Run time – 5:17 (Transcript below)
Published 8/31/2018
Transcript
David: I’m David Kretzmann here at MJBiZCon in Toronto and I’m joined by Gordon Woolley, the general manager and vice president for sales in Canada for Kush Bottles. Gordon, thanks for taking the time and I think we can jump right into it ’cause you’re actually one of the newer employees at Kush Bottles, as it turns out. How did you get involved in the cannabis space, more particularly, how did you find your way to Kush Bottles?
Gordon: I built a sales and distribution company here in Toronto, which was marketing and collateral materials in the automotive sector and the hospitality sector. What I decided to do was reach out to Kush because they wanted to launch their sales and distribution platform here in Canada. That’s the easy part, it’s really just take out Product A from a few years back and put it in cannabis packaging, Product B. So that’s how we got together and we’ve been chatting over the last few months and Kush Canada’s now official, we’re here.
David: Yeah. This was an announcement just within the past several days. So why now for Kush to enter Canada?
Gordon: Well obviously, it’s got to do with the October 17th date. And there’s a lot of ground to cover between now and the 17th. But it’s obviously a huge opportunity up here in Canada. It’s a great international expansion for Kush and so that’s why now.
David: What’s the process look like to build out the team logistics here in Canada? How does the strategy in Canada right now, how is it similar or different from what Kush is doing with its current business in the U.S.?
Gordon: I guess the main thing, the key piece up here of course, is the number of licensed producers, which right now is 150. We’re gonna be reaching out to the licensed producers and we’re gonna talk to them about what’s involved in our sales and distribution platform, which is obviously the child resistant packaging. We just acquired a company by the name of Hybrid Creative, which is gonna help us on the creative side for the packaging. Now that’s down the road because we’re locked in by Health Canada rules right now, what packaging can look like. There’s the solvents and the gases for the extraction side of the business, and then there’s [inaudible 00:02:27] packaging which is the R&D side of Kush.
Canada’s gonna be instrumental in leading the next frontier of child resistant packaging. But our focus is gonna be on licensed producers. We’re gonna work with some distributors as well and to sell the product and get it into the market across the country.
David: Now walking around the exposition floor here, there are multiple companies selling, it seems like at least on a surface level, a similar product. Where you have packaging solutions, labels, things like that. What is it that helps Kush bottles stand out from what at least on the surface, looks like a crowded category?
Gordon: Currently, we feel we’ve got the best child resistant packaging on the market. Secondly, what we’re working on is going to be very unique. We’re gonna have our own IP, we’re gonna have some fabulous products, and we’re gonna be working with the LPs sort of reverse engineer things. You tell us what you need, and we’ll design it and we’ll get it manufactured, and we’ll build it. Whether it’s in China, whether it’s in the U.S., or whether it’s in Canada. We’re looking at all things. It’s the rules and regs that’s so important up here with Health Canada. So Nick thought it was best to have Canadians on the ground up here, that understand the culture, that understand the business. We’re gonna be the foremost authority on rules and regulations so the LPs don’t have to worry about that, we’ll take that worry away from them. All they have to do is add the cannabis.
David: Got it. And going forward, as someone who’s newer with Kush Bottles, there’s obviously a lot of moving pieces. This Canadian operation is essentially brand new. What personally gets you most excited about the business and its prospects when you look out over the next three to five years?
Gordon: Once in a lifetime opportunity. Brand new industry. We’re all learning together. Already you can see the amazing teamwork between ourselves and potential clients we’re talking to and current clients that we’re talking to. Then the whole evolution, the next phase, which is the ingestibles. What’s that gonna look like? What’s packaging for a can of beer gonna look like? What’s it gonna look like for a can of coffee, gummies, everything? That part is so exciting. To be a federally legalized country, and the possibilities are absolutely endless. It’s just non-stop excitement, non-stop fun, and the sky’s the limit.
David: All right. Well, Gordon Woolley of Kush Bottles, thanks so much for taking the time to talk to The Motley Fool today.
Gordon: Okay, well thanks for having me.