0:00

Hey everybody , welcome to episode 45

0:03

of High Spirits . I'm Ben Larson

0:05

and with me , as always , is

0:07

Anna Rae Grabstein . It is Thursday

0:09

, may 30th , 2024

0:12

and , yes

0:14

, another exciting show for you today . I'm

0:16

actually really excited about this one . It's

0:19

a voice that we haven't

0:21

yet had the opportunity of highlighting , but

0:23

something that I think is super important the

0:25

licensed cannabis retailer here

0:28

from our home state of California , a

0:30

state that has largely

0:33

and very publicly been embattled . But

0:35

there are some silver linings and I'm excited to

0:37

jump into that and just talk about

0:40

the triumphs and tribulations

0:43

of building a cannabis

0:45

retailer in the California market . But

0:47

before we get there , as always

0:50

, Anna Rae , how's

0:52

your week going ? What's happening in your world ?

0:54

Yeah , it's been a great week . Kind of

0:56

a short week . I mostly took Monday off

0:58

, but I had some

1:00

potential partnership calls with some

1:03

people in Europe that don't know about Memorial

1:05

Day , and so I did take a couple calls

1:07

on Monday , but they were really interesting

1:10

and I'm hoping to learn a lot more

1:12

about the European market and hopefully to bring some

1:14

of that learning to the podcast too

1:16

. So we'll stay tuned

1:18

for some of that . Then the other , I

1:20

would say , highlight of my week is that I

1:22

have , um I have a

1:24

client who together we've been reading

1:27

this incredible book , a leadership book

1:29

, called the five dysfunctions of a team .

1:31

It's a classic favorite

1:33

yeah , love it .

1:34

Yeah , you know it , and it is

1:36

just a really , really great

1:39

primer on how to up-level

1:41

teams , build trust , commitment

1:44

, transparency , focusing

1:48

on results , and

1:50

it's just been a

1:53

really great experience

1:55

to read a book with someone else and have a good

1:57

reason to talk about it and want to be

1:59

doing more of that , so that's been a real highlight for me .

2:02

That's Patrick Lencioni , right ? Yeah , he's

2:04

one of my favorite business book authors . Like

2:07

you can read his books basically an evening

2:09

and it's uh , it always has

2:11

a nice , just kind of um story

2:14

, I guess , to kind of like hammer home

2:16

the points .

2:18

Yeah , I'm thinking it would be fun to do

2:20

a business book book club

2:22

for cannabis leaders specifically

2:24

.

2:28

Oh , another side project .

2:28

All right , sign me up Off of the of the pod

2:30

or something , Just tell everybody what book to read

2:33

and once a quarter we could just talk

2:35

about the book , If

2:39

you guys like that idea and you're listening let us know .

2:41

And if you don't , and you just like reading books , definitely

2:43

read that book . The

2:46

next one I'd probably recommend is death by meeting um

2:48

. Also just a very , very

2:50

good message . You can already tell what it's about um

2:53

, very what about you ?

2:54

I'm excited .

2:55

I'm excited for europe . We should definitely , uh

2:57

definitely , get some guests on to talk about europe a little

3:00

bit . People keep asking me about it , but , um

3:02

, I don't think it's super exciting for the infused

3:04

beverage category which , as

3:06

everyone here knows , totally consumes

3:09

my life . That has

3:11

been my week , as always , especially

3:13

with all the shifting legislation all

3:15

around the US . So

3:18

not to bore everyone with those details , what I'm really

3:20

excited about this week , and why I have so much energy

3:22

today , is that I have found my

3:25

new workout routine , and

3:27

I'm just super stoked on it

3:29

. You know , ever since

3:31

well , business has always been crazy

3:33

, but young kids post

3:35

pandemic I just never really found

3:38

my routine that worked , and so I

3:40

just started forcing myself to get up even earlier

3:42

every morning and being at the gym as

3:45

it opens and then being home

3:47

in time to get my kids out of bed

3:49

and get them ready for the day . So it seems

3:51

to be working . I am super

3:53

tired by the end of the day , which I think is a

3:55

good thing , but

3:57

, yeah , encourage everyone to do

4:00

it .

4:00

Let's check back in a month and see if you're sticking to

4:02

it . What holds you accountable ?

4:06

You know me , I'm pretty tenacious .

4:09

So let's , let's

4:11

let's cue up the topic today , because this

4:14

is going to be a really important

4:16

conversation and it's you know

4:18

, ben and I we both started

4:20

our cannabis careers here in California

4:23

and this is an incredibly

4:25

important market to the legacy of

4:28

cannabis , the culture of cannabis and

4:30

also to the early

4:32

movers of cannabis policy

4:34

First state to create

4:36

medical cannabis and not

4:39

the first for adult use , but certainly

4:42

a really important one . And I'm

4:45

really excited to welcome Lauren

4:47

Carpenter , the CEO and

4:49

co-founder of Embarc , to the show . Lauren

4:53

and I met when we were

4:55

both in different companies

4:57

building doing licensing

4:59

work , probably like

5:01

2017 or 2018 in

5:03

San Francisco . We were both trying

5:06

to open retail stores and

5:09

shared a landlord that owned a bunch of

5:11

different places , and the landlord introduced

5:13

us and , but

5:15

anyway , lauren since then

5:17

has done a whole bunch of really cool

5:19

, badass stuff . She

5:21

was instrumental early on at MedMen

5:23

, she went on to be the chief strategy officer

5:26

at Sweetflower , another dispensary

5:29

group out of Southern California , and

5:31

then started Embarc and they opened their first

5:33

store in 2020 . So

5:36

really excited to bring

5:38

you on , lauren , and have you talk to

5:40

us about your journey of

5:42

building Embarc and of the California

5:45

market , so welcome .

5:46

Thank you , thanks for having me , and I'm very much

5:48

in on this business sort of book

5:51

club , so let's just file that away

5:53

as an idea that you should absolutely put into practice

5:55

.

5:56

I love it , here it comes .

5:59

To be continued , to be continued

6:02

. So

6:04

let's just jump in . Why

6:11

don't ?

6:13

you give us your thoughts on what is the state of California cannabis

6:15

retail today .

