Episode 4 - Growing Your Cannabusiness (with David Gonzalez)

Welcome to Episode Four of Northern Lights! In this captivating episode, we bring you exciting updates, explore license types, indulge in new THC-infused products, and engage in an enlightening interview with David Gonzalez from The Hemp House.

In the introduction, we delve into the eagerly anticipated news that Red Lake Nation will kick off adult-use cannabis sales on August 1st. Prepare your taste buds for a delectable experience as we introduce No Coast's THC-infused product line from The Hemp House and indulge in their exquisite Pate de Fruit and mouthwatering Polvorónes. Continuing our journey, we provide a breakdown of various license types beyond retail, focusing on cultivators, manufacturers, wholesalers, transporters, and lower-potency hemp edible manufacturers. 

In the interview section, we dive deep with David Gonzalez from The Hemp House. Discover the incredible journey of The Hemp House, from being a product manufacturer to winning the Legacy THC Cup. David shares exciting insights into their recent product releases under the No Coast Cannabis brand and provides valuable perspectives on the Minnesota cannabis industry.

Finally, we wrap by talking about the upcoming Cloning 101, a hands-on cannabis educational class taught by the renowned Dr. Dabs. This class offers invaluable insights into cannabis cloning, tools, step-by-step processes, rooting, aftercare, and troubleshooting.

Links from the Show

• NativeCare (Red Lake Nation Cannabis Dispensary) - https://www.nativecare.com/
• The Hemp House MN - https://www.thehemphousemn.com
• Expert Education: Cloning 101 - https://mncannabiscollege.org/clones
• First Avenue’s Legalized It! - https://first-avenue.com/event/2023-08-legalized-it/

Transcript

 Howdy friends, welcome to episode four of the Northern Lights Podcast. Howdy, I like that. I'm your host, Tanner, joined today by my co host, John. Hello. Welcome. Oh, yeah. It's been nice. It's been nice getting closer and closer to legalization, Tanner. I know, so a little bit of behind the scenes, we're recording this on Thursday, July 20th.

We are days out from legal cannabis in Minnesota. This episode will be coming out on Monday. You guys will be even closer to legalization. I mean, like, Days away. John, we've both been activists for years. How does it feel to actually hear and know that legal cannabis in Minnesota, mind you, not stores, but legalization is just days away.

You know, it's quite relieving, honestly. It's just Because right now it's the excitement's all there, but better yet, it's like we're closer to the expungements and seeing like an actual change in cannabis policy, like right away. Like you said, like we won't get like stores, but that is what we'll get.

We'll get like expungements right away. All the automatic ones, all the people who can start applying for their stuff as the OCM builds up. Yeah. Like that's what, yeah, I think that'll be cool. And then home grows. Yeah. Oh, absolutely. And then getting your plants and watching them grow and being a great cannabis parent.

Yeah. Lots of things to be excited about. We've got a great episode here today. We've got some pretty big news talking about the Red Lake Nation and some stuff they'll be doing come August 1st. We're trying out some products today from No Coast Cannabis. And then we're also going to be talking about some licenses that we didn't cover last week.

That is about some of the other things you can do in the cannabis industry besides selling cannabis to retailers. A little bit later, we'll be hearing from David Gonzalez from Hemp House, Minnesota. We'll be talking about their store, their brand, NoCoast Cannabis, and some of the stuff that they're looking forward to.

And then finally at the end of today's episode, you'll be hearing about a cloning class that Dr. Dabbs will be leading just about a week away so a lot is coming up today. But first off, we wanted to jump into some pretty big news that came out of the Red Lake Nation looking at what they'll be doing come August 1st.

So, the law that was passed, House File 100, legalizes cannabis, and while it creates a longer process to license and open retail stores, it gives tribal nations in Minnesota sort of their own leeway to do what they will. There are compacts that will come about later, but starting August 1st, cannabis will be legal in Minnesota, and the Red Lake Nation voted just on July 11th to approve the sale of cannabis.

Both the tribal and non tribal members outside of their medical program starting on August 1st. And these compacts, they're just agreements between the tribal nations and the state of Minnesota saying, Hey, you can do this and you can do this with citizens of, you know, our country, technically, yeah. Yeah.

I'm so excited for Red Lake. We went up there a few years ago. And we got to see the excitement for cannabis. We had a meeting and there were, I think we had close to a hundred people. The youngest person was like two years old and the oldest was 90 years old. And it was just this massive group of people and seeing that excitement turn into them being the very first recreational spot.

Yeah. So they're going to get about a 12 to 18 month start on any other business here in Minnesota on selling to that adult use market size through native care. The tribal medical dispensary Minnesotans over the age of 21 will be able to purchase a limited amount of cannabis, which has not yet been announced starting on August 1st.

Now, this is a little bit. Out of the way, let's be honest with that. Most people that are going to be in the Twin Cities and some of the larger cities, this will probably be a pretty long drive for you. Yeah, it's gonna be about 30 minutes from Bemidji, 3 hours from Moorhead, about 3 hours from Duluth and about 4 hours from the Twin Cities itself.

But They are able to open more locations in Thief River Falls and Warhead, which while it won't get them much closer, will create a number of different locations throughout Minnesota, selling adult-use cannabis starting in just a couple days. Yeah. And, because these sales are all on native land, You don't have to comply with that 10 percent sales tax that was passed in House File 100.

