Easton Pharmaceuticals Eyes Edibles with Supreme Sweets Acquisition

With Canada expected to legalize edibles and concentrates this October, companies are beginning to ramp up preparations in anticipation of what will surely be an explosion of new products to market.

Right on cue, Toronto-based Easton Pharmaceuticals has snapped up Supreme Sweets with intentions of producing cannabis-infused food, although financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.

“We are very excited to have completed this strategic acquisition of an operating food processing company specializing in baked goods. We will continue to grow the traditional baked goods portion of the business and introduce high margin specialty products, while also utilizing the existing platform to enter the edibles market,” said Evan Karras, CEO of Easton to Xtalks in an email.

Supreme Sweets is a commercial bakery that supplies goods to major grocery stores and coffee chains across North America. The company makes traditional baked goods, with a focus on gluten-free and keto products, out of its 40,000 sq ft headquarters in Toronto.

Easton acquired the business from Supreme Sweets founders Barbara and Mario Parravano, who together have more than 60 years of experience in the industry.

“We are extremely excited to have completed this transaction and to be working with Easton to bring high-quality baked goods to the market,” said Mario Parravano.

Karras believes there is potential to grow sales of baked goods to $50 million per year, with the company’s edible division expected to reach $100 million.

“We believe that consumption of cannabis will increase from non-traditional consumers as a result of medical awareness around the benefits of cannabis,” Karras explains. “We believe that edibles will be one of the means of delivery and we are positioning ourselves to be able to produce highly consumable products for the treatment of various ailments.

Easton is currently in the process of setting up the production facility in order to be able to start producing edibles upon legalization by Health Canada.

The government agency has yet to finalize the regulations governing these products, although it has proposed various rules for public feedback, including the amount of THC that each product can contain.

When Canada legalized cannabis last fall, only fresh or dried bud, oil, plants and seeds were allowed. Now with the upcoming addition of edibles and concentrates to the legal market, these products are expected to appeal to those who prefer to consume cannabis through eating and drinking over smoking.

This prediction is bolstered by statistics that expect the edibles industry to be worth $4.1 billion in Canada and the United States by 2022, according to research by a marijuana market research company called The Arcview.