6:15

Whoa , the big , big question . Yeah , chi way to ease me in on

6:17

this , I think , look

6:20

, I don't think there is one state

6:22

of cannabis retail in California

6:24

. I think it's sort of a

6:26

tale of multiple cities . I think from the beginning

6:28

we've seen sort of two markets . You've

6:30

seen the LAs and the Oaklands , right

6:32

, these Sacramento's with real proliferation

6:35

of licenses , and then you have these

6:37

hyper limited or non-existent

6:39

markets , and so I think the

6:41

reality in those markets look a

6:44

bit different , and so it's hard to sort of overly

6:46

generalize about the state of California

6:49

. I think you know we hear

6:51

a lot and we have heard a lot . As a California

6:53

retailer , I hate this narrative that

6:55

you know California we should be moving

6:58

on . I know as sort of the shiny toys

7:00

of the East Coast came

7:03

online . You know California took a lot of hate

7:05

, but I think California is still

7:07

the fifth or sixth , depending on the day , largest

7:09

economy in the world and has tremendous

7:12

potential in cannabis . I

7:14

think we're seeing

7:16

shifting dynamics in the ongoing

7:18

debate of specialization versus vertical

7:21

integration , which I

7:23

think is sort of an interesting debate to

7:25

continue to debate . At

7:27

Embarc we've taken a very specialized approach

7:29

and I think a handful

7:31

of years ago most people told me I was crazy

7:33

for that , but I think it's bearing fruit

7:36

for us today . And then

7:38

I think we're seeing some interesting sort

7:41

of reactions coming out of this potential

7:43

federal shift . I think sometimes

7:46

in California our industry reacts to headlines

7:48

and not to reality and the reality

7:51

is nothing has changed yet . But

7:53

I think there are a lot of operators who , because

7:55

they're really economically squeezed , are

7:59

increasing their race to the bottom because

8:01

of a belief around some 280E

8:03

change . So a lot of dynamics going

8:06

on right now and I think you know lots of things

8:08

we could probably dig into further .

8:10

Yeah , I just I would love for you to give just

8:12

a little bit of detail about Embarc , because you

8:14

do have visibility into

8:16

the multiple cities that you kind of referenced

8:19

. You know , just give

8:21

us the background , the timeline , like how many cities

8:23

you're in and kind of the approach there .

8:26

Sure . So , as Anna Rae

8:28

mentioned , we opened our first store in South Lake

8:30

Tahoe in June of 2020 . Very

8:33

wild time to be opening a retailer

8:35

that was at the very beginning of the pandemic

8:37

.

8:38

Yeah , that's wild .

8:40

So here's the unvarnished truth Our entire

8:43

life savings was already put into building

8:45

that building and we were halfway done . So you

8:47

just , the only way out sometimes is through

8:49

, and we had to just keep going . You

8:52

know , thank goodness cannabis was deemed essential

8:54

so that we didn't then just have to sit with

8:56

an empty building because there would be no

8:58

embarc had that happened . So thank

9:01

God for small miracles , but I think , you

9:04

know , we opened the first store in June of 2020

9:06

in a tourist community on

9:08

a state line that separated two states

9:10

with , I think , pretty different

9:12

perspectives on the pandemic and on

9:14

pandemic management

9:19

sort of uniquely

9:21

interesting circumstances . But

9:23

we really hit the ground running since

9:25

then . So since that time , we've opened

9:27

15 stores . Until about

9:30

the middle of last year , we were

9:32

entirely focused in Northern California

9:34

. It was really important to

9:36

me that , as sort of a family

9:38

of neighborhood shops , I wanted

9:40

the ability to go to any of our stores

9:42

and still be able to be home in time for dinner

9:44

and be able to be hands-on , and

9:47

it was really only towards the end of

9:49

last year that we opened our first Southern California

9:51

location . So we're now focused

9:54

on sort of statewide expansion , but

9:56

in each of the communities we serve , with the exception

9:59

of Sacramento , which

10:01

has had a sort of a historical not

10:03

proliferation , but certainly a historical retail

10:06

presence . We were , you

10:08

know , the first or part of a cohort of

10:10

firsts to operate

10:12

in the community , so really have been focused

10:14

on opening new communities

10:16

and driving some destigmatization

10:19

forward by demonstrating through

10:21

action and operating our stores that the

10:24

sky doesn't fall with cannabis .

10:25

Yeah , but before we get to the opening

10:28

new communities part , I just want to . I'm

10:30

having a reaction to like 15

10:33

since 2020 . That's

10:35

almost a store

10:37

a quarter . That's pretty

10:39

fast pace . Does

10:43

that feel like you're going at breakneck speed ? Or like

10:45

how do you manage that pace

10:47

? Because it sounds

10:49

fast .

10:51

Yes , it feels fast . It

10:54

feels sometimes like we have a tiger by the tail

10:57

or like we're gonna die holding on

10:59

and trying right . We've

11:01

opened five stores since January of this year

11:03

. So that's , you know , that's an average of one

11:05

store a month . So it took us

11:07

a handful of years to get to that 10 store mark

11:09

. I think you

11:12

know , we've learned lessons through

11:14

the process of that scale and

11:16

we've also continued to bolster our leadership

11:19

team really throughout that process to prepare

11:21

us for this year and to prepare to open

11:23

those five stores in five months . But

11:26

yeah , it is fast , we

11:28

are committed to being fast

11:30

. I think one of the biggest challenges

11:32

, one of the biggest things I learned coming out of

11:34

LA sort of 2018

11:37

, 2019 retail , was this

11:40

belief in sort of monopoly

11:42

money . Right , we could hold real estate forever

11:45

, we could pay ungodly sums

11:47

of money for real estate , we could do two

11:49

$3 million build-outs . That's

11:51

really sort of where I cut my teeth and I think

11:53

within Bark we really tried to take an

11:56

opposite approach , recognizing that you

11:58

know , at least from our perspective , the funds weren't

12:00

always going to just magically appear

12:02

right and you couldn't hold these buildings for years

12:04

and you couldn't do these really sort of chandelier-centric

12:07

build-outs . So for us , moving quickly

12:10

is a big part of our business model

12:12

, both because it's a promise we make to

12:14

the communities that we operate , that we're actually going

12:16

to actualize what's

12:18

being proposed in their community , but

12:20

I think also candidly , because it's the

12:22

only way to make money is when you don't

12:25

start four or five million dollars in the hole .

12:28

Makes sense .

12:29

So another unique thing about

12:31

you as a CEO and CEOs

12:33

all have their own journey and some CEOs

12:35

start in finance and

12:37

some start in operations and some start in marketing

12:40

, and you're a CEO that came from government

12:42

affairs and public affairs and policy

12:44

no-transcript

13:15

hat into competitive licensing application

13:18

processes and going into markets where

13:20

there aren't going to be as many dispensaries

13:22

. So I'd love to just talk

13:25

more about the

13:27

regions that you're in and how you've chosen

13:29

those cities and how you've executed

13:31

and actually gotten those golden

13:34

tickets to open a

13:36

license in some of these places . And even if you

13:38

could share some stories about , like , a town that

13:40

was particularly challenging or complicated

13:42

, that would be really interesting .

