Lights, Cannabis, Action: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at a Marijuana Business
A look at the assets of LivWell Enlightened Health, the Colorado-based company profiled in the Fall 2017 issue of Middle Market Growth.
LivWell Enlightened Health is among the largest vertically integrated marijuana growers and sellers in Colorado. A profile of the company in the Fall 2017 issue of Middle Market Growth magazine looked at LivWell’s origins and what it takes to succeed as a marijuana grower and distributor. Below is a look at the company’s assets.
1. EMPLOYEES
LivWell has more than 600 employees, including more than 40 who work on the security and compliance team to follow rules that include inventory control at the business’s dispensaries and cultivation facility.
2. CULTIVATION FACILITY
The company has a 200,000-square-foot cultivation facility; approximately one-third of LivWell’s revenue is spent on cultivation-related costs. As with all other Colorado licensed growers, every plant in its cultivation facility requires an RFID tag—part of what’s called “seed-to-sale tracking.”
3. LED LIGHTING SYSTEM
LivWell invested more than $1.5 million in an LED system that helped it achieve the highest energy savings for a single lighting project in Colorado for 2016.
“That’s the difference between regulation and prohibition,” says Neal Levine, LivWell’s senior vice president of government affairs. “A drug cartel won’t invest in LED green technology.”
4. RETAIL STORES
LivWell has 14 retail stores in Colorado, including seven that sell both medical and recreational marijuana; four that sell medical marijuana only; and three that sell recreational marijuana only. The company recently opened its first store outside of Colorado in Springfield, Oregon.
Among the products LivWell sells are those from Leafs by Snoop, the cannabis brand of rapper Snoop Dogg, who also invests in ancillary marijuana businesses through his investment firm, Casa Verde Capital.
5. (NOT PICTURED) R&D FACILITY
In addition to its main production center, LivWell has an R&D facility measuring about 22,000 square feet.
To learn more about LivWell, read the Middle Market Growth cover story in the Fall 2017 issue.
Update: This article was updated on Nov. 27 to reflect the addition of LivWell’s latest store, which opened recently in Springfield, Oregon.
Neal Levine, LivWell’s senior vice president of government affairs, discusses 280E on the Middle Market Growth Conversations podcast.
