Trade Roots eliminates manual purchasing and leverages capital

David Logan, Director of Operations and Facilities at Trade Roots, shares how Order.co transformed his company's purchasing process and growth potential.

Too many purchases, not enough time

Operations at Trade Roots span across cultivation, manufacturing, and retail, so purchasing supplies is no small feat. To keep its business functions running smoothly, the facility must be well-stocked with a wide variety of products, from nutrients and gloves to receipt paper and shopping bags. 

David, Director of Operations and Facilities, describes his purchasing process before Order.co as “all over the place.” In addition to managing various other logistical and operational tasks, his plate overflowed with dozens of purchases at any given time. Manually, David placed orders through each vendor’s website and tracked package deliveries in several disparate locations. In his words, “it was a waste of time.” 

Manual ordering ate up a significant portion of David's day, so he didn’t have the bandwidth to check budgets or strategically source the best vendor for a given order.

The turning point 

In April of 2023, the Order.co team reached out to Trade Roots in the hopes of forming a partnership. After learning more about the platform, David immediately recognized its potential to overcome the organization’s manual purchasing hurdles. He notes, "Order.co is extremely helpful — going to one page and having everything I get right there is amazing."

Benefits beyond streamlined ordering

Now that David easily and quickly orders the supplies required for cultivation, manufacturing, and retail operations, he can focus on more strategic initiatives and manage his team as effectively as possible. Reflecting on his experiences since implementing Order.co, David shares that the software is “a huge help. It saved me a lot of time.”

Another benefit of partnering with Order.co is its working capital offerings. When third-party labeling projects come their way, the Trade Roots team doesn’t have to worry about putting up the money to fund the project. “It takes money to make money, and we don’t always have money to put up front, so Order.co is huge for that,” David explains.

Envisioning the future of Trade Roots, David says that Order.co will be incredibly helpful for scaling operations, since expansion always requires additional purchasing efforts. “When we grow, Order.co will be a part of that and make the transition a lot easier.”

Word of advice

To other operators of small cannabis businesses, David recommends “one thousand percent” to implement Order.co. “It saves us time, it saves us money, and it even allows us to make money.”