13:45

Well , they're all challenging and they're all special

13:47

in there . They're all unique . I

13:49

will say that . But I think you know

13:51

you're right . I appreciate the way you framed

13:53

it . The reality is my background is I'm a total

13:55

nerd and I've brought total policy

13:58

nerddom into what we do here . But

14:00

I think you know , looking

14:02

to legalization , I really saw

14:05

it as this moment where communities

14:08

needed to acknowledge the role that cannabis

14:10

had played and existed

14:12

for a really long time and

14:14

sort of government needed to do that and

14:17

didn't know how . And the cannabis community

14:19

for so long had been not necessarily

14:22

hiding but , because of prohibitionist

14:24

policies , had not been super forward facing

14:26

. And so you had a community

14:28

and industry that a burgeoning industry

14:31

that didn't really know how to speak to government , and

14:33

you had government with absolutely no idea

14:35

how to speak to cannabis

14:37

and to the cannabis community . And so I

14:39

think you know , in terms of sort of how

14:42

have I applied my background ? I think you're spot

14:44

on that for me this

14:46

emerged as an opportunity to be a bridge

14:48

builder . I had spent about 10 years

14:50

before starting Embarc focused

14:52

on sort of explaining policy

14:54

to communities and activating communities

14:57

on policy , and so cannabis

14:59

felt like a really natural extension

15:01

of that work and somewhere where I

15:04

could really sink my teeth in , just based on

15:06

some sort of , you know , family . We

15:08

all have our cannabis journey story

15:10

and sort of connection , and for me that

15:12

was familial , and so this felt

15:14

like , you know , taking skills I had and really

15:16

bringing them to a space in a place

15:19

that was far more purposeful than anything I

15:21

had done before , purposeful

15:26

than anything I had done before . As you look to what I do today , my job is not sexy . It is a lot

15:28

of coffees and coffee shops , one-on-one

15:31

with people who are convinced that the sky is going

15:33

to fall if we bring cannabis to their community

15:35

. And so I think that's the

15:38

secret , that's

15:40

our secret sauce is in

15:43

these licensing processes

15:45

is really the consistent

15:48

effort in each of the communities

15:50

where we apply to educate

15:53

not just regulators

15:55

or local government officials , because obviously

15:57

you often have to change their hearts and minds to

16:00

create an environment where a local licensing

16:02

process can move forward . But I think

16:04

sort of even more importantly , it's doing

16:06

the work in community , because so often

16:09

, while those

16:11

elected officials and regulators are perhaps

16:13

approaching their perspective with preconceived

16:16

notions that come from yesteryear

16:18

and DARE campaigns , they're also obviously influenced

16:20

by their constituents , and so our focus

16:22

is really on community coalition building

16:25

. We go into communities , often

16:27

before a licensing process

16:29

has ever been initiated and , like

16:31

I said , it's a lot of cups

16:34

of coffee with people who start really

16:36

unexcited about the fact that I'm there

16:38

. But it is

16:40

a listening tour . You

16:44

heard it here first . This is my big secret

16:46

. I go on a listening tour in each

16:48

of the communities . We talk with

16:50

pastors and youth , nonprofit

16:53

leaders and school board

16:55

members , those who really feel

16:57

that they're on the front lines of youth

17:00

drug education and sort of

17:02

engagement , and we just

17:04

start to have those conversations and sometimes

17:06

it takes months and sometimes

17:09

it takes years , but most of the time

17:11

through that consistent work we

17:13

can create a coalition that , I think , while

17:16

maybe not supportive of cannabis , we

17:18

get them to a place where they're supportive of the idea

17:21

that cannabis is both already in

17:23

their community and likely

17:25

coming to their community in terms of

17:27

a regulated market , and

17:29

you can get them excited about at least having a

17:31

seat at the table and shaping what that

17:33

looks like .

17:34

I think this is so important

17:37

right now because there's so

17:39

much happening on various levels of

17:42

government about

17:44

the movement of hemp and cannabis and

17:47

it's just a lot of shouting

17:49

and not enough

17:51

listening , right , and some

17:54

of the behind the scenes conversations

17:56

that I've been having lately , it's just becoming

17:58

very clear . It's like you know the regulators , the legislators they

18:00

want to be heard and their you know the regulators , the legislators

18:03

they want to be heard and

18:05

their you know their

18:07

initiatives can eventually go

18:10

in the direction of supporting what

18:12

we want , but it's only going to come through

18:14

listening . So I really

18:16

appreciate that perspective

18:19

out that . You

18:21

know , when people hear 15

18:24

stores , we'll acknowledge in

18:26

the mainstream marketplace that's a

18:28

very small retail chain , right , but

18:30

in cannabis it can actually sound kind of big

18:33

. And what

18:36

also is big in cannabis are MSOs

18:38

. And what MSOs get a

18:40

kind of a bad label

18:43

for is kind of going in , dominating

18:45

a limited license market and kind of blocking

18:47

people out . But this is different

18:50

, like you're actually going in and opening up

18:52

markets that didn't previously

18:54

have access to cannabis retail . And , and

18:57

one of my biggest gripes with California is

18:59

that , while we legalized in 2016

19:02

, and maybe

19:04

you can update , update my number , but , like I've

19:06

always said this , like only 40% of people

19:08

have actual access to legal

19:10

cannabis retail and that

19:12

was a big problem , you know , for the biggest market

19:15

in the in the nation that we like to tout um

19:17

for only 40% of residents to have that

19:19

, that access . So I don't

19:22

know , just huge kudos to you and the team

19:24

. And then I guess my question is has

19:26

that number been updated In large

19:28

part and I know you're not going to claim this but in large part

19:30

to your work that you're doing

19:32

?

19:34

I think that that number

19:36

is approximately accurate . You know

19:38

, I think there are a variety of dynamics

19:41

that impact that . Obviously

19:43

, the local control piece in this state

19:45

. I don't think legalization would

19:48

have passed without that . And yet it is so

19:50

deeply frustrating and it's strange

19:52

to be doing this work in communities and

19:54

to be talking to folks who say but I felt like I already

19:56

made this decision .

19:58

Right .

19:59

And so that's that . There's actually some education

20:01

around that . That's challenging , I think

20:03

, as we start to look at how some of the

20:06

local jurisdictions have opted

20:08

in or opted out . I think there are some questions

20:11

there . You know , opting out

20:13

was effectively required to be a vote of the people

20:15

and in many jurisdictions we

20:17

actually have elected leaders who've

20:19

made that decision , you know , sitting at a dais

20:22

and one evening , and

20:24

so I think there's some opportunity for

20:27

movement there . But

20:29

I think to your earlier point around

20:31

the need for listening . I think tied

20:33

to that is a need for unity , and

20:35

I think that you know , while

20:38

folks in this industry and in the cannabis community

20:40

recognize that cannabis has

20:42

been part of the community for a really

20:44

long time , the legal market

20:47

is in its infancy , and

20:55

so I think part of that infancy is unity

20:57

on among the

20:59

sea of challenges we face and the

21:02

sea of desired changes we want to

21:04

make . What are the two or three

21:06

changes that we want to make now and

21:08

what are the two or three changes that build

21:10

upon those changes and then the two or

21:12

three more ? And how do we create

21:14

unity around that ? Obviously , the

21:16

rescheduling , descheduling conversation . All

21:19

we're seeing are loud voices on both sides

21:21

Hemp v cannabis all

21:23

we're seeing are loud voices on both sides . I

21:26

think we have a real pattern of

21:28

not coming together and

21:30

creating a cohesive platform

21:34

for lack of a better term that we can really

21:36

push forward in a systematic way

21:38

, and I think this local

21:40

control issue is an example of where I

21:43

think the entire ecosystem

21:45

would benefit in California for more access

21:47

to cannabis , but it

21:49

has just not been an issue that we've seen folks

21:51

come together on in a way that

21:54

allows us to push for change .