You'll be able to buy cannabis outside of that taxing structure, at least for now. Wow. That's amazing. So there will be, relatively quickly, there will be, yeah, recreational cannabis. On the first day that there can be, there will be. And I think, I think hopefully four hours, you know, that's That's a drive.

It'll be worth it. Their hours are 11 to 6, Monday through Friday. So in theory, if you leave the Twin Cities, you know, a little bit before 7, a little bit before 6, you'll be getting there right in time for them to open on Legalization Day. Yeah. So we actually on Native Care's website, they have a link to their menu.

Now they do mention that their menu is subject to change post legalization. A lot of this is just sort of that legacy medical that's now going to be allowed to be sold to anyone. But let's talk through what some of the different strains that they have are. Yeah. So they've got some classics that people will know, Skywalker OG, absolutely one that people know about, Trainwreck, another classic but they've also got some of the more up and coming newer ones.

Pineapple chunks, nutter butter, garlic butter, and caramel creme are all ones that they have. The testing that they have ranges the THC anywhere from like 22 percent down to that 16%, but a pretty diverse menu for day one starting out of native care, which is pretty cool. Now let's talk about pricing.

Something that I'm sure many people are questioning on, and this is still subject to change. This is medical pricing being applied to that legal adult use market, but again, could, could change. If you're looking to just get a half gram pre roll, that's starting you at 9. If you're looking to get a four pack of that, it's about 28.

And compared to the low dose, like, cannabis we have right now, like, those prices are similar. So you'd be getting higher amounts of THC for similar prices. Absolutely. And it'd be completely legal. Like, you wouldn't have to, if you're not trying to grow at home, you'd be like, Okay, I can do a four hour drive, stock up on pre rolls.

I don't know, it seems fair, and I love, I love the variety in their menu. They have a very, very, yeah. Diverse looking menu. Yeah. I think a lot of people are comparing these prices to legal states today, like Colorado or Michigan, but people need to know those are developed markets. If you look at Illinois on day one.

These are pretty similar prices, if not better. And you especially can't compare it to the illicit market. Because that's the most developed market there is. Like you will not, yeah, those prices are kind of set in stone. And these prices need to find their market. And that can only happen if people, you know, people go out.

Yeah, oh absolutely. So we talked about those pre roll prices, but they do also sell bulk flour. If you're looking to get three and a half grams, that's going to run you anywhere from 50 to 60. If you're looking to get a half ounce, that's anywhere of 180 to 220. And if you're looking to get a full ounce of flour, it's going to run you anywhere from 320 to 380.

And I'm sure that's going to be in pretty limited supply, especially come August 1st. So if you're looking to buy cannabis, legal cannabis in Minnesota, come August 1st. Technically, there's only one place you'll be able to do that. And that is through Native Care. Yeah. So more to come on this. We expect more information from them as we get closer to that August 1st date.

So be sure to follow them on Facebook, check out their website for that up to date information. But also listen back here because we'll be sure to keep you updated and who knows, maybe we'll make a drive out there and, and do an interview on site. I think. Yeah. You can even do some product testing out there.

Yeah. Oh, that'd be wonderful. Speaking of product testing, we're going to transition here to some wonderful products that we had brought in here today by our friends over at hemp house. So, as you'll hear during the interview in just a little bit in this episode Hemp House has this brand, No Post Cannabis, that is sort of their stepping stone into that legal market where adults use cannabis.

We have a variety of their products that were recently made and released that we're going to be trying today and I'm excited to jump in here. So there's two different types of products we'll be trying. One is their infused, infused polvorons. Those are those cookies. Very, very delicious.

They say on their package that it's infused Filipino cookies. And then we also have a pate de fruit, which is a vegan gummy but made with some pretty You need flavors. Let's start. Start talking through these. So what do you say? Should we start with the pate de fruit? Yes. All right. So we have, we have a slew of products today where we have four different types that we're going to be trying.

We're going to start today with vanilla. I think we really need to describe these cans. Oh, yeah. They're like metal, little metal cans that you would, kind of reminds me of spam. Like a, like a, like a spam can. But then the cool part is it just pops open. So if you push it from the bottom, they push up.

And then it comes right off, you know, so it's child safe, but unlike some of the, like, I'll be honest, it's sort of annoying child safe mylar bags that I've done that honestly feel sort of tanner safe. These ones are much more much more doable for me. So the first one we're trying here vanilla paradise is a combination of vanilla pear and balsamic vinegar, a pretty unique flavor profile.

Go ahead and give this one a try here. It's nice. Yeah. Yeah. That's a good one. Yeah. That's a good one. That's a good one. Like fruit leather. Like a fruit leather gummy. Yeah. I Don't like to stick on your tongue really. It's almost like a jam-like texture. Yeah. Wow. Feels natural. That's really really good.

That's nice. And I'll be honest, I was reading vanilla. Excited. Pear. Excited. Balsamic vinegar. Ugh. But it's so good. The combo of those flavors are great. Wow. All right. So not to quickly move on here, but we're going to keep trying these products. We've got a lot to try here, but vanilla paradise, definitely, definitely recommend.

