Curaleaf company president: Nevada could lead cannabis into the mainstream
By Brian Horwrath
Curaleaf Holdings is close to becoming the nation’s largest cannabis chain.
The company—which has some 60 dispensary locations, mostly of the medical marijuana variety, in 12 states—is expected to close on the acquisition of Illinois-based cannabis GR Companies Inc. in a nearly $900 million deal this month.
Once the deal is completed, Massachusetts-based Curaleaf will have locations in 19 states. The company employs about 160 people in Nevada, where it is looking to fill 40 more positions.
Vegas Inc recently visited with Curaleaf President Joe Bayern to talk about how the industry is navigating the COVID-19 pandemic and how Curaleaf’s Nevada dispensaries (the company also owns the Acres brand) are performing.
Curaleaf has two dispensary locations in Las Vegas and one set to open soon in Ely, along with cultivation and manufacturing facilities in Nevada. How important is the Las Vegas market to the company?
Las Vegas isn’t a large piece of our revenue, but it’s a very influential market for us with great potential. It’s about creating brand image and brand presence in an influential marketplace. If we continue to build out cultivation in Nevada, we certainly see the business growing and becoming more impactful. Looking at things like on-premise consumption, Nevada has already started that. Nevada is leading the way on a lot of things that we want to see happen at a national level. Revenue isn’t indicative of how important that market is to us.
According to the Nevada Dispensary Association, sales in the state were down 20% in March and April. How has Curaleaf been able to navigate this pandemic economy, especially with the in-store restrictions put in place in March when Gov. Steve Sisolak shut down much of the state’s economy?
In the cannabis sector, it’s kind of par for the course. The one constant is change. Luckily, we were deemed an essential business in every market we operate in. In Nevada, we were able to adapt quickly to some of the initial restrictions put in place, so we didn’t have to furlough any people. We just shifted some people to the home delivery side of our business. It was pretty amazing how, for three weeks, we completely pivoted our business to almost 100% out-of-store delivery and curbside delivery. We’re now starting to see our revenue come back, which is encouraging for everyone.
What’s the ceiling for Curaleaf as a company?
We’re growing. We’re hiring and promoting. People are going to be looking to fill jobs, and we’re creating jobs in our industry. We’re really well-capitalized in our space—I think we’re probably the best capitalized company in the cannabis industry. Our chairman [Boris Jordan] has gone on record saying he’s looking for opportunities to expand. So, as others are hitting the brakes, we’re putting our foot on the gas. We’re looking to aggressively expand and separate ourselves from the pack. There’s going to be kind of a shakeout in the industry in the coming months and years, and Curaleaf is uniquely positioned to emerge as one of the true leaders.
Do you think there will be a time when resort patrons on the Las Vegas Strip will be able to consume cannabis inside a casino, perhaps in a cannabis lounge area?
I think so. We believe the future of cannabis is that it will go mainstream. It will certainly be restricted in some fashion, but it won’t be any different than having a liquor license in the future. Nevada could be one of the states that leads the way in that area because of its positions on nightlife and smoking [cigarettes] in casinos.
Are more people trying cannabis products during this stressful year?
That’s a trend that we’ve been seeing for a couple of years. More and more people are coming into the category because they realize that cannabis has a lot to offer, from a recreational standpoint or a medicinal standpoint. That’s going to continue to be a more powerful trend over the next couple of years as we continue to go more into the mainstream. As we get better at using science to develop products to meet the needs of our consumers, we’ll see a massive shift in the number of consumers thinking about the usage of cannabis.