21:56

Right .

21:57

I don't think that answered your question , but it definitely

22:00

was my call to action diatribe , which

22:02

is we need to get our SHIT

22:04

together and start figuring out what

22:06

are the priorities and how do we make them happen

22:09

. And I think expansion of access

22:11

is , you know , a

22:14

big one .

22:15

Absolutely .

22:16

Well , so also , though , let's let's be

22:18

real on the business front that within

22:20

, within the lack

22:22

of access , is opportunity

22:24

in the deserts , and you

22:27

guys have gone into a little bit more getting away from

22:29

the policy side , which

22:41

I know we could get lost in for the whole conversation

22:43

, but to learn about , kind of now

22:45

that you have 15 stores and they

22:47

are spread all over the state , like

22:50

I would love to learn some of the business

22:52

takeaways that you're seeing in terms

22:54

of performance of different stores in different markets

22:56

. Are the stores that are in these markets

22:58

that only have two stores , are

23:00

they performing on a revenue

23:03

basis , like at a way , higher

23:05

level than at the stores that are in

23:07

markets that have more

23:09

stores close by ? Like how

23:11

can you predict how

23:13

much business you're going to do at a store ? Any

23:16

numbers that you're open to sharing ? I'd love

23:18

to dive into that .

23:20

Yeah , I think it's . You know that's a

23:22

onion with a lot of layers

23:24

. I think pop like

23:26

at its most basic population

23:28

count is the biggest , I think

23:30

, and is the biggest driver right . Number

23:33

of licenses relative to population . Obviously

23:35

you're going to have a greater opportunity for

23:37

market share and thus for higher revenue

23:39

. I

23:50

think there's regional dynamics in places where you know I may be in a community that

23:53

only has opted for two or three licenses , but the neighboring communities

23:55

have opted for a proliferation and the operator response based on

23:57

that proliferation is a

23:59

race to a bottom . The operator response based on that proliferation

24:01

is a race to a bottom . I'll

24:03

use Fresno as an example . Embarc

24:08

and Artistry were the first two stores to open and we were the only two of the 21

24:11

licenses issued to be open in Fresno for about a year and a half

24:13

. But

24:15

there are a lot of other dynamics going

24:17

on there . So that is great

24:19

and is definitely lucrative , right , but

24:23

I think the impact of that is

24:25

often that that discourages a

24:27

desert . So then we saw Madeira

24:29

come online , we saw Hanford increase

24:31

the number of right . So you see these neighboring

24:33

communities start to move forward , which ultimately

24:36

I think is great , because

24:38

these sort of monopolistic markets

24:41

. I just that's just not the future and it's

24:43

not from my perspective how

24:45

we build a business . We've been strategic

24:47

in building our business to this point by

24:50

not going into oversaturated markets

24:52

where we have , you know , no opportunity

24:54

to drive meaningful margin . But

24:57

I think the future of this industry is one

24:59

where folks have access to cannabis

25:01

and I think successful businesses

25:04

in this industry will be ones that are

25:06

prepared to compete . But

25:08

that said , I think you

25:10

know , in the past six months we've

25:12

seen Fresno go from two

25:14

to probably 12 to 14 licenses

25:17

, and if you walk into most of those stores today

25:19

, it's 40% off everything

25:21

every day , and so that's this

25:23

sort of reactionary right

25:25

. So these folks are coming into a market

25:28

, they're seeking to capture market share from

25:30

artistry and from the existing operators

25:32

in the community , and they do so by

25:34

what ? Maybe maintaining

25:36

a 10% margin , and now you're having to pay your

25:38

staff and do your community benefits

25:40

and pay your vendors off

25:42

that 10% . You know it , just the

25:44

math ain't mapping in

25:49

a lot of these communities , and so I think even

25:51

in that way we're seeing changing

25:53

dynamics . So you know , has it been awesome

25:56

to operate one of two stores in Fresno

25:58

for a year and a half . Has it been awesome to operate

26:00

one of two stores in Fresno for a year and a half ? It

26:05

absolutely was . But I think , in order to get to 15 and to go from 15 to 25

26:07

or 30 , we have to be focused on how do we build a business , how do we build stores that are

26:10

profitable at , you know , three to $5 million

26:12

, because the future , I believe , is

26:15

sufficient stores in sufficient locations

26:17

that folks have access to cannabis

26:20

, and so I think it's more about building

26:22

, you know , scalable process

26:24

and sort of smart business practices

26:26

. Now , which is challenging

26:28

in a 40% off the entire store

26:30

every day , dynamic , right , that's

26:33

coming from a lot of our competitors .

26:35

So what do you guys do when everyone down

26:37

the street is 40% off ? Do you go

26:39

40% off too ?

26:43

Yes and no . So no , we

26:45

are not 40% off across

26:47

our store every day , but

26:49

I think we experiment because

26:53

I think for us it's constantly about gaining

26:55

that data around our customer , and

26:58

then I think we remain specialized

27:00

. So we have a real focus on

27:02

sort of our owned channels

27:05

, with a focus on our own loyalty program

27:07

, and I think we've

27:09

really invested in the creation

27:11

of a robust rewards

27:13

program , because that's a very tangible

27:15

way that we're maintaining that connection

27:18

with our consumer . We've

27:20

focused heavily on BOPUS

27:22

buy online , pick up in store because we're

27:24

really developing what

27:27

is our largest store but has effectively

27:30

no rent right and very little overhead

27:32

because we already have the staff in

27:34

store . I think

27:37

we're constantly focused on

27:39

ourselves as

27:41

a brand , which has been an interesting

27:44

mentality shift for me . Starting Embarc

27:46

a name and a vision

27:48

that sort of harkens to this

27:50

idea of a journey and exploration During

27:54

a pandemic , when everyone was told they could not

27:56

explore or leave their homes , felt like

27:58

a bit of a mistimed

28:01

. And so I think now you know now

28:03

that we feel sort of through that , you

28:05

know we're really focused on

28:07

sort

28:11

of Embarc as a brand and on

28:13

being a partner to our brands

28:15

, such that that can be creative to

28:17

our customer . And then I think , really

28:20

, because we're talking about 40%

28:22

off , we've focused on how

28:25

we can define value as

28:27

more than just price , and I

28:29

think it would be preachy

28:31

for me to pretend that price is not

28:33

a component of how we provide

28:36

value . But I think in

28:38

this dynamic , many

28:41

folks have simply equated value equals

28:43

price , and I think that's too

28:45

narrow a lens , and so that's where

28:48

some of this loyalty and these other

28:50

key initiatives come

28:52

in , because that

28:55

approach , that race to the bottom

28:58

, is just wiping folks out

29:00

and I think for us , like

29:02

, we have to be focused on something bigger than

29:04

that , or you know , or the fleet

29:06

wouldn't survive .

