Pivoting your business may be essential in New York Cannabis
New York's Cannabis Market: A Turning Point as Legacy Meets Legalization.
I’ve heard the phrase, “This is how the market was supposed to begin” from quite a few colleagues recently about the New York cannabis market finally opening up now – as opposed to what we got back in ‘22.
I have to say: I agree with them wholeheartedly, and you can feel it now taking form. The energy is different and the momentum is finally here. NOW is the start of things for real, and we are off to the races with a three-year timeline before prices hit rock bottom and this whole thing descends into the trash heap.
Stores are opening each week across the state, dispensary numbers are increasing while retailers are feeling the lack of quality product available to satisfy the consumer demands on the open market. Personally, my brand 7 SEAZ Premium Cannabis is selling out via a majority of pre-orders placed by stores before the products have even been released due to high demand.
During my conversations with new people I meet along the way, it’s always possible to tell if someone really earned their stripes in the legacy market by asking them if they remember the droughts that would occur. When the answer is “no,” or “we never had any droughts, we always had product,” you know they clearly weren’t around long enough in this game like so many of us were.
I don’t care how big of an operator you were back in the day or during the height of the legacy era, but droughts hit everyone. Even the biggest movers and shakers felt it.
During those periods, Canada was the saving grace for us here in New York and for many other states across the U.S, including California, predominantly during the periods of July through October each year.
Synonymously known as “Beasters,” skilled smugglers would bring the rock-hard lime green with creamsicle-colored orange hair buds in by the truckload. Folklore has it that the Korean gangs were growing these pounds underground, and that only one strain was used, which was called M-39. The strain got its name because the plant was “mostly done” flowering in the 39-day flowering period, or about 24 days less than most current strains on the market, which are 63-day finishers. This allowed those growers to get batches out quickly and repeatedly.
They would harvest the plant, dry it just enough to not be like hay, then vacuum seal the flowers in bulk, which resulted in the golf ball-shaped nuggets many remember. It wasn’t the best smoke but it sure as hell did the job when nothing else was around.
When I founded “Sensei Growth Consulting,” New York’s oldest cannabis consulting agency back in 2018, it was with the mindset of helping farmers to thrive and succeed under the state’s Industrial Hemp Research Initiative Program and into the future, when the state would allow THC cannabis to be grown commercially.
In the last month, I have seen the rise of one market inside of another here. Store openings have ramped up, processors are in need more than ever for quality material to produce their branded products, farmers need to move their inputs left over from the 2023 outdoor season in preparation for 2024 harvests, successful farmers with in-demand brands that have run out of flower for their own store fulfillment needs are procuring product to keep their retail partners supplied, and the river of distillate from processing split deals done by farmers and processors still continues to flow steadily across the state – with many vape brands needing the gold liquid to keep filling their cartridges and devices.
Droughts will always be a thing, regardless of whether the market is legacy or adult-use, and alas, here we are again, experiencing a shortage in New York. And during the last month, I’ve facilitated countless transactions between farmers, processors, brand owners, micro-business license holders and others.
They’re all in need of one thing: good product to keep business going. I’m happy to do so. I want to see New York farmers succeed and flourish, and it’s about time for this to happen, since the state has never done anything to help them survive or succeed. It seems the state believes that by licensing someone, it instantly gives them all the tools they need. This could not be further from the truth.
The wholesale market inside of this large, complex ecosystem of cannabis sales in New York is only going to increase in size and demand. Farmers unable to keep up with the quality standards demanded by the market and those unable to be nimble and pivot will unfortunately be left by the wayside with no business model to support their efforts.
Pivoting can make or break a business and in one as volatile as this, the actions necessary must be taken swiftly and with confidence to carry on for another day.
In the past month, farmers have told me that they have come to enjoy the idea of simply wholesaling crops in bulk to buyers with my company’s help, rather than go through the work of running a brand, fulfilling orders, driving across the state, dealing with packaging lead times, etc. Some of these farmers see a much more realistic outcome to growing cannabis at scale and selling their crops along with actually being paid in full upfront via C.O.D without terms for the most part, and not having to beg retailers to pay them for their wares, as a huge plus.
While seeing your brand name on packaging or on a store shelf is enticing and brings joy, it may not always pay the bills. This can be an enlightening realization for some and one easily adopted and embraced.
In any capitalistic market, there are those who only sell in bulk and those who want to see their name under the lights in every store. How you choose to pay the bills is entirely up to you.
