This article is an adapted version of the Cannabis Confidential newsletter.
It’s a rare session that I’ll step away from the screens, particularly with so much going on, year-end approaching and the industry on edge.
As I pride myself on conducting exhaustive due diligence, I drove across the river this morning to join Ascend CEO Sam Brill for a closer look at their passion, purpose, and processes.
Ascend Wellness is a leading U.S. operator with retail and CPG assets in Illinois, New Jersey, Ohio, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, and Michigan.
Sam, who spent 28 years in finance and operations, led an Ascend financing round in 2020 and remained an investor and staunch supporter. He joined the board as a lead independent director in early 2023 and was tapped as CEO in August last year.
His stated goals have been on profitability, sustainability, and densification, which focuses on securing a retail footprint in prime locations with high traffic areas and ample parking to maximize brand visibility and enhance accessibility.
I didn’t realize Ozone, one of Ascend’s flagship brands, was #1 in combined units sold in NJ, MA and IL in Q3 (BDSA), Simply Herb is #1 in sales and units in MA, or that High Wired, their new infused brand that launched Q2, became a top-3 infused flower SKU in IL and the #2 overall infused flower in NJ.
In terms of the financials, they hit $30M in cost savings and their margin profile improved ahead of schedule despite negative operating leverage and an extremely challenging status quo. They also bought back 7% of their outstanding shares at a $0.30/sh. average.
Turnpike Tuesday
I awoke this morning and tended to my typical morning routine, including sharing a view of the overnight news and assimilating recent events for X-subs.
Truth be told, I was looking forward to a day of not staring at screens.
I climbed into my car at 9 AM and plugged in the last bit of The Joe Rogan podcast w Dan Farah, the director of the recently released documentary, The Age of Disclosure.
I listened to credible first-person accounts of quantum entanglements dating back to the 1970’s in an effort to escape the canna conversation that has been on a repeating loop inside my mind’s eye.
I didn’t mind the hot coffee that spilled on my lap or the wrong turn that cost me 15 minutes as I navigated to Fort Lee, as I knew it was Mercury Retrograde and that would be phasing out on Saturday. Buh-bye.
The first thing I noticed as I pulled into Ascend was that it is located next to a Starbucks, Chipotle and T-Mobile, across from Taco Bell and KFC and adjacent to the N.J. Turnpike and Garden State Parkway, all of which is literally walking distance to the George Washington Bridge that connects to Manhattan.
The Informant
Given that Ascend prides itself on its legendary customer experience, I was keen to explore that for myself and asked Sam to give me the tour, with one condition. I didn’t want his team to roll out the red carpet for the CEO, so I suggested, and Sam agreed, that he would mask his identity.
Undercover Boss Sam Brill of Ascend Wellness
We arrived at the Fort Lee location and slipped inside with little fanfare. We were helped by separate greeters after telling them that we were first time shoppers.
They took time to understand our individual needs and made thoughtful suggestions, which was when I decided to toss them a curve to see how they’d react.
“My friend,” I whispered in a serious tone, “suffers from terrible sexual dysfunction and is extremely embarrassed to discuss it. Do you happen to sell anything that could help a brother out?”
She said the gentleman helping Sam might have a suggestion, so we walked toward them, where I repeated the query, loudly.
Note: 1) Yes, I made that condition up, and 2) they offered a potential solution.
Desiree, who was helping me, was terrific and I felt like I needed to better understand her special why, or as fancy people say, her je ne sais quoi. So I asked her directly…
That sorta felt scripted, but as we soon saw during the big reveal, she had absolutely no idea that her CEO was standing beside her the entire time.
That’s when Grace Laurendi emerged from the back with a big smile. Grace spent 27 years at Walgreens before moving over to Ascend, where she rose through the ranks from General Manager to the (very proud) Regional Director of New Jersey.
We vibed for a bit on how her new reality differed to her former corporate existence and she kept bringing the conversation back to customer service and loyalty, where Ascend focuses an abnormal amount of attention.
“We’re on a first-name basis with most of our customers and patients,” she said, “and we like it that way.” She walked me through their tiered customer loyalty program…
…before handing me what felt like one of those bougie black AMEX cards that I once owned when I was single and still trying to impress people. I don’t have a black AMEX anymore, but Grace gifted me a Legends card that I’ll wear like a badge of honor.
On our way to Rochelle Park, we stopped at Houston’s for lunch in the Riverside Mall, one of the more affluent shopping centers in the state with stores like Tiffany’s and Louis Vuitton, which was a short hop to Rte. 17, another high-traffic area for Ascend.
We ran the same schtick with the same results; staffers were friendly, pleasant and, to a person, seemed to love what they did each day. I then did my part to help the AAWH quarter by placing a limit-order for Ozone, High Wire and Effin Edibles.
On our way out, we ran into Mister Jones, one of Ascend’s social equity partners, who couldn’t speak kindly enough about Sam or the efforts Ascend is making when nobody is looking. This I know, as I’ve watched Sam and Weldon forge a partnership behind the scenes without fanfare or PR because it was the right thing to do.
I left Jersey feeling much better about the Ascend brand and its people, products, and culture, but still, I’m not sure that this write-up will capture the essence of what they’re doing or how they’re doing it, particularly as it pertains to customer loyalty.
Thankfully, they did that for me, in a mind-blowing way.
Kings from Queens from Queens come Kings
Today I learned that there has been an ongoing passion project for the Ascend Master Growers to curate a cola that met their highest standards, something that they would want for themselves and to show off to colleagues.
“This is as much art as it is a consumer product,” Sam explained to me. “That’s why the total available units were cut from hundreds to just a handful, and the Master Growers signed their name to each winner like they would a piece of art.”
He explained the process: Out of hundreds of plants, his master growers narrow them down to 200 final branches that were ultimately cut down to under 85 colas across all markets, representing the highest quality and ultimate expression of each cultivar.
It is about “perfection, rarity and brand building,” he said. “These few select 14g full branch colas will be exclusively offered to our Ascender’s Club Legends, which is a true reflection of the Ozone brand evolution. The KoQC project will remain a staple of Ozone, but the frequency will hinge on flower meeting that impeccable criteria.”
“Whoa,” I thought to myself as I stuffed the tip box in an overt attempt to influence Grace, who I was told would be overseeing the allocation of said colas.
The Fort Lee store is an hour from my home in Port Washington, New York, but given it’s legal to purchase cannabis in NJ and transport it to NY, as I recently learned, I’ve already tossed my hat in the ring for one of those golden tickets.
Eat your heart out, Willy Wonka.
Have a safe journey, please enjoy responsibly.
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CB1 has a position in and advises Ascend Wellness; nothing herein is intended as investment advice and there is nothing in our agreement that requires this (or any) content.
We own the stock out of choice and wrote this column because it’s a great story.
This article is an opinion piece from an external, unpaid contributor and does not necessarily reflect the views of High Times or its editorial staff.