29:08

I really appreciate you kind of diving into

29:10

a bunch of the details and

29:12

tactics . I do want to kind

29:14

of just dial it back a little bit . Dial

29:17

it back a little bit . We had Chris Jackson on

29:20

a couple episodes ago and he

29:22

was talking about starting

29:25

, you know , a single retailer

29:27

and how focusing on that single

29:29

retailer really

29:31

allows for potentially

29:34

some success . You know will broadly define success

29:36

there . And he's also talking

29:38

about the marketplace and how the larger

29:40

again air quotes around larger

29:42

chains and and

29:44

their ability to drive success through economies of

29:46

scale and whatnot , and kind of the

29:48

valley of death , so to speak , that

29:51

existed in between them . I'm

29:53

just curious , like did you

29:56

experience that as you're growing from one

29:58

to 15 ? And and

30:00

what are your thoughts on thoughts on the valley of death and what

30:03

do you think actually drives that ? Is it just an economies

30:05

of scale or is there something else at play there

30:07

?

30:10

It's a great question . The valley of death analogy

30:12

, I think is very real . It feels too real

30:14

. Still I'm not entirely sure that we're , you

30:17

know totally outside of it , that just might be California

30:19

.

30:20

California is the city it's .

30:21

If you can , I'm not entirely sure that we're , you know , totally outside of California

30:23

. It's if you can survive here . Right

30:25

, I think you know . I think it's a

30:27

good question . I

30:34

think that , first of all , as a single store operator , I think your store is incredible because it

30:36

is the . You get up every single day fixated on that store , on

30:39

its service , on it . You know , you know your

30:41

customers by name . When we started

30:43

this company I said , you know , I will

30:45

retire the day that someone compares us

30:47

to Cheers right and says , oh my gosh , everybody

30:49

knows my name . And

30:52

that's the dream . And that is

30:54

so achievable at one store

30:56

because as type A overachieving

30:59

founders , we can be there every day , type

31:01

A-ing and overachieving . I

31:03

think as you start to creep into multi-store

31:06

, and particularly when you get out of

31:08

two or three that are regional and you're

31:11

looking at five and 10 or 15 , I

31:14

think the complexities absolutely jump

31:17

exponentially . I think one of the biggest challenges

31:19

for operators in that dynamic , in that valley

31:21

of death , is how do you upskill your

31:23

team without losing

31:27

the soul that sort of got

31:30

you there . I think there's something almost

31:32

cultish about a team in its early

31:34

days . It's that everybody's

31:36

so manically dedicated and driving

31:38

toward the same thing and I wholeheartedly

31:41

believe that almost cultish but not

31:43

creepy approach is

31:46

what got us from one to

31:48

15 , most

31:50

of the time in a pandemic . But

31:53

against that backdrop , how

31:56

do you provide different tools and

31:58

different resources for your existing team ? How

32:00

do you provide different tools and different resources for your

32:02

existing team ? How do you supplement that team with folks that have

32:04

expertise in scale or in scaling , and how

32:06

do you do that in a way that doesn't completely

32:09

disrupt the apple cart ? I think

32:11

that's probably where , as a

32:13

founder , most many of the pain

32:15

points come in in that valley

32:17

. I think the other greatest challenge

32:19

is the tools that are available to us

32:21

. I think I

32:25

don't want to call . You know I'm deeply grateful

32:27

to our many tech partners and

32:29

the calls that they take from me

32:31

at 11 o'clock at night with feedback

32:34

on their tech , but

32:36

I think the reality is

32:38

we are under equipped in this industry and

32:40

I think a lot of our you know sort of tech

32:42

stack tools are built

32:45

to for one store

32:47

or three stores or five stores , and they

32:49

aren't built for 15

32:51

. And it's an and at

32:54

15, . Those blind

32:56

spots in that tech can kill

32:58

you . I mean I have multiple

33:01

at this point , which is completely unsustainable

33:04

, which is why I'm calling people at 1pm . I

33:06

have multiple full time employees that are effectively

33:08

, you know , exist today

33:11

to debug the

33:13

basic fundamentals of how our

33:15

tech meets our daily needs right , and

33:17

so it's interesting . I was

33:19

talking with the founder of a

33:22

multi-location I'd say they're

33:24

probably between five and 10 stores a California

33:27

retailer , the other day , and he was talking about

33:29

how they were actually changing their

33:31

point of sale system to move to a platform

33:33

that is one-stop

33:35

shop , if you will . And it was so interesting

33:38

for me because , at 15 stores

33:40

, my biggest gripe is

33:42

enough with this one-stop

33:44

shop . Be specialized in what

33:46

you do and be really good at that . One

33:48

thing right .

33:49

Also , if that one-stop shop fails

33:51

, then your whole system goes down . Yeah

33:54

, yes .

33:55

So I think that's you

33:57

know , that's the other challenge , it's it's I mean

34:00

, it's your people and it's your process Right , and

34:02

we're still working with tools that I think are

34:04

and with companies that are , you know

34:06

, underfunded and under equipped to meet

34:08

the needs of scale , because scale

34:11

is still new , you know , or new

34:13

for us .

34:16

Yeah , so thinking about the tech stack

34:18

leads my brain to

34:20

starting to think about the product mix in

34:22

the store , because I know that that is

34:24

where all the data lives , on

34:26

all the products and and you talked about

34:28

the , the online menu to

34:30

encourage people to buy ahead and come pick up

34:32

in the store . And

34:35

because we're talking about California and I

34:37

want to make sure that we're giving the

34:39

listeners good insights into

34:41

California and what it's like here compared to

34:44

how it maybe is in other States and and

34:46

I know that there's some there's some special

34:48

sauce at embarc about the way that

34:50

you guys curate your menu , and you've

34:52

talked about brands being partners . I

34:56

would love it if you could demystify a little bit about

34:58

how that menu comes to be

35:00

. Is there individual

35:03

buyers at every store ? Do you have

35:05

centralized purchasing ? How

35:07

do you choose the products that you think

35:09

consumers in all these markets are going

35:12

to want ?