Next one we've got here is a strawberry. So strawberry passion fruit and guava. Oh, wow. Again, that like, like you said, I think it's so spot on like that fruit leather text that is so amazing. The guava. Wow. Yeah. Wow. It's so tropical and so delicious. I love strawberries. That's really good.

I think tropical is the word for that one. Alright, so another one we'd recommend. Next one we have raspberry velour. This is raspberry, lychee, and rose. Ooh, I am a fan of lychee. Another great one. Another. Wow. I'm starting to notice a pattern here. For reals. Same delicious texture to that. This time we're getting that raspberry flavor, that lychee flavor comes through so nicely.

I feel it. Yeah, you just taste every single flavor. Yeah, both individually and combined. It's really, really nice. That's cool. And then rounding out our pate de fruit sampling today is their last favorite flavor. Pineapple Rain, which is a pineapple and butterfly pea flower. Oh, my. So far, all these have felt, like, good for me.

You know, like, cannabis, which I think is good for me. Also, just a very natural flavor of the few puree.

Wow. That one's also pretty tropical. Mm hmm. That pineapple comes through really nicely. But it's pretty rounded out. Like I love that it's not just like a straight pineapple. It really has that floral accent to it. Which one would you say is your favorite? Oh my. All right. That's a tough one. I think personally.

The raspberry velour is hard to beat. I love that raspberry flavor. The lychee just is really nice with it. Yeah. What about you? Oh, yeah. I mean, I gotta give it to the strawberry revere. It's the guava, the passion fruit, and the way it mixes. Yeah. Yeah, that was absolutely a close second. They're so good!

So if you're looking to try a gummy that I think tastes a little bit different, has a different texture than your average gummy that you can buy, definitely try out these No Kos Cannabis Pate de Fruit gummies. Yeah, they don't. Eat like candy, you know, it doesn't feel like you're eating like you're eating a gummy.

It does feel like a fruit like a fruit snack. This might not be in the purest way. Yeah, this might not connect for some of our listeners. I apologize. But if you buy like the fruit leathers at Trader Joe's, that's just like actual fruit, a nice snack. This this is like the the cannabis edible version of that where it's like it's real fruit It's delicious, and it has a pretty pretty nice texture to it Cool, so we're really only halfway through we actually get to try four more products from no kos cannabis we're transitioning now from that gummy on now to their, their polaroid.

So they're Filipino infused cookies. These are also five milligrams each. They say they offer a sensational texture that melts in your mouth. And we've got four different flavors to try today. So John, I chose the order last time. I'll let you pick this time. What of these cookie flavors do you want to try first here?

I'm caught up on buttery goodness. Buttery goodness. That sounds like the perfect place to start. So we gotta go brown butter. Wonderful. Wonderful. So again, same type of packaging as the pate de fruit. It's that same sort of push up from the bottom. Open the tin can. So these look like little, kind of freeze dried, cookies.

Yeah, they're like a little less than an inch across.

It reminds me of a little snack my mom used to make with peanut butter. Like the same thing. It's a little ball. It just melts in your mouth. Oh, it's good. See, that's exactly what I was going to say. It says on the packaging it melts in your mouth. And they do not lie. It is advertised. Yeah. And they're, they're soft.

Yeah. Yeah, unlike some other cookies that we've had that are a little bit crunchy to them. Which I like. But these ones are sort of spongy. I don't know how else to describe it, but there's super duper good. Think about it. Like, I don't, I think that it's almost like cookie dough.

If it was crumbly, like crumbly cookie dough packed up. All right. So brown butter. Good. Which one should we do? Should we do next year? Let's go back and try golden milk infused Filipino cookies. What is the flavor? It's golden milk. Yeah, this one is also just butter, sugar, and then golden milk powder.

The thing I liked about both of these products so far is the ingredients are very simple. Well, so it's like a sweet, spiced cookie. Like, think about it, like a ginger snappy. And this one, turmeric, that's what's going on, okay. This, I, I don't, I don't mean this lightly, this might be one of my favorite cannabis edibles I've had.

This is so good. It tastes exactly like a delicious buttery cookie, but with sort of that aftertaste of spiciness to it. Yeah, so it's, it's a sweet cookie, you bite into it and it's sweet. But the flavor is savory. Like everything that follows that sweet bite is just, yeah. That turmeric and that's really nice.

That's so good. All right. Well, so we got two left here. We're making our way through Malted chocolate, all right

Cause both of the ones that we've had so far have been really on like that buttery, sort of delicious, flavor y side. This is the first one that we've had that's had any sort of chocolate in it. That one's like candy. That one is like candy. I was thinking it's definitely, you get that malted milk ball flavor in it.

But that chocolateness, wow. It's like, if you were to take Whoppers and turn it into a cookie. No, and then add cannabis. No, you get this. Get that. That's so good. I mean, they've all been Very tasty so far and we are now coming to the end of the last one that we have to sample today. Sweet ube. Yeah this one has been like a cool purple outside to it.

Cookies are purple, too. Oh, yeah, you definitely get that ube flavor in that you get that nuttiness that little bit of vanilla to it. That is good. This is the one for the picky eaters. Yeah. It's just subtle and delicious. Still got the buttery finish. Yeah. Alright, so you asked me with the fruit ones.

I gotta ask you with the cookies. Do you have a favorite of these that we've tried? That, it's, it's tough. But I think I gotta go with golden milk. Like that was such a Unique, yummy, like I could eat like 20 of those. So we're in total agreement here. That is, I think the best. They're all very good.

