Azuca Improves Profits and Competitive Differentiation for ECC’s Edibles

Everest Cannabis Co. partners with Azuca to provide consumers with a better, more consistent edibles experience.

Industry Landscape and Background

New Mexico’s cannabis market is growing increasingly competitive. Most dispensaries offer similar products, often from the same vendors, making differentiation challenging but essential. So when New Mexico approved recreational cannabis, Everest Cannabis Co. recognized a tremendous opportunity to scale its successful cannabis business to meet consumer demand and differentiate itself. 

Everest Cannabis Co. is uniquely positioned. In addition to cultivating its own plants, the brand is equipped with a lab to produce in-house concentrates and edibles. Still, as they looked toward creating edibles as part of their growth strategy, Everest sought to do things differently. 

Today, most brands producing commercial-scale cannabis edibles include distillate as a raw ingredient in their recipes. This method is generally effective and reliable, but it presents challenges to manufacturers and consumers alike. 

The process is wasteful, challenging to scale, and creates supply chain and shelf-life issues. And from the consumers’ perspective, this style of edibles manufacturing makes consistency and effective dosage virtually impossible. 

Consumers often complain about unpredictable onset times, unpleasant flavors, and an undesirable “couch-lock” effect. Everest sought to address these issues with an easily-scalable solution that makes “social consumption” a genuine reality. 

Challenges

Everest Cannabis Co. had never produced edibles and was looking to partner with a trusted brand and team with a turn-key solution for manufacturing fast-acting, consistent, and great-tasting edibles. 

They needed a scalable, easy-to-implement solution that could work in a small commercial kitchen and still deliver a premium THC-driven experience. Moving fast to establish themselves as the preferred provider in New Mexico’s recreational edibles market, they also needed expert product and formulation support.

Implemented Solutions

Everest Cannabis Co. chose to partner with Azuca, leveraging AZUCA TiME INFUSION™ Activator for a quick, efficient way to jump into the edibles market with delicious, consistent, and easy-to-dose products. 

Starting with syrups, a team of Azuca experts worked closely with Everest’s staff at all stages of product development. Looking ahead, they also considered the importance of AZUCA TiME INFUSION™ Activator as an un-infused ingredient that could be readily shipped and scalable to support their anticipated growth across New Mexico’s recreational cannabis market. 

Client Outcomes

Everest Cannabis Co. experienced low startup costs with a cost-effective licensing structure requiring no expensive equipment investments. 

In addition, Azuca’s efficient onboarding process minimized staff time demands. Finally, as they moved into production, AZUCA TiME INFUSION™ Activator eliminated the usual costly manufacturing and supply chain issues inherent to edibles manufacturing.

With the syrups products, Everest avoided the separation, transfer, and active ingredient loss typical of traditional infused beverage manufacturing. In addition to syrups, Everest Cannabis Co. implemented AZUCA TiME INFUSION™ Activator, which is safe for baking, freezing, storing, and transporting, when manufacturing their line of baked cookies. AZUCA TiME INFUSION™ enabled the Everest team to launch distinct product lines that are uniformly temperature, pH, shelf, and supply-chain stable, supporting a consistent and positive consumer experience in all retail locations across the state.   

Also, with proven consumer appeal, AZUCA TiME INFUSION™ supports Everest Cannabis Co’s commitment to creating hydrophilic (water-soluble) edibles that are fast-acting, great-tasting, and support a social consumption experience with a DELTA-9-THC euphoric high.

Everest Cannabis Co. was floored by how scalable and straightforward the manufacturing process was, and the chefs in their commercial cannabis kitchen love that AZUCA TiME INFUSION™ supports their creativity. 

“Azuca has revolutionized how we develop and produce edibles! The fast-acting effect adds a new layer for how creative our development team can be, and our Azuca reps are full of knowledge and easy to work with.” – Torey Hume, Operations Manager, Everest Cannabis Co. 

To learn more, please contact PARTNERSHIPS@AZUCATiME.COM.