atory practices by some commercial property brokers, the
company eschews traditional commercial facilities in fa-
vor of souped-up, modular shipping containers for its grow
spaces that are discreetly tucked away inside nondescript
industrial warehouses. Individual containers are easier to
make compliant with odor and security requirements, Az-
imi says. The build out also costs less, the grow rooms are
portable and having multiple contained spaces limits cross-
contamination from common cannabis concerns like mold,
mildew and bugs.
“You probably can’t do anything terribly
significant in this space for less than
seven figures.”
— Daniel Conway, managing partner, Truth Enterprises
Each grow chamber — which includes roughly 500
square feet of plants in 8-foot-wide containers that vary
in length from 10 to 40 feet — is automated for water, tem-
perature, lighting and security. “We have heavy technology
Nasser Azimi, of Ohana Gardens, uses shipping containers
integration. We did that for operational efficiency, but also
for his grow spaces, which helps prevent potential cross-
to increase transparency,” says Azimi, who routinely gives
contamination in his plants from mold, mildew and bugs.
tours of Ohana’s facilities to regulatory officials. The verti-
cally integrated operation covers a total of 22,000 square feet
across multiple locations and cities and includes cultiva-
“Right now we are small but growing organically across
tion, manufacturing, distribution and a high-tech delivery the state,” Azimi says. “We do a considerable amount of cus-
system that attempts to combine an Amazon-style point-of- tomer retention, which is how we keep up with the big boys.
sale experience with an Uber-like delivery structure.
And we do it smart, in an efficient fashion with an extensive
Ohana originally started in 2014 as a medical marijuana amount of research and technology integration.”
business that was self-funded by the entrepreneurs. Fol-
lowing the passage of California’s Proposition 64, which
UNDER ONE ROOF
legalized the adult use of recreational marijuana in No- Launched in December 2016, Sacramento-based We Grow
vember 2016, the company added recreational cannabis. CA began as a real-estate property management company
The business has expanded its grow operations outside
specializing in leasing and developing commercial canna-
Sacramento to San Diego and Long Beach, and has landed
bis space. Co-founders Guy Matalon, Ori Bytton and Barry
its first retail facility in Emeryville. The company plans to
Shy — entrepreneurs with years of industry-related experi-
significantly expand its retail operations. While Sacramen- ence in commercial sales, real estate and solar technology
to is currently not permitting additional facilities, Azimi — originally hailed from Israel. Matalon and Bytton have
has storefront operations in the queue for San Diego, Long
been in the states for a decade; Shy joined the two co-found-
Beach, San Bernardino, Hayward, Modesto, West Holly- ers two years ago. Now, they are also developing their own
wood and Santa Monica.
large-scale cannabis operation that will cover all aspects of
August 2018 | comstocksmag.com
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