choosing vendors, we focus on building a system.

CBE: What is your go-to equipment at Canuvo?

SP: A properly designed system is more important than any one piece of equipment. The equipment are separate parts of the system that have to work together. The challenge is controlling the technology properly—for example, with software programs that can notify you of changes in the environment and lighting parameters. In indoor agriculture, reaction time is very important. Designing a system that can prevent a problem in the first place is even more so. Canuvo close up flwr room - Crop

CBE: What has & hasn’t worked to your expectations?

SP: The design for the trailers worked up until a certain point. The design was not scalable. The design for the new garden took into account everything we had learned and then incorporated the most current options available to us. The efficiency of the garden design and the subsequent increase in yields have surpassed our expectations. At the second harvest we exceeded our reach goal. We see continued incremental improvement as we dial in our processes.

Because this business grows so quickly, you need to be thinking scale. If you think you need 10,000 sq feet, find 20,000; if you need 20,000 sq feet, look for a building that has 40,000 sq feet. The building our current cultivation is in is 120,000 sq feet. We acquired the building by holding the master lease to the whole building and will be able to utilize the full space if legalization occurs.

Though Glenn and I have experience with real estate, a building of this size has a different set of challenges. We are fortunate to have a great local network of consultants who are very familiar with the history and structure of the building. Even though the building is in great shape and will meet our needs for future growth, continued care and maintenance are required. Typically, small businesses of our size would not have that added responsibility and the associated costs.

CBE: What would you and Glenn do differently if you started all over?

SP: This business is tough on so many levels! In 2010 we were underfunded and lacked the breath of institutional knowledge for the myriad of areas in which we needed expertise. The two-fold answer to your question is:

  • If I were to do it over from 2010, I would have wished for more working capital at a reasonable rate.
  • If we were to start all over now, I would think twice about moving forward! Like many operators in this space, there are more things out of our control than in our control. This is not a get-rich-quick scheme. If I were to start again I would focus on a specialty. Maine is a seed to sale state. The knowledge we have gained over the last 6 years in cultivation, processing, manufacturing and sales has been tremendous, but has forced us to be generalists. The next step would be take the knowledge we have gained as generalists and pull forward as specialists. The time to focus and refine is now.

CBE: How large is your staff now?

Canuvo hand trimSP: 25—but we have had a re-distribution in labor. With the new cultivation facility, we were able to decrease the grow staff by 50 percent while increasing the yield by 300 percent. We then filled additional positions in customer service and manufacturing.

CBE: What do you project for year-end 2016 revenues?

SP: We are tracking towards $3 million.

CBE: What is next for Canuvo?

SP: In the next 12 months, we are planning to have in-house capabilities for a lab, extraction and R&D.

CBE: Anything else you would like to share?

SP: Because more things are out of our control than in our control, we needed to be patient and let things unfold. For example, the extraction market is growing rapidly and there are new solutions coming to market each quarter. We are glad that we waited to purchase equipment. I think patience, endurance, and cash flow are the key ingredients for our continued growth.

CBE: Thanks so much for the update Sage and keep up the great work, you truly inspire us!

Filed Under: Company Stories, Industry News Tagged With: Canuvo, Glenn Peterson, Maine Medical Marijuana, Sage Peterson

About Rob Meagher

Rob Meagher, CBE’s Founder, President and Editor-in-Chief is a 30 year veteran of the media world. His career has spanned from stints representing the Washington Post, USA Weekend, Reader’s Digest, Financial World & Corporate Finance to the technology world where he worked at International Data Group and Ziff Davis where he was part of the launch team for The Web Magazine, Yahoo Internet Life, Smart Business and Expedia Travels before starting his own marketing and Publisher’s Representative Firm. He also ran all print and online media sales and marketing for the Society for Human Resource Management before partnering with Forbes and then Fortune to create Special Sections covering a variety of topics. Rob, who started CBE Press in 2014, can be contacted at [email protected]

Primary Sidebar

Ad: Sidebar 1

Featured Video

Associations & Organizations

clearing div

Ad: Sidebar 2

Business Directory

Ad: Skyscraper 1

CBE Jobs Exchange


Featured Jobs
Go
Post a Job
More jobs
Powered by CBEJobsExchange.com

RSS Recent Jobs

  • Business Development Officer - Specialty Ag - Bank Michigan - Ann Arbor, MI
  • Field Applications Support Scientist - Danaher - Framingham, MA
  • Flash Chromatography Applications Chemist - VRS Recruitment - , NY

Product & Service Press Releases

Ad: Sidebar 3

CBE Events

Ad: Sidebar 4

State Regulatory Agencies

Ad: Skyscraper 2

Webinars

Ad: Sidebar 5

Associations & Organizations

Ad: Sidebar 6

Featured Video

Ad: Skyscraper 3

Business Directory

Ad: Sidebar 7

CBE Jobs Exchange

Ad: Sidebar 8

CBE Events

Ad: Skyscraper 4

Industry Blogs



Footer

  • Home
  • About Us
  • Advertise
  • Contact
  • CBE Press LLC Privacy Statement
  • Contribute
  • Contributors
  • Newsletters
  • Terms of Service
  • Contributor Login
  • Follow on Facebook
  • Follow on Twitter
  • Follow on Google+
  • Follow on LinkedIn
  • Subscribe to our RSS feed
Newsletter 2

© Copyright 2020 CBE PRESS LLC. - All Rights Reserved. Cannabis Business Executive Is A Trademark Of CBE PRESS LLC. · All Rights Reserved · And Our Sitemap · All Logos & Trademarks Belong To Their Respective Owners·