They're all delicious. Like malted chocolate and brown butter right there. And then sweet ube is just like, yeah, it's just. Yeah, they're all just, it's tasty. So, No Coast Cannabis, we tried their pate de fruit, their polvoron cookies. You can get both at Hemp House, they have a number of different locations check them out online, TheHempHouseMN.

com check that, check that out. Before we jump to that interview with David from The Hemp House I wanted to sort of come back to a conversation that we started last week and just fill some people in on some other different types of cannabis licenses. That will exist in Minnesota last week. We talked about the ones who were selling directly to consumers that micro business at mezzo business.

We have retailers. We have delivery services. We have event services. We've got a lot. But today I wanted to talk about some of those behind the scenes. People that are just as important to the cannabis industry that ensure those high quality products get to stores. But some of the people are consumers.

Might not be as aware throughout their day to day. It's not going to the store Some of these people so we want to talk through a couple different license types that will exist in Minnesota And fill you all in on what they're gonna be and eventually ten or these guys will be the rock stars of the cannabis industry Like that's how we see it develop in the other states.

And yeah, it's always yeah, the guys closer to cannabis. These are the licenses that will make or break what our industry will look like. 100%. And we're starting sort of right at the bread and butter of the cannabis industry, which is cultivators. Yup. We have under that micro and mezzo license, you're allowed to cultivate, but we also have a dedicated cultivators license here in Minnesota.

This allows people to grow cannabis, package those immature plants and also flower for sale to cannabis businesses. And they're allowed to transport cannabis to onsite manufacturers. So you're still having to work with other transporters if it's off site, but if everything's under that same bundle, that same building you're able to move stuff around.

Now, the application fee is much higher than when looking at that micro license. You're paying a 10, 000 application fee starting out. You've got a 20, 000 license fee if you do get approved. So you're looking at 30, 000 on that regulatory cost. before you even start putting plants in. Yeah, so like, the people who will be doing this will have experience.

So, when we're giving out these licenses, I'm really interested in seeing who in Minnesota especially likes, maybe like who, from the medical side and all, and switches over to recreational and what, what people, what people try to do with 30, 000 square feet of indoor growth. Yeah, absolutely. And two acres of outdoor growth.

That's, I'm excited for those hoop houses that I'm expecting to see for these outdoor grows and just like what that cannabis will end up looking like and will people smoke it or will it be used for, you know, other cannabis products. Yeah. It allows people to really figure out what type of business works best for their individual business.

As John mentioned, 30, 000 square feet indoor and that's mature plants. Yeah. Two acres outdoor. Also mature plants, but I don't know how you're going to move the plants around. Whatever, be it. You're able to get a pretty decent size growth space under that cultivator license. You're able to do a lot with 30, 000 square feet.

And this license pretty, gives people that ability to go all forward on that cultivator side of the industry. And, yeah, like, these guys won't really be competing with our craft guys. Like, it'll end up being Very different business because like we said the expense for these licenses Like, up front, we'll we'll just, we'll, that'll limit it from the beginning.

Absolutely. Well, and we've talked to some people who are looking at that micro and meso license, and are trying to figure out what they're able to do within that square footage that they're allowed, and realizing And I really might not have enough space to really do the type of business that I want to run if I want to work on that cloning side, if I really want to dig into genetics, I might need something that gives me a little bit more space.

Well, that's that cultivator license. But again, cultivators, you're not selling to consumers directly. You are selling what you grow to other cannabis businesses to then sell to that consumer. And another really important part of that chain is not just the growing of cannabis, but the manufacturing of high quality cannabis products.

And so another license type that exists here in Minnesota is manufacturer license. So these are who the cultivators will be selling to for the most part. Absolutely. If you're wanting to turn that flour into edibles, into vaporizable products, into concentrates. Cultivators aren't doing that. That's the manufacturer.

So, definitely going to be an important part of that industry. 10, 000 application fee, 10, 000 licensing fee, so slightly lower than cultivator. But again, you're not growing cannabis, you're instead just processing that cannabis. And then this is just a tangent a little bit, but I needed to point it out because it's such an interesting part of our law.

If you have a manufacturer license, part of the law allows you to accept cannabis from unlicensed persons. Of no more than two ounces on a single occasion. So in theory, if you're a manufacturer, your buddy grows some really high quality cannabis and you really want him to come and bring you two ounces of that, you can't pay him for it, but you can still accept that cannabis and use it in your own production and sell that into the regulated consumer market.

Well, yeah, I think that just tries to level it with the rest of the law. And it's interesting they allow you to do it with your business as well, which We'll see. Yeah. Yeah. It'll be I'm, I'm pretty excited to see how that specific provision ends up impacting manufacturers. Who knows? Maybe it won't have any impact at all, but I don't see it really.

I don't see it really having much of an impact.

All right, well, let's move on here. We've got cultivators, we got manufacturers, but there's another important part of the industry and that's wholesalers. Now, wholesalers aren't going to be producing their own products. They are instead buying products from cultivators, from manufacturers, from micro and mezzo businesses and then selling those to people who are working in that retail space, to retailers or maybe to other mezzo, micro businesses.

