Calgary-based supplier to provide ‘local’ cannabis
The first Calgary-based company to be approved as a supplier of legal recreational cannabis in Alberta is betting that pot consumers will put as much value on “local” as craft beer drinkers do.
Sundial Growers — a privatelyheld company headquartered in Calgary with production facilities near Airdrie and Olds — announced Wednesday it has signed an agreement with the Alberta Gaming, Liquor & Cannabis Commission. The one-year agreement will allow Sundial to supply AGLC with premium cannabis in 2018 and contains provisions for two additional one-year extensions.
Sundial Growers chief operating officer Andrew Stordeur — whose background is in the beer industry — said his company expects to announce agreements with regulators in other provinces soon.
However, he said the Alberta market was the company’s first priority, adding Sundial wants to market itself as a grower of goodquality, “local” cannabis.
“I think cannabis is going to follow a lot of the same preferences that consumers have for being local in other categories, like food and alcoholic beverages like beer,” Stordeur said.In early July, the AGLC released a list of the first 13 licensed companies to be approved to sell recreational cannabis into the Alberta market.
Of those, the majority were from Ontario, with only one — Edmonton-based Aurora Cannabis — headquartered in Alberta. Canopy Growth, which was also among the first companies approved, has a facility near Edmonton but is headquartered in Ontario.
AGLC spokeswoman Heather Holmen said there will likely be more Alberta-based producers approved for the Alberta market, but added right now many companies are still working on getting the required licence from Health Canada.
“It’s a lengthy process from the Health Canada lens. As they become federally approved, we’ll certainly work with them if there’s an expression of interest to provide for the Alberta market,” Holmen said.
While Sundial was not one of the first 13 companies to get AGLC approval, Stordeur said it was just a matter of timing and production capacity. The company has been working on completing the first phase of its flagship facility in Olds, which will add an additional 30,000 square feet of capacity.
The second phase of the Olds expansion will add another 210,000 square feet of production capacity and is expected to be operational by the end of the year.
“As we come online with our Olds facility, that’s going to satisfy the demand that we foresee in Alberta for our product,” Stordeur said.
Between Calgary, Rocky View and Olds, Sundial currently employs more than 100 people, with plans to employ more than 500 by 2020. Stordeur said the company ’s job fair in Olds earlier this summer attracted 200 people.
Sundial said it expects to be one of the leading cannabis companies in Canada by 2019, with a projected production of more than 120 million grams of dry cannabis and the ability to process more than 30 million grams of cannabis extracts.