What has separated Trulieve Cannabis Corp TCNNF by other multi-state cannabis operators, one strategy is to penetrate a market and get to the customer first, then to be involved in every aspect of the transaction whenever possible, according to the company’s CEO Kim Rivers said Tuesday at the Benzinga Cannabis Capital Conference in Chicago.

In her keynote address, Rivers also shared the story of Trulieve’s growth: from a small Florida company with 10 employees to a marijuana giant that operates in 11 states and has 9,000 employees.

In the past year, Trulieve has made seven acquisitions, the largest being a multi-billion dollar merger with Harvest Health & Recreation Inc.

“We are very satisfied with the current status. It’s right where we thought it would be,” Rivers told the panel’s moderator David Briggs from Yahoo Finance.

Keep your focus on Florida

In its founding state of Florida, Trulieve is building a 70,000 square foot facility that is believed to be the largest indoor growing facility in the country. According to Rivers, it’s in the final stages of completion, with phase one online now and phase two expected to be ready by the end of the year.

“It’s super efficient,” Rivers said, adding that while automated, the company is working toward it bring the work to the people to actually step up work on the facility as the company believes this is a very important part of the process. This is expected to be four times more efficient than Truleive’s previous style of cultivation.

Focused on his home state of Florida, Trulieve is helping put an initiative to legalize cannabis in the state to a vote.

“It’s 22 million residents and 130 million tourists a year, so it’s a huge market opportunity. And we are very, very optimistic about this initiative.” If the company can get legislation put to a vote, Rivers believes the company could win.

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