You're that wholesaler. You are buying products and you are selling products, with a 5, 000 application fee, 5, 000 license fee, and you can be a cannabis wholesaler, which is pretty neat. And there's sort of an important caveat added for wholesalers. There are some really awesome cannabis products being made, not just in Minnesota, but around the entire country.

Low potency hemp edible products are federally legal, and people are importing them into Minnesota. However, under House File 100, the only way that those Products can enter that stream of market can be sold in stores in Minnesota is through the wholesaler. So if you as a business are buying from Wisconsin, buying from Florida, buying from wherever hemp products, you can't buy from them directly anymore.

You'll have to work with that wholesaler to make sure that those products legally get into the state. So that's going to be a really important part of our industry. Yeah, and it's a lot like how these liquor stores now work with beer distribution centers. And it'll just, yeah, it'll just have to be another industry that cannabis needs to catch up on.

100%. I'm, once again, excited to see who hops into that. Everyone out there, like, I, I hope, hope people are as interested in these licenses as they are in the retail side. Thank you. Absolutely, because these will be important for our industry to really operate if we don't have a high quality list of cultivators, we don't have people manufacturing products, wholesaling, getting those products to the store shelves that we need them at.

We're not going to be buying cannabis. Speaking of getting products to the shelves that they need to be at, the next license that we want to touch on is that transporter license. Now, we talked about delivery licenses last week. That's delivering to someone's specific, like, house. But this is driving business to business.

Bringing cannabis plants, flower products, cannabis process products from the retailer, cultivator, manufacturer, wholesaler to some other place. Pretty low cost for that 250 application fee. 500 license fee, and you are able to transport cannabis, which is required for many businesses to be able to get stuff around.

To get stuff anywhere. And some licenses allow the stacking with this one, but I think this one is just the easiest license for someone who just wants to be in the industry and likes to round out the industry. Because every single business yeah. They need to get stuff from their stores day by day, and not all of them will be able to get these licenses.

100%. If you're growing cannabis at a grow cultivation facility, you gotta figure out a way to get that to your actual storefront. And so you gotta have this transporter license. And it's pretty limited on who can actually have that. The only other business license type that would be allowed to have a transporter license is delivery and wholesaler.

Yeah. So, you're one of those two logistical sides of the market. You can also transport, and like we mentioned earlier, it's gonna be critical if you want cannabis to go to an event. It's a transporter. If you want cannabis to be brought to a different store, you can't do that. It's a transporter. It's going to be an important part of the industry.

From your manufacturer to your warehouse. Yeah, you need someone for all of it and that license fee is so incredibly low. I really hope people hop into it. Yeah, I think it will be a great place for people to be able to start getting into that industry where we don't know exactly what the rules will be around that license.

We do know that, you know, it's 750 to get that license to start up that business. If you have a truck that complies with the rules, if you have two employees that can staff your vehicle, you can begin to go working in that cannabis industry. And then the last license type that we wanted to touch on is the low potency hemp edible manufacturer license.

Sort of like how we briefly touched on the hemp retailer last time, hemp edibles will continue to be made here in Minnesota. And we've created a license type for that 250 application fee, 1, 000 license fee gets you that business and you're able to produce these products that have been sold in Minnesota since July 1st of last year.

And as we both know, since long before that. I believe Minnesota is the only state with a lower potency. Yeah. License. Yeah. Yeah. We're going to be the only state that both regulates that low potency side of the market and has an adult use industry. We're the only ones. So it'll be unique seeing how this manufacturer license, how that retailer license sort of coexists in this adult use medical industry that we'll have.

Especially for some of the people that have been operating now for over a year. How are their businesses adapting more to come? So that's all that we have for this front section. We're going to jump now to an interview that we had with David Gonzalez from the hemp house, learning a little bit more about some of the stuff they're doing over there and a product line that he started called fizzy.

And then at the end, we'll be talking about an upcoming event that we have at the Cannabis College just a week from today from this episode being released, Dr. Dabs is going to come teach people how to do some cloning. It'll be a pretty fun class, so we'll be back in just a little bit talking about each of those things.

All right.

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Head over to my cannabis college. org backslash clones and reserve your spot today. Again, that's my cannabis college. org. Backslash clones. Don't just listen. It's time to start your journey with cloning 101 and we're back. We're sitting here today with David Gonzalez, the head of growth for Hemp House, Minnesota.

David, welcome. Thanks for having me here. Thank you so much for coming out today for speaking to us about the Hemp House, speaking to us about Fizzy. I'm excited to jump into all of it today. Me too. So earlier in this episode, we sampled a number of different products that came from the hemp house and came from that new brand, no coast cannabis.

Yeah. And it sort of got us wondering what sort of led to the creation of the hemp house. Sure. Absolutely. So back in about 2018, this actually started out as a card operation. So delta eight cards. And what happened was it was so successful that we were kind of forced to get a warehouse space. And then after we had that warehouse space, we realized we had a whole storefront.

Like, why not, why not use it and just sell it straight from there. So we ended up in that uptown location. We ended up opening up that storefront and things are going really well. And then obviously last year happened and things just really took off. So add a few more locations. Obviously a lot more products, a lot more skews, and it's been a wild ride ever since.