35:15

Yeah , it's a great question . I think

35:17

, at the risk of sounding cliche , it is

35:19

an art and a science and we've really

35:21

focused on honing the skills

35:24

and creating the latitude

35:26

for the folks on our team that are

35:28

the artists and for those who are the scientists

35:31

, for the folks on our team that are the artists

35:33

and for those who are the scientists . But , as I said , in

35:37

terms of upskilling our team , figuring out how to stitch those two together . And

35:39

so I think , as a three or four store chain , we had one buyer

35:41

shout out , ivy she's incredible

35:43

doing it all , getting

35:46

feedback from our inventory management teams

35:48

in each store , because I do think it's important

35:50

that you have sort of localization and

35:52

some local feedback , but as you continue

35:54

to scale , it's not scalable to have 15

35:57

different menus like entirely

35:59

different menus . The

36:01

cost associated with that is

36:04

an example of something where I think a lot of operators

36:06

sort of overlook , just

36:09

like the billing costs of that

36:12

, the follow-up on discount

36:14

costs of I mean it's just it becomes

36:16

completely unscalable . And so there was a

36:18

point in time , as we were , as

36:20

in that valley of death of scale , right

36:22

where we looked at the menu and there were a

36:24

thousand SKUs across approximately 10

36:26

stores and they were not all active , thank

36:29

goodness . But that

36:31

had ballooned right

36:33

Because our focus had shifted a bit

36:36

away from strict

36:38

inventory control and inventory management

36:40

, and the reality of that is it costs

36:42

you a tremendous amount of money If you don't have inventory

36:44

turn . You're burning money , you're burning

36:46

labor time and money . And so I think , for us

36:49

, ivy

36:51

on our team is the artist . She's the

36:53

one that I think has 10

36:55

plus years of instincts , that

36:58

is a finger on the pulse of the California

37:01

consumer and of what comes next

37:03

. But we've really supplemented her with

37:05

a four person team that is focused on

37:07

constantly using , you know , leveraging

37:10

the data , and so she's empowered to

37:12

find what's next , she's empowered

37:14

to fill holes that are in the

37:16

menu , but she's supported by

37:18

a team that I think , for the first

37:20

time , we're really starting to hit our stride

37:23

that is focused on

37:25

the math , to ensure that we can

37:27

continue to be

37:29

a partner to our vendors . And I think you

37:31

know one of the things when I talk with brand

37:35

partners for the first time , one of the first things they

37:37

say to me which is really a sad statement

37:39

on the industry is thank you so much for

37:41

paying your bills right , like what a bare

37:44

minimum bar that we have to hit

37:46

right , which is horrifying

37:48

in so many ways . But I think , in

37:50

order to be that partner , you

37:52

have to be vigilant in your inventory management

37:55

, and I think that looks different today than

37:57

it did four years ago . There's no coming

38:00

in and smoking out someone in the store and suddenly

38:02

we've over indexed into your product line

38:04

and it's all sitting there , because that doesn't help

38:06

you as a brand , just as it doesn't

38:08

help us as a retailer . I think you

38:10

know we're trying to professionalize this process

38:13

, but not in a way that takes the

38:15

relationships out of it . You know , if anything

38:17

, I think we've developed really

38:20

fantastic relationships with the brands , which is

38:22

why you know they show up and they do

38:24

the events with us . They do all of the other things

38:26

because we've been able to

38:28

create an ecosystem that really amplifies

38:30

who they are , since we are an

38:32

agnostic retailer , right ? So in this debate

38:35

over vertical integration versus being specialized

38:38

, we've decided to specialize in

38:40

retail and really index into

38:42

the fact that there are enough pieces of

38:44

the pie for us all to go around if

38:47

we're amplifying one another as opposed to

38:49

just amplifying our own brand .

38:57

I want to ask a follow-up on that . That's two parts . I want to understand

38:59

around how many SKUs you target keeping in the store and , just

39:02

for that broader scope , for

39:04

those in other states . I think that in other

39:06

states , when a retailer is

39:08

curating their menu , it's

39:11

often what is available , especially

39:13

in the new markets where there's a lack of

39:15

supply , and so I I'd like

39:17

it if you could just give us a little bit of like when you're

39:19

trying to decide what gummies to

39:21

put on your shelf or what pre-rolls to

39:23

put on your shelf , like

39:26

how many options are there to

39:28

choose from ? How many brands are you

39:30

seeing in the market and how many do you

39:32

choose to actually um ?

39:34

1 million and

39:42

unfortunately , half of them aren't here in

39:44

six months from now , and you know you have entirely

39:46

new ones , which is challenging because

39:49

part of the brand promise to consumers has to

39:51

be consistency , right , and so I think

39:53

for us there's not a one size

39:55

fits all answer . We in a lot

39:57

of markets have hundreds of SKUs and we compete

40:00

against competitors that have thousands , literally

40:02

thousands , on their menu . I

40:05

do think there is such a thing as decision fatigue

40:07

, and even you know the greatest flower

40:09

connoisseur , I'm not sure that they need

40:11

1200 flower SKUs

40:14

to find something that works for them . I

40:16

think part of our job or

40:19

part of our role is in this

40:21

sort of guided exploration is to

40:23

curate something that gives something

40:25

for everyone without creating 1200

40:27

options for them . So I think you know

40:29

there are spatial constraints , market dynamics

40:31

and other . You know there are spatial constraints , market dynamics and other . You know

40:33

components that drive what that skew count is

40:36

, but again , for us , per

40:38

store it's hundreds , it's not , you

40:40

know , 1200 . I

40:42

think there are also a number

40:44

of factors . You start a bit broader

40:46

in a new market because , again , so

40:48

often , we're going into a market that's never had

40:50

legal cannabis , so there isn't data

40:53

around consumer preferences right . So

40:55

I think we can start a little bit broader and

40:57

then start to narrow as we see what

40:59

consumers like . And

41:01

then I think the other part of this is , you know , we've , over

41:03

time , we've developed a real brand onboarding

41:06

process that allows

41:08

us to ensure that there's values , alignment

41:11

, but also sort of feasibility . You

41:13

know , there are brands that we want to feature but

41:15

that don't have the capacity as

41:17

a brand to be featured in 15

41:20

stores . They don't have the distribution capacity

41:22

. I mean that it's not feasible for them

41:24

, and so featuring them in 15 stores

41:26

would actually set them up to

41:28

fail rather than to succeed . And

41:30

so I think that's

41:33

what we've focused on is how do we create

41:35

an onboarding process where we

41:37

set really clear expectations for our partners , where

41:39

we set really clear expectations for ourselves

41:42

and where we've created mechanisms where

41:44

we're checking in on that ? Because

41:46

, again , I don't want a brand

41:48

to come into our store , tie up limited inventory

41:51

they have and have it fall flat . That

41:53

doesn't behoove our relationship

41:55

. And so I think it's around really

41:58

clear communication and expectation setting

42:00

. I think the other challenge

42:02

I think Ivy probably has the hardest

42:04

job in our entire company because

42:06

she has to say no a

42:08

lot , and then everybody comes

42:11

to me . Ivy has said no to me , right

42:13

, and so I think the other role that I

42:15

have to play is I

42:17

have to completely respect that , that

42:19

Ivy . If Ivy makes

42:21

that decision , I have to stand behind

42:24

it , even if you know the brand

42:26

owner is a friend . Right , because

42:28

I think it's

42:30

really easy and I've seen this and I

42:33

have done this before where you erode

42:35

your own principles and then your menu

42:37

starts to underperform

42:39

, right , and so I think that's menu

42:42

discipline is probably the hardest part

42:45

of management . Right , because you

42:47

see these exciting new brands or you want

42:49

to . You know you want to uplift a partner , but

42:52

there are times you just can't because

42:54

it doesn't . It doesn't fit within your SKU count , it

42:56

doesn't fit within that community . You know the community

42:58

demographics and ultimately , you

43:00

know it creates a dynamic where you're setting everybody up

43:02

to not to be unsuccessful .

