Oakland’s Green Zone

The pinnacle of success.

For Gonzalo Soto, cultivating cannabis was a family legacy. After learning the craft from his dad who learned it from his father, the third-generation grower set his sights on the regulated industry. And now, as Cultivation Manager for Grizzly Peak overseeing a facility in the cultural hub that is Oakland’s Green Zone, finding fresh ways to reach new heights is constantly on Gonzalo’s to-do list.

"There hasn't been a boring day in the past two years. We've always been learning something new. We've been designing something new. And when you're in an environment that just thrives on thought, it thrives on innovation; it's really a healthy environment to grow in."

Gonzalo Soto,
Director of Cultivation, Grizzly Peak

Cultivators are informed and inspired by their love for the plant, passion for growing, and gut instinct. But figuring out how to cultivate quality flower reliably and at scale – and achieve a profitability sweet spot of 3 pounds per light – takes real numbers. Sensors and software allowed Grizzly Peak to tap into the data, giving the cultivation team a roadmap to better yields, improved operational efficiency, and consistent quality consumers expect in the biggest, most influential cannabis market in the world.

"Every step of the process...we must keep in mind that at some point, somebody is going to consume it. You want the best experience for the customer – that's been a driving factor for us."

Gonzalo Soto,
Director of Cultivation, Grizzly Peak

"Data and transparency has been a game changer. It's basically what allows us to make the best decisions in the garden – just knowing what's going on at all times, whether you're here or not...and being able to basically interpret all the historical data that we're collecting has affected us greatly, because now we're able to make smarter decisions for the future."

Gonzalo Soto,
Director of Cultivation, Grizzly Peak

The ability to track progress, manage tasks, and simplify processes reverberates throughout the entire company – but it’s the cultivators who truly benefit. At Grizzly Peak, more access to data meant finally letting go of old SOPs and outdated tools, giving the grow team greater ownership of their work and control over their time. What better way to empower your cultivators than to make their lives easier, after all?

Proving compliance can be daunting, clunky, and difficult to navigate. Compliance officers, paper notes, and other resources that are meant to help can make the process even more time- consuming. So when Grizzly Peak started using AROYA to track and monitor their cultivation, they discovered that reporting to Metrc could be done with just one click. “There was a big gap before, a lot of clipboards and a lot of spreadsheets and it's just a headache,” Gonzalo says. “Now it's just scan, scan, scan, and boom, sync to Metrc.”

Within a few short years, Grizzly Peak went from barely cracking the top 100 to ranking as one of the top flower producers in the Golden State – and that’s without having competed in a single competition. As its vision broadens into new flavors, strain drops, and cannabis cups, the brand is determined to leave an even bigger impression on Cali consumers. For Gonzalo, pivoting into the regulated market armed with multiple generations of underground cannabis cultivation know-how, leveling up is all in a day’s work. And he’s got the dream job to prove it.