That's really cool. Yeah. Yeah. We were in the shop just after that July 1st switch of last year, the shelves were pretty barren. Today, it's very different. I mean, there's so many different products filling your shelf. It's really, really awesome. Absolutely. So I think what we noticed on that day particularly, you're right, our entire inventory got wiped out and we're like, Oh my God, we can't keep up with this.

But it's just been crazy to see all these new products, all these new brands and really what we've. is the relationships we have with these vendors and the quality of products that we offer. So I never thought I'd like pretzels with THC in them or all the baked goods from Retro Bakery, but all that stuff is so cool to see enter the market.

Yeah, that's really cool. So tell us a little bit about how you came to the hemp house. Yeah. So I knew the owners from high school really well. We're good buddies. And you know, after school, I kind of joined the startup world, the tech world. And then I had noticed over the past few years, just kind of how they had been growing their business.

And I was just blown away. I was like, wow, you guys have like a full blown operation here with the way that we reconnected was in my last job I was working for. Shopify company, and we worked with tons of cannabis brands. And so I would talk to these cannabis brands every day, and I was just blown away by how many roadblocks they went through, how challenging it was but also the promise and opportunity.

And so. For me, you know, hearing stories about how these companies built the whole profile online and then just one day their stuff would just get automatically shut down. So you spend all this time and effort on, you know, a million dollar business, people rely on you. And then. It just shut down one day and when I was talking to these people, I was like, yeah, somebody left us a five star review saying our products help them with fibromyalgia.

And then the next day our whole website was gone. And so as a marketer, I was really blown away by that challenge. And so I reached out to the owners of the hemp house and I was like, you know, are you guys experiencing the same thing? And they're like, yeah, it's really this. minefield of things you have to navigate around in order to successfully launch a brand to have a dispensary and to really, you know, build a loyal following.

So the way that I kind of got closer with those guys was after talking to all these cannabis brands, I was like, I want to do this myself. I want to know what it's like to be in their shoes, to better understand the people we talk with. But I just got so absorbed in that space that it. Became my new profession and so I ended up launching Fizzy as an experiment to see what it is actually like to be one of these retailers but really it was working with the hemp house guys.

So closely. I was like, Hey, I'll give you my e-commerce background or sales marketing background. Just help me navigate this space. And so it started off just kind of going back and forth with ideas and it's just kind of taken off since then. So, you know earlier in 2023, that's where I joined full time and it's been, it's been incredible.

It's been a great journey. That's really cool. Yeah. I'm sure that many of our listeners can relate to that experience of having a wonderful business that then due to Shopify square, whatever be it sort of is. Overnight Instagram. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. Those Instagram ads are a fun, fun area for us. But so as the head of growth, what is it that you do?

You mentioned looking at the e-commerce side of stuff. Take us through a little bit about what your day to day looks like. Yeah, absolutely. So my job is very heavily focused on, I would say retention. So making sure that our shoppers have a good experience, making sure that They can go online, find their products easily, it's accessible but, you know, the best way to put it is my job is to help the company grow.

It's finding new customers, new locations, new partnerships, ultimately how do we get out in front of more people and give them access to more cannabis products. So it's been fun because you work with so many different brands that come out with all these, you know, remarkable products and My job is to basically make sure that our customer base of, you know, 5, 000 people know about them and know if it's for them.

That's wonderful. So you were the one to blame for that really awesome newsletter you guys sent out with the updated ads and the coupon that I got after visiting your store. That's sort of correct. All right. Yeah. Wonderful. Well, very cool. That's awesome. So you sort of came to the cannabis world through that like a tech startup.

What similarities do you see between that? Tech startup world and sort of the startup cannabis world of today. Yeah, that's a great question. I think that's ultimately what drew me in. It's almost like it's the tech world before the tech world is what it is today. So the reason that tech really, I don't know, it's become this amorphous blob is because so many people are relying on venture capital.

So nowadays when recessions happen or the economy's down, things are always terrible. But in the cannabis space, it's the complete opposite. You're right there with things that are just starting to grow. And it's a really exciting time to be in this industry. And it's not about appeasing your shareholders or venture capitalists.

It's all of us collectively as a community figuring out how to make this better every day. And so the similarities I would say is like the scrappiness, you got to find ways to grow without the resources that, you know, big companies might have. But at the same time, it's different because It's not, you know, a cutthroat environment where you have to be this unicorn.

It's really all these people working together to say, like, how do we elevate this community to a higher level and make cannabis more accessible to people and ultimately help educate, you know, the larger audience. That's really cool. I think, like, the Hemp House totally lives up to that mission because you go in and you see products made by women owned businesses, by minority owned businesses, by people from northern Minnesota, from southern Minnesota, from the Twin Cities.

It's really sort of. The cannabis community is on the shelf and that's amazing. Exactly. Yeah. So I think for Minnesota in particular, what's been so cool is it's almost like this little experiment that accidentally happened. You know what happens if you just put together the perfect conditions to let people slowly be introduced to cannabis.

So the whole fiasco from last year I thought was just fascinating because you know, no one is really prepared for it. It was one day like, Hey. Conditions are now perfect, like go, go have fun and even seeing all these brands just grow so quickly, all these, you know, breweries come out with great products you know, we have all these crazy types of inventions from, you know, bakery or from you know, just the labs in general, so I think Minnesota has been this really cool I guess model that the rest of the nation could kind of emulate where it's Let's see what happens if we slowly introduce people these products and then let's open up the bag so that they have full freedom to kind of choose which products work for them.