43:05

I love that . My , I have a . I have a good friend

43:07

that's an entrepreneur outside of the space , but

43:09

he was just talking about recently the

43:12

role of the CEO and having

43:14

to protect the container and

43:16

be vigilant about it , even

43:19

if it's not always making

43:21

friends . I do

43:23

want to kind of talk about building the container

43:25

a little bit as we kind of wrap up our time

43:27

. Do

43:29

you guys mind if we talk about how to build a cult real

43:32

quick ? Yeah

43:36

, no , it's something I'm super passionate about

43:38

. Cult building , no , but like

43:40

seriously , I think building

43:42

a culture within a company is something

43:45

it sounds like that you've been very focused on , so

43:47

I want to kind of dig into the details there . It's something I'm

43:50

super passionate about because it gives you the foundation

43:52

for building a resilient company

43:54

, gives you the foundation for

43:57

building customer loyalty and

44:00

allowing you to grow and be

44:02

successful , I believe , and so I want

44:04

to get your opinion . Earlier

44:06

, we were talking about the book club and different

44:09

books that we like to read on leadership . What

44:11

are some of the philosophies that you've brought

44:14

into building Embar c And you

44:16

know , whether it's books or otherwise , like what , what stands

44:18

out to you is kind of the key to your success

44:21

.

44:23

Oh , that's a good one . I

44:26

don't have one silver bullet . I think we

44:30

have recognized from the beginning

44:32

that culture is a living , breathing thing , and

44:35

I think a lot of times companies try

44:37

and set

44:39

a culture on the front end of something

44:41

and then there's so much energy spent

44:43

sort of with guardrails , channeling

44:46

the team and that culture to be

44:48

made in the image that was

44:50

, you know , created at a whiteboard on day one

44:53

and doesn't necessarily reflect

44:55

the ebbs and flows of

44:57

a business , you know , and a more

44:59

macro environment . So I think for

45:01

us , the biggest trick has been sort of

45:03

recognizing that there are

45:06

times when culture is stronger and

45:08

there are times when you have to invest in

45:10

it more in order to keep sort of that

45:12

heartbeat going . You

45:14

know , I think that one of the biggest

45:16

things we've done from a culture

45:18

we're at about 400 employees

45:21

now , which is , for us , has happened pretty

45:23

quickly , right , in just a handful of years

45:25

. And so for us , that scaled

45:27

growth presents unique opportunities

45:29

and unique challenges to culture

45:31

, right , because , particularly as these

45:34

communities become further and further apart

45:36

, it can be easy to feel disparate rather

45:38

than connected . And so I think the biggest

45:40

culture driver for us has

45:42

been really focused

45:44

on how do we empower our retail teams

45:46

to meaningfully contribute to one another

45:49

. So we've built what we call a flight

45:51

club , which is , you know

45:53

, a group of our retail team members

45:55

that literally fly in that , you

45:57

know , like a flock and surround new

45:59

store team members with sort of the

46:01

extra care and attention and

46:03

subject matter expertise they need

46:06

to get their stores set up to

46:08

succeed . And I think that seeing

46:10

these retail team members be

46:13

so empowered to set their colleagues

46:15

up for success is honestly

46:17

probably the greatest barometer I have

46:19

for the team health and the team culture , because

46:21

they're genuinely so excited

46:24

and supportive to do it . And then

46:26

I think , in terms of our leadership team

46:28

, we've invested for about

46:30

two years in ongoing business

46:32

mentorship and coaching that is

46:34

probably more focused

46:37

on team health and health dynamics

46:39

than on the business itself . It's helpful

46:41

we use the business as sort

46:43

of the spine or the framework that

46:46

we continue to use these

46:48

step back times

46:51

to optimize around . But I think , more than

46:53

anything it's it is that

46:55

investment in the recognition

46:57

of what everybody else is contributing

46:59

that's been the greatest factor in

47:01

helping us . You know this is stressful

47:03

, given how quick we're moving , and I think that's

47:05

been the quickest way to sort of

47:07

get to the heart of each of our leaders

47:10

, because they're the heart of you know , their

47:12

teams .

47:13

Yeah . So I imagine that there's kind of like

47:15

these , these micro cultures that exist

47:17

, like with every location are

47:19

do do the teams get competitive

47:22

with each other ? Is is , do you kind of like drive

47:24

like kind of a larger umbrella

47:26

culture that then fosters these kinds

47:28

of autonomous kind of groups

47:31

?

47:34

Yes , I think what you see is teams

47:36

engaging with one another and sort

47:38

of playfully engaging with one another , and

47:41

I think that is what allows them

47:43

to celebrate their own

47:45

identity on social media . A lot of times

47:47

on our Instagram , you'll see and this is such a small example

47:50

, but I actually think in some ways it's so indicative

47:52

of what I mean You'll

47:54

have one team doing

47:56

a dance off and then they'll tag to

47:58

another team that has to do their own . Who will tag

48:01

to an end it's always these weird

48:03

organic or they'll do who

48:05

can get the most passport club signups , and then

48:07

the loser has to send the winner a

48:09

trope . You know , it's these sort of ridiculous

48:11

, fun , silly little things , but

48:14

I think it's those silly little things

48:16

that allow them to celebrate who

48:18

they are relative , you know , within the context

48:20

of another team , but also is independent

48:22

from them .

48:23

Love that .

48:25

It's such a great thing to be talking about

48:27

Because I think , especially with retail , it's

48:29

extra hard in the world culture

48:31

because when you have like , if

48:33

you're a tech company or even a non-retail

48:35

cannabis company , you make

48:38

weekends off or you have a regular like nine

48:40

to five workday and so you can do like

48:42

okay , we're going to do a team dinner , but

48:44

retail is usually seven

48:46

days a week . It goes into the evenings

48:49

. There's not a lot of time to be able

48:51

to shut down and bring everyone together

48:53

, and so to hear some of these ways that you guys

48:55

are keeping it fun and fresh is really cool and

48:58

I hope that it keeps building as

49:01

you keep adding stores . So really

49:04

awesome . Thanks

49:06

, do we have time for one

49:08

more question ? What do we think ?

49:10

Go ahead .

