Grower Stories #131: Sam McAdam

Floravega Focuses on Bringing Affordable and High-Quality Medical Products to Everyone

The AskGrowers team sits with Sam McAdam from Floravega to ask about how the company came to be and what it focuses on. He talks about the brand’s focus on affordable and yet quality flowers for the people of Nevada as well as how the brand helps to make local impacts. Their medical and recreational products both are created with sustainability in mind. Sam McAdam also talks about the trends of the cannabis industry and how he thinks the market will change in the next 5 years. #growerstories

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I have worked in Cannabis for over 5 years after a medical episode left me near death with Western medicine failing me. After a long fight and an amazing recovery, I was so moved by the medical potential of cannabis that I quit my job and started a home-grow to become a caregiver. After working in a commercial medical grow and running my own grow in Maine, I relocated to Las Vegas to join the Floravega team.

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Tia (AskGrowers) : Tell us your brand story. How did you start?

Sam McAdam : Floravega started in 2015 as a medical cannabis operation here in Las Vegas, Nevada. We started with the intention of bringing clean, quality cannabis to the Las Vegas medical market and when recreational came around, we took part. After a rough start in the market, trying to acclimate to Nevada testing standards and the climate of the desert, we found ourselves struggling. In 2019, we made some personnel changes, re-branded, and began our come-back story, vowing to consistently improve on our weaknesses and further build on our strengths. By the summer of 2020, our flower quality had improved dramatically and we introduced new genetics and retrofitted our building to help put out a higher quality product.

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Tia : Why have you decided to dive into the cannabis industry and open your brand?

Sam : Floravega wanted to come into cannabis to ensure that the Nevada market had a source for a quality, clean product with a group behind it that was about more than just profits. We are 100% locally owned by Las Vegas residents and are proud to represent our local community by contributing quality to our own market. We pride ourselves on our customer service and contributions to the local community. When working with nonprofits, we try to select local groups to make a local impact.

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Tia : What was your initial capital for opening up the brand?

Sam : Between the building, equipment, packaging, and genetics, we started out by putting a few million into the brand.

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Tia : What’s your brand focus?

Sam : Our focus is quality flowers at affordable prices. As locals in Las Vegas, we want to provide our flowers for everyone in the NV market. We offer two quality brands. Floravega is our original and affordable flower and our new Elusive brand is a small batch - a boutique brand of less common strains that are harder to find.

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Tia : What’s your audience?

Sam : Our audience is focused on all cannabis consumers, from new smokers who have come to cannabis to explore the physical and psychological benefits to OG cannabis users who can appreciate specific genetics and look for reliable quality for medical or recreational purposes.

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Tia : What do you do to maintain sustainability in the company? How do you utilize the waste / How much electricity do you spend on a daily basis? / Do you use IoT to reduce the spendings on sustainability? / How do you overcome the difficulties with packaging/ soil/ water etc.?

Sam : We have multiple protocols in place for efficiency and sustainability. We strive to be efficient in all that we do. We utilize growing styles to minimize plant waste and we use plant waste for extraction material. All of our packaging is recyclable. We package in a simple way to showcase our product without creating extra waste.

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Tia : What’s the easiest strain to grow?

Sam : While we definitely have strains that are harder to grow, we do not have any that I would say is the “easiest”. All of our strains require diligent care to maintain a proper environment. Some are more sensitive to certain conditions or nutrients but we strive to understand each strain and keep files on them to know what has worked well or poorly in the past.

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Tia : Do you plan to cultivate new strains?

Sam : We do! Thus far we have created a few in-house crosses and hope to do a few more. We base our strain selection off of our own employee feedback as well as market trends/demands and customer feedback. We currently have an R&D department to pheno-hunt and test new genetics before introducing them to the rest of the garden.

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Tia : What do you think defines the success of the strain?

Sam : I think strain success can be defined by a few factors, from a growth standpoint. I believe quality, yield, and an understanding of each strain define its success. By our definition, a successful strain in the garden is one that we understand and can get the best quality and highest yield out of. On the wholesale and retail side, a successful strain is more about the bag appeal and the effects. Look, smell, taste, and potency will get customers’ attention and keep them coming back for more, or vice-versa if those factors are lacking.

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Tia : As the owner of the cannabis business, did you ever invest in cannabis stocks? If yes, what are the brands you would recommend investing money to?

Sam : No (Also, I am not the owner)

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Tia : When do you think federal legalization will come?

Sam : I hope within 5 years we will see federal legalization. While I personally believe it should happen sooner, there are a lot of finer points and regulations that need to be worked out and I can only hope that they will utilize feedback and resources from the existing rec markets to put forth a comprehensive set of regulations that helps businesses to thrive rather than hindering them.

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Tia : What are your predictions on the cannabis industry for the next 5 years? (in your state)

Sam : In Nevada, I think in the next 5 years we will see a few things change and a lot remain the same. We recently passed our bill for social lounges which will certainly change the scene. I think flower consumption will stay atop the market and I can only hope to continue to see production labs and kitchens explore newer and better ways to consume.

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Tia : What are the 3 main trends in growing / (production/marketing) cannabis in 2021 for you now?

Sam : In 2021, we are seeing trends in growing but the most noticeable are in production. More products are using non-cannabis-derived terpenes for flavoring in extracts and cartridges. Botanical and food-grade terpenes are used to mimic existing strain flavor profiles or create new ones. We have also seen a rise in solventless extracts coming to market, despite their high-dollar price - the concept of an extract that is purely from the plant with no other solvents is appealing.

On the contrary, I have also seen a lot of CRC (Color Remediation Column) extracts enter the market. This gives extractors the ability to clean up the color on a batch of extract, giving it a lighter or even white color. While many are skeptical of CRC and non-cannabis terpenes, many consumers do not know the difference and see a tastier or more visually appealing product rather than something artificial or suspicious.

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Thank you so much, Floravega team, for taking the time to do the interview. To learn more about them, head on over to their website.