Nancy Whiteman, Co-owner of Wana Brands on the good news and bad news for the edibles marketplace.
The edible market has matured considerably over the past six years. When we first founded the company, many edibles in the marketplace could be politely described as looking “homemade.” The packaging, the dosing, and the attention to actual taste were all quite amateurish. Many were not a treat to eat—unless you happen to like the taste of hash oil! Now the most successful brands have a much more polished and professional image.
The bad news is: With this evolution, the business side has become progressively more complicated to run as new regulations have been instituted. As manifesting, testing and labeling regulations have been established, cannabis companies have had to learn how to make products that are consistent in dosage and to package and label them appropriately. That meant that many people who thought it would be a lark to bake some brownies in their home kitchen have exited the business. It has also gotten much more costly to enter the business.
Before launching Wana, my career had been in insurance, sales and market consultancy focusing on the Internet. The idea for Wana started out lightly but then along the way I fell in love with it. I really never did anything before in my professional life where I received heartfelt feedback from customers about how much something that I had a part in creating helped them. It wasn’t until that started to happen on a regular basis that I recognized the full power of what we—and the rest of the industry—really have. We have always tested our products from Day 1, which really helped us develop a reputation for consistency. Now we have specialized positions in the company including compliance, manifesting, graphic design, financial, quality assurance, inventory control, IT, and much more. We recently hired a wonderful director of operations who is helping us refine our SOPs and manufacturing processes to meet Good Manufacturing Practices standards.
The good news is that there is unbelievable opportunity to innovate and be a leader in the most exciting growth industry I can think of. Edibles and infused products are particularly scalable because they can be licensed. The bad news is that we as an industry still face a lot of adversities, from a regulatory landscape that is a constantly moving target, to financial challenges such as banking and tax issues. Even with all of its frustrations and challenges, I really cannot imagine a better industry to be in at this moment in history. We are getting ourselves ready for even more regulation as the industry continues to mature. Our focus going forward is to develop products that are unique and revolutionary. Resilience and persistence are the two most important personal qualities for anyone who wants to get into the edibles industry.
For wholesale orders: WanaEdibles.com