49:12

Okay , we're so good in answering

49:15

that culture question , about talking

49:17

about the team , but

49:19

I want to turn it back on you and

49:32

within this , you are a first time CEO as well , and a woman in cannabis , and I just

49:34

I wanted to both acknowledge that , but also to find out about what it means

49:36

to you to be a first time CEO and and personally , like how , how you've

49:38

chosen to to grow

49:40

and continue and how you see it for yourself , like what are

49:43

some of your aspirations for your own personal leadership

49:45

in this journey ?

49:48

Um , great questions

49:50

. On this one , I think I

49:52

do not take for granted one

49:55

day the opportunity that

49:57

embarc has given me , and you know I'm

49:59

34 years old . Uh , I

50:01

find it very hard to

50:03

believe that I would be in a position like this

50:05

in in any other industry or in

50:07

any other dynamic , right , I'm just fortunate

50:09

that I started this thing , so I get to

50:11

be here , and I think , um , you

50:14

know , candidly , I invest a

50:16

lot of energy into being better

50:18

tomorrow than I am today

50:20

. Um , I , my poor therapist

50:22

, I think it's just work that we talk about

50:25

at this point , but , um , I

50:27

think that's been huge and I think actually

50:29

being pretty open with the team about

50:31

that has been huge . I do think that there's a lot

50:33

of stigma around sort of recognizing

50:36

that we all have opportunities for personal growth

50:38

, and so I

50:40

would say that's my single , that's my biggest

50:42

saving grace . And then the other thing and

50:45

this is the most cliche thing I'll say all day

50:47

is I 100%

50:49

surround myself with people that are smarter

50:51

than me in every single thing that we do

50:53

. I am really good

50:55

at getting coffees with people who are

50:58

scared of cannabis , right , there

51:00

are things that I know I'm really good at

51:02

and I try and grow

51:04

and matriculate our team in those places

51:07

and those spaces because they're where I can provide

51:09

the most value . But I think

51:11

, even over the past sort of year and a half , as

51:13

we've recognized the need to level up , that's

51:16

when I've brought in this business coach . That's when I

51:18

brought in Jeff , who's the former CEO of

51:20

the Gap , and I'm on the

51:22

phone with him four times a week about whatever

51:25

the greatest challenge is facing our business . So

51:27

I think for me I

51:30

want to be in service to our company for

51:32

as long as my service to

51:34

us and to the team provides value

51:36

. But I also sort of recognize

51:39

that the biggest way that I can do that is

51:41

by constantly soliciting the feedback from

51:43

others on . You know how to best

51:45

grow in , how I'm providing value

51:47

. And I think the other piece

51:49

of that is I feel a real duty to make

51:52

sure that we're creating similar opportunity

51:54

for other people , because I can't

51:56

sit here and recognize what a tremendous opportunity

51:58

this is for me if we aren't also

52:01

working to create tremendous opportunity

52:03

for other people to Hell , yeah

52:06

.

52:06

Now I don't know if that means I have to put the E

52:08

on the podcast recording now , if I said that Well

52:12

, so thank you so much , lauren

52:14

. This has been a pleasure . It is time

52:16

for us to wrap this conversation , and so it's

52:19

time for us to move to our last call , and that's

52:21

when we actually turn the mic back to you one more

52:23

time to um , to

52:25

make your lasting impression on our audience . So , lauren

52:27

, what is your last call today ?

52:30

Okay , this one is sort of random . It's not going

52:32

to be a big policy call to action , which is

52:34

probably what you thought would come for me , but actually

52:36

it's going to be a call to action around the California

52:38

State Fair . So this year , after

52:41

many years , we have been

52:43

pushing the California State Fair to meaningfully

52:46

integrate cannabis in

52:49

all of its forms into what

52:51

is really a global stage , and

52:53

this year they're doing it in new

52:56

and very exciting ways . So for the past

52:58

couple of years , the state fair has had an exhibit

53:00

, and the reason that is exciting is

53:02

because it recognizes cannabis as the wonderful

53:04

agricultural product that it is and

53:06

allows it to be celebrated alongside wine

53:08

and cheese and everything else that we celebrate at the

53:11

State Fair . But this year it has

53:13

expanded , where we have a competition that is

53:15

intended to recognize the best of California

53:17

and where there will be some other

53:19

surprises that we are announcing soon that

53:21

look like sales and

53:23

consumption . So my

53:25

call to action is to really embrace

53:28

, if you are a California brand or you are a California

53:30

operator , embrace what this incredible

53:33

platform is that's being given to

53:35

us to tell our story and to

53:37

normalize cannabis on a world stage

53:39

. So that is my . I am so excited

53:42

about this . I think this is huge , and I think it's

53:44

really huge in starting to prompt conversations

53:46

that folks in the triangle have been

53:48

having for a really long time around Appalachians of

53:50

origin and things of that nature , but to really amplify

53:52

them to audiences who have , today

53:54

, no idea what we're talking about . But by the end of this

53:57

, absolutely will .

53:59

And I can totally see why you're so great at getting

54:02

coffee with people , because

54:17

I feel like I could just talk to you for hours and just yeah , I'm already

54:19

looking forward to our next conversation . Thank you , I really appreciate the

54:21

time with both of you Amazing . All right , well , we'll talk

54:24

to you soon . Thank

54:26

you , Anna Rae . Thank you so much for

54:28

setting this up with Lauren . Like

54:31

I , seriously like I have a new aspirational best friend .

54:33

She's pretty good , right , pretty good

54:36

.

54:36

Pretty good , pretty good . It's also you know

54:38

, just like so I don't

54:40

know uplifting to hear a positive story

54:42

coming out of California . A lot of doom and gloom

54:45

.

54:45

Yeah , to talk about someone that actually is

54:47

investing in and growing in this

54:49

state , because there's

54:52

a lot of opportunity here , so we can't forget it

54:54

and can't lose sight of it and the good leaders that

54:56

are doing it .

54:58

Do not forget . What

55:00

do you guys think ? Good episode

55:03

yeah , there's a lot of engagement on LinkedIn , so

55:05

keep leaving your comments , share it

55:07

, subscribe , do all the things . The podcast

55:09

will be up shortly . My

55:11

goodness , there's so much

55:13

happening right now . Next

55:16

week we have an all-star coming on

55:18

and I just can't wait to quote

55:21

unquote pick her brain Wendy

55:23

Berger , a board member at GTI . Investor

55:26

. Supporter of women entrepreneurs in the space

55:28

just all around badass there

55:30

. Investor . Supporter of women entrepreneurs in the space just all around

55:32

badass there . Now we officially earned that E , thank you . Thank

55:34

you so much for listening and engaging . Thank

55:42

you to our teams at Virtosa and Wolfmeyer

55:45

. Couldn't do this without you guys , literally , and

55:50

yeah , I'm just so pumped . This is great , great to go to into the end of the week . As we go into the next

55:52

week , remember folks , stay curious

55:54

, stay informed and keep

55:56

your spirits high until next time

55:58

. That's the show .