The Massachusetts cannabis company behind Big Papi's foray into the recreational marijuana trade is cutting brand partners to make its operation leaner.
While the David Ortiz-backed Papi Cannabis brand is expected to survive, others in the company's vast portfolio — like Slow & Steady — will not.
"We've had to dial some things back," Rev Brands Chief Marketing Officer Tom Schneider told NBC10 Boston in an exclusive interview. "It's really looking at everything that we're doing and being smart about everything we do."
In addition to a streamlining of brand partners, a process still underway, the dial-back includes cutting about 10% of the company's 350-person workforce and uprooting all of its cannabis plants at its Fitchburg grow facility due to a microbial contamination.
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"We have had to clean out the grow and restart," said Schneider. "It was an arduous task to do this, it did set us back a bit, but we are on the road to recovery in a big way."
After denying our request to see the replanted crop — citing concerns about further bacteria contamination — Rev Farms provided photographs from its facility. They show plants growing again.
Weeks ago, sources within the Massachusetts cannabis community told NBC10 Boston of a pending collapse at Rev's operations, which include Revolutionary Clinics, Rev Brands and Rev Farms. However, Schneider says things never reached such a dire state.
"I'm going to say if we kept on the track we were on, we saw collapse coming, but we started making changes before that happened," he said.
More on the Massachusetts cannabis industry
While the problems at Rev this year are acute, many businesses across the state are said to be in a similar situation.
Exacerbating the problems this year is the falling price of cannabis, now at a five-year low. And cannabis companies have a massive tax bill coming due. It's oversized when compared to other businesses, because the federal government considers cannabis an illicit drug, just like heroin. That has prompted the IRS to restrict what cannabis companies can deduct.
