CBD changed Rachael Quinn’s life. Twice.
Rachel Quinn. Photos by Leanne McCullough and Kyle Wyss.
The first time was during a four-year health scare that forced her to take time away from her young family and quit working at the company she owned with her husband. During those years, Quinn discovered that cannabidiol allowed her to feel better and get back to her daily life.
“The products literally changed my life completely,” she says. “I still take the products every single day.”
The second time CBD changed her life was when she decided to start Your CBD Store to help others find the relief she had discovered. That decision led to a whole new career and a business that has grown to more than 500 retail locations across the country, with more scheduled to open this year. Through the company’s franchising model, others have the opportunity to join Quinn in her “passion project” that turned into a business.
“It started as a little hobby,” she says. “I said, ‘I’m going to get some products out to people so it will help them the way it helped me’ and now it’s turned into helping business owners establish a business and wealth for their families and get these products out to their communities that we’re not able to reach.”
Franchising Growth
Quinn opened the first Your CBD Store in Bradenton, Florida, in March 2018. Soon after, her husband got involved, and the couple sold their direct sales company to focus full-time on the new business. They soon pulled in Quinn’s brother, and the three of them worked together to learn the business as well as the supply chain to stock the shelves.
“It was like navigating uncharted waters for us,” she says.
It wasn’t long before the store began licensing its name and products to affiliates all across the state and the country. Last March, Your CBD Store switched to a franchising model, allowing franchisees to build upon the company’s success.
“From start to finish, it’s laid out for you. There’s a blueprint because we want every experience to be the same,” Quinn says. “Every store you walk into, we want it to be the same, so everything is available to the franchisee.”
Each franchisee is vetted by the company and then given training materials, as well as access to the SUNMED product line, all to help ensure the details are the same from one store to the next. The typical investment/store build-out costs are estimated to be between $65,000 and $81,000.
According to Jay Benge, the company’s president, more than 160 franchises had been opened by the end of 2020 — growth unlike any he has seen during his more than 20 years of experience in franchising.
“We’ve seen exponential, rapid growth in our franchising model,” he says.
All Your CBD Stores have a comfortable, welcoming, spa-like environment designed as a place for customers to have all of their questions answered, according to founder Rachael Quinn.
Opportunity Knocks
Your CBD Store is offering franchise opportunities for individuals interested in opening a store in their town. Each franchise comes with training and access to the SUNMED line of products. Anyone interested in franchising* should contact the company at franchising@cbdrx4u.com.
The SUNMED line of products, including the CBD, CBG and CBN products, are available for purchase wholesale for sale at dispensaries around the country. For more information on wholesale opportunities, contact wholesale@cbdrx4u.com.
*Franchise sales information expressed herein does not constitute an offer to sell a franchise. The offer of a franchise can only be made through the delivery of a franchise disclosure document in states where we are first registered, excluded, exempted or otherwise qualified to offer franchises in that state.
Education
The goal at every Your CBD Store location is education. Quinn says the idea is to give customers a “red carpet experience” that not only explains what CBD is, but also how it interacts with the body and how each of the different products facilitates the experience.
When a customer enters the store’s spa-like environment, they are greeted by an employee who is trained to ask what brought them in and what they are hoping to address. Then the employee will walk the customer through all of the available products, explaining how they work and why, allowing the customer to decide if, for example, they want the water-soluble products that have increased bio-availability or if they are more interested in a vape cartridge that takes effect faster, but also wears off sooner. There are even beauty and pet products available.
“We explain each product to the customer so they can make an educated decision and an educated purchase that will work best for them to see the best results,” she says.
Your CBD Store exclusively stocks SUNMED products, a company also owned by Quinn. She says the franchises sell SUNMED to ensure all products are vetted — SUNMED’s CBD is sourced only from USDA-certified Organic hemp that is grown in the United States and then third-party lab-tested. The company also has a chemist on staff — Dr. Anthony Ferrari — who formulates the products with input from the leadership team to ensure a high level of quality.
“We want our franchisees to have the best possible product out there, as far as we’re concerned,” Quinn says.
Making sure the hemp is Organic hits “close to home” for her because she still uses the SUNMED line — her “go-to” is the full-spectrum, water-soluble powder that contains 600 milligrams of CBD, which she takes four times a day, in addition to some of the company’s topicals.
“I started using the products and it really helped me,” Quinn says. “So for us, my husband and I, it turned into this passion project of just getting the highest quality and most innovative products at the best market price.”
But while “CBD” may be in the store’s name, the SUNMED line also includes products that feature some of the lesser-known cannabinoids, such as CBG and CBN tinctures, gummies and beverage-enhancing powder mixes. Quinn says CBG is “known for its neurological benefits,” and the company’s products are formulated with citrus essential oils to provide a “pick me up.” The CBN formulation includes valerian root and is a customer favorite for its “calming effects” and help in combatting occasional sleeplessness.
The company is also working on a Delta-8-THC product that will be released this spring. Delta-8-THC is a less psychoactive cousin of the Delta-9-THC molecule that is most prominent in cannabis and causes the “high.” Quinn says the product’s effects are “more immediately noticeable than traditional CBD.”
“It has a quicker efficacy rate, with the desired results,” she says.
And like all products in the SUNMED line, it will be sourced from USDA-certified Organic hemp grown in the U.S. SUNMED products are also available wholesale for dispensaries.
Blessing in disguise
Looking back now, Quinn calls her health scare a “blessing” in disguise because it led her to start a new business and gave her the chance to help others also looking for relief from whatever ails them.
Your CBD Stores exclusively carry SUNMED products, which allows the company to ensure every store sells quality, vetted products.
“We started this whole thing because the products really helped me,” she says. “If you use it and you stick with it and you take it consistently, the thought is maybe your life can change like mine did. The opportunity is there.”
She avoids giving specifics about her illness, however, in order to stay on the right side of the Federal Trade Commission’s crusade against CBD companies making unsupported health claims. But the company is also currently involved in three different university studies researching the effects of CBD products on anxiety, inflammation and sleep.
Quinn says that every day during those four years, she would pray about it and realizes now that without the pain she was in, she would not be in the position she is today.
“Just like promised, it turned into something good,” she says.