Yeah, absolutely. I was at an event last night and we were noting how Minnesota is really the only place in the world where you can get cannabis, like a pizza shop at a coffee shop, sort of any retail establishment. It's all about sort of that high quality education around the product. It's all around.

So that's really cool. So I want to take a break from the hemp house for a brief second and chat about being busy. So tell us a little bit about you mentioned that you were looking at cannabis brands, seeing the troubles that they were facing. Take us through what it was like to start up fizzy just a little bit earlier this year.

Sure. Yeah, this is where I got to learn firsthand like how many roadblocks and challenges there were. So a buddy of mine, he's a pharmacist and manufacturer and I had been talking like, Hey, have you started working in space at all? And he's like, I've had a lot of people approach me, but I've never gone for it.

I was like, what if we did? And so we came up with this idea of making a dissolvable beverage tablet because we were like, you know, these seltzers are great. What if we could just add something to them? Or what if we could turn any drink into something like this? And so we worked on a formulation together and then behind closed doors, you know, I'm registering the business, trying to figure out banking, trying to make sure that, you know, we have the right licensing and all that stuff.

And so, I got to learn kind of first hand, like right out of the gate, how many things are kind of stacked against you. And so that was really interesting. And then from there really the next big focus for us was how do you actually grow this brand? Because for cannabis in particular, advertisers don't want you using their platforms.

I was like, how do you market a product that you can't like? Hey, to tell people about and so couldn't do ads couldn't do anything like social media. I think our account got taken down after two months, you know, tried to blur out the images, but to no avail even had radio companies reach out and be like, Hey, you want to do a sponsorship?

And you'd be like, sure. And they're like, Oh, you're a cannabis brand. Nevermind. Can't, can't work federally, you know, whatever. So that's when the fun really started was how do you find these scrappy ways to kind of help grow your brand awareness. To get out there and so events were a huge thing and I would say partnerships and relationships are hands down the most important thing for growing a brand in the state.

And so this is a terrible analogy, but my wife makes me watch Naked and Afraid. And so there's this one season where it's called Last, Last One Standing or something. And what really stood out to me, the analogy to kind of paint here was that out of the eight people, seven all decided to work together, share resources.

And one guy kept saying, no, this is a competition. I'm going to sabotage you all. I'm going to take your resources. And so to me, when I look at the cannabis industry, the most success happens when people share resources, share knowledge and partner up because What ends up happening to that one person who only looks out for themselves is, you know, what happens when you cut your hand or burn your foot and you can't go find food.

You don't have those people around you to help out, then all of a sudden, you know, you're, you're stuck in the water. And so we realized that early. And that's why what we've really focused on is making sure that, not just giving our shoppers, our customers a good experience, but making sure the vendors and people that are in this industry know that we're good partners and good people to work with.

And you know, we're interested in making sure that, you know, rising tide raises all boats. I love that. And I love the comparison to make it. The cannabis industry is one of the few that I think is like such an apt analogy to that. That's perfect. Awesome. Well, so you brought in a number of products today and some of them are busy, which is awesome.

But you also brought in some of these no cost cannabis products. Tell us a little bit about. No co scanning. Yeah, no coast is a great brand that we've been working on here. It's probably going to be our intro into the direct space here as well. But for now, we wanted to get some, some products out there.

We have this incredible chef named Natal who came up with some of these flavors and ideas, and I don't have a sophisticated palette, but she put together these concoctions, so to speak. And I was like, I can't even picture what these fruits and ingredients are, but this tastes amazing. So there's even one point where I was like, You just make these cookies with one milligram so I can have like 50 of them.

She's like, no. But we, we got a, we got really lucky finding a great chef, a great baker. And she came up with these kinds of great ideas. And so we were really excited to just throw something new out there. Like before this, I didn't know what a Pulverone Filipino cookie was. And now it's like my favorite snack.

I love that. That's so cool. Sure. Yeah. We were in the shop and they have like four of each type of product that will be by now. You listeners have already heard this, but four different types of each product and the flavor variety is just so expansive. It's really, really cool. I was pretty stoked to start to get those for today.

So you mentioned a little bit about how this is perhaps sort of that shift towards that adult use market that is coming about in Minnesota. Is that sort of the future for the Hemp House looking at that adult use market? Yeah, I think we'll, we'll kind of tack it on. And so right now we have a good thing going with Hemp House.

We have, you know, 5,000 plus customers that are, you know, loyal shoppers. And so the last thing you want to do would be to jeopardize that. But. Like, candidly, like, of course, we'll get in the rec space, we'll have retail our dispensary locations, and I think, like most people, we're playing it day by day, it's a shifting landscape, so just making sure that, you know, we're compliant, making sure we're following the rules, and ultimately, once those licensors, licenses are available, you know, can't wait to apply for them.

Totally. Awesome. Well, we look forward to seeing you guys sort of grow in the next couple of months and years. Thanks. So for people looking to learn a little bit more about the Hemp House, learning to, or wanting to try some of these products, where can they go to get more information about you guys?

Yeah, so you can visit the hemp house man. com, that's our, our storefront. We have some, some content, blogs, things like that on there, but really just come on in the stores. We have a location in Uptown one that's on the border of Richfield, a downtown pickup location, and then recently we just opened up one in St.

