Grön recently introduced its edibles in the burgeoning New Jersey market.
Cannabis brands, such as the Oregon-based edibles manufacturer Grön, have a variety of methods by which they can expand into multiple states, from franchising and licensing deals with other companies to acquiring their own license and setting up their own manufacturing facilities, each with their own challenges and opportunities.
Grön made the Inc. 5000 in 2023 and has been highly successful with a reverse licensing model where the company partners with an existing licensee but handles most of the production and distribution in-house.
In late 2023, the company took its first steps into the East Coast, becoming one of the first independent edibles brands to enter New Jersey, part of a three-state expansion plan that includes Maryland and a projected April 1 launch in New York.
“We come in and we’re really controlling the destiny of the product and the experience for consumers and retailers,” CEO Christine Smith says. “In that sense, every state is completely unique with how they operate, but we’ve learned enough over the years that we are cultivating our staff and we send them out to help us with our new markets. So we’ve got staff from Arizona, from Oregon, from Missouri that are all helping to get it going out east.”
With Ohio high on the list of the company’s next destinations, that should bring Grön up to eight state markets plus Canada by the end of 2024.
But despite the company’s success in every market it’s entered, Smith says Grön is still taking a measured approach at expansion, rather than trying to have a footprint in every adult-use state.
“I’m not really looking to go back and try to tackle some of these legacy markets that are oversaturated,” she says. “We’re still gaining market share in Oregon, which is our legacy market, but trying to go in and do that in Colorado or California would be a waste of resources.”