company profile
GOOD TITRATIONS extract processor, retail shop and consumption lounge
LEAFMAGAZINES.COM
16
ACCORDING TO THE KNOT, as many as 17 percent of people meet their future partners in college. However, how many can say they've built a Cannabis empire with friends from their college MBA program? Likely, not many. But that's precisely what Shaun Tacke, Brandon Emmett and Frank Berardi did.
industry," says Tacke. "From the very beginning, we knuckled down hard on the political side of Cannabis." Spending so much time working on getting the industry going didn't leave a lot of time for Tacke, Emmett and Berardi to focus on putting their business plan into action. "Our original business plan included a cultivation with an attached retail," recalls Tacke. "But as we were getting investments, we were experiment"We met while me and Frank were in college, ing with different kinds of Cannabis consumption." getting our MBAs at UAF. He pitched an idea of In their first iteration, the trio used a closed-cirdoing a weed business for a business plan projcuit butane extraction system they purchased onect. The class and professor really loved that line. With buckets of ice to keep the butane cold, we were thinking outside the box, and it got me they started playing with creating concentrates. thinking. After I started running the numbers in "We figured out that it's actually a lot easier, not my head, I understood how cool of an idea it to mention faster, to produce concentrates than it was," says Tacke. is to grow plants. For us, the faster A self-proclaimed "nerdy cash conversion cycle just made accountant," Tacke got to work sense. So, Good Titrations started crunching numbers while Berardi out as a manufacturing company," came up with the big ideas. says Tacke. However, at the time, legalizaWhile their manufacturing busition had yet to hit Alaska, so the ness was booming, they still had first iteration of Good Titrations hopes of realizing their original was actually the Coalition for business plan. Responsible Cannabis Legisla"I remember going to Amstertion. The precursor to the Alaska dam and visiting shops there, and The lounge has Marijuana Industry Association, you could see the plants growing,” been a major the Coalition worked to pass says Tacke. “I always thought that success and Ballot Measure 2, bringing legal was so cool. There's something Good Titrations recreational Cannabis to Alaska. really exciting about seeing the is continuing "After getting the Measure weed you're going to smoke, grow. to make it into passed, we began working with So, I never gave up on the idea of a community legislators to make sure that having a grow too." gathering place the developing laws were going Now, the manufacturing for stoners. to be safe and effective for the company responsible for bringing
MAY 2022
Skywalker OG, Lemon Wood and Green Crack concentrates to the Alaska market is producing some of its own flower. "For now, it's just a little show grow. In time, we might expand to a bigger space," explains Tacke. For the moment, Good Titrations is putting its focus on the continued development of its on-site consumption lounge, which opened last year. "There's a whole lot of planning that goes into a project like a consumption lounge. One of the big things we had to figure out was the ventilation system,” says Tacke. “The lounge required us to install a completely separate ventilation system, so when we turn up the fans, you can have a packed room of people smoking joints and still not get a contact high. That was a big thing for AMCO – we had to make sure people could work in the lounge without being exposed to smoke all day," says Tacke. The lounge has been a major success and Good Titrations is continuing to make it into a community gathering place for stoners. "We have people from all backgrounds that come in. We even have a Tuesday night chess club called Bishops and Buds. There's also a group that comes in to play Magic. It's turning into a really cool space for people to come chill and enjoy the plant," says Tacke. In addition to small groups, Good Titrations' lounge has also hosted album release parties and comedians. Their recent 4/20 party was an epic night of tokes, finger foods and friends. All in all, Good Titrations is poised to become a mecca of the Alaskan Cannabis industry and is a mustsee for every visitor and GOODTITRATIONS.COM @GOODTITRATIONS resident.