Paul. But the reason I say that is because when you come into the stores, you know, we have bud tenders that are very knowledgeable. Compassionate. They get crazy questions all the time. You have people wondering like, Hey, is this an Indica or Sativa hemp product? And you have to find ways to really have people who can answer these common questions.

And I think when you go and you kind of get the full experience, you get to see all the products on the walls. You get to have a conversation. So for anybody looking to learn more, we, you know, we look forward to having you in the shop. Awesome. Well, David, thank you so much for coming in today. Thanks for speaking to us about the Hemp House, about Fizzy, and about your own experience in the cannabis industry.

Thank you so much, Tanner. It was great.

During this last part of the show, we wanted to tell you about an upcoming event that we have just a week from today, a week from this episode coming out that we're really excited to be able to launch with a few of our partners here in Minnesota. And this event, this class is Just a part of celebrating more of the legal things we can do around cannabis then.

So I'm really excited to tell you guys about it. Yeah, absolutely. So as I mentioned a week from today, the class itself is going to be July 31st that night, right before legalization. The event's at 7 PM, but you can get there as soon as 6: 30 PM and it's in the wilderness, which is just over on Lake street in Minneapolis.

It's a pretty cool venue. We're going to have a lot of our partners that we're going to have eco garden supply. They're selling the supplies you need for cloning. Dr. Dabs will be there doing his vending. And then also there is a speakeasy at the event venue that we're doing our class at that cultivated CBD will be Manning.

You can get your THC beverage as you're learning how to take care of plants. So John, what, what is this class? Tell us more about it. Yeah, let me say something. We're gonna be embarking on a green thumb adventure here with Cloning 101. It'll be an informative one hour class where you'll dive deep into the captivating world of cannabis cloning.

This class, led by the dynamic Dr. Dabs. A renowned horticulturist and cannabis expert, who is also a seasoned cultivator with years of practical experience. He'll be aiming to provide you with the knowledge and skills necessary to begin cloning cannabis plants successfully at your home for the very first time.

It's an important skill to know. Yeah, legally, it's important, important. So what are you going to be learning? You're going to be getting an introduction to cannabis cloning generally. We're going to learn about what cloning is, some of the essentials of doing it. We're going to be talking through the laws of cultivating cannabis in Minnesota, so that way you know exactly what to do when you're all ready to go.

We're going to talk through the tools and equipment needed for cloning, so that way you know what you need to use them effectively. We'll be doing a step by step of the cloning process, a detailed walkthrough. We're going to talk through rooting and aftercare, and we're going to even cover some of those common mistakes and troubleshooting.

And guys, you should absolutely come to this one because we're going to have hands-on cannabis education. Get your hands on Cannabis Plants. And something even more exciting, towards the end of the class, students will have the option to purchase everything they're gonna need to start their cannabis cloning journey.

It'll be specially curated by Dr. Dabbs himself. This will be a unique opportunity to get the tools you need along with the expert advice that'll really help your plants hopefully thrive. Yeah, we're looking forward to it. I had the opportunity to get a preview of this class a couple of weeks ago, and it is awesome.

It's ideal really for anyone looking to grow their own cannabis, anyone looking to test out their green thumb, or just anyone who's interested in learning more about that cloning process. No prior experience or knowledge is at all required. So come on out and learn about how to clone cannabis. Yeah, we're looking for green growers, you could say.

There you go. I love that. I love that. If you want to learn how to turn one cannabis plant into a hundred, come check out this class. You can find more information about it on our website, or you can go to my cannabis college. org backslash clones, and you can get signed up for that class. Or as always, check out our social media.

You'll find information about it. They're good at thanks, man. Well, that's all we got for today. Thank you so much for listening to this episode. Thank you so much to David Gonzalez for coming out telling us about hemp houses and telling us about fizzy. It was great chatting with him We'll be back in two weeks After cannabis has been legalized in Minnesota So find us on Facebook find us on Instagram on reddit LinkedIn threads all of that stuff Find us at August 1st Legalize It events at 1st Avenue we'll be inside with the table, and we'll be outside yeah, just like with merch and our booklets and all of our stuff, just come say hi, come get a t shirt.

Yeah, it's gonna be an awesome time. Come roll a joint, like, come hang out, yeah. We can legally, publicly consume cannabis all together. So, August 1st 1st Avenue, check it out. It'll be a fun time. Yep. So, find us there. Subscribe to this podcast so that way this will be delivered instantly here to feed the moment we drop a new episode.

And as always, we will catch you guys in two weeks. Thanks for listening.

Northern Lights is a Minnesota Cannabis College production. This episode was produced by me, Tanner Barris, and by my co hosts. John Partee, production assistants from Marcus Harkis and Shaina Payton. Special thank you to David Gonzalez of the Hemp House Minnesota and Fizzy THC for sharing his experiences and knowledge with us today.

The information provided in this podcast does not, and is not intended to, constitute legal advice, but is instead for general information purposes only. Information shared may not constitute the most up to date legal or other information. No listener should act solely on the basis of information provided without first seeking advice from their own legal counsel.

Please listen responsibly.

Dr. Dabs. Dr. Dabs. Dr. Dabs. I can see Clem with massive guitars. Hittin some licks. That's pretty cool.