 Our next panel is talking about branding at the dispensary level, and as you know in some markets There's not a lot of dispensaries and so you know you really have a limited choice But we have other states where there are loads of dispensaries and so it starts to get really competitive as to bringing in the consumer into your dispensary and how that dispensary looks and feels you know really Identifies who you are and could make the difference between someone walking in your door versus The one next door. I know in some Municipalities, it's very limited where you can locate dispensaries so they all end up clustered together And so that's also an issue right now This panel is going to talk about that about really creating your identity and your brand at the dispensary level and Brian Lovre He is with mmlg which is a cannabis consulting firm. He's going to be moderating this panel And we'll let him take it from here and introduce our best Thank you so much. Sorry. Thank you so much Debra. Welcome everyone. We hope you're having a great time at Green Market Summit so far Thank you again for attending our panel. My name is Brian as Debra explained. I work with mmlg We're based in Los Angeles, but I live in New York So you're welcome for all of the stereotypes about New Yorkers wearing black constantly To my to my right to your left. Yeah, that's how it works I'm where I'm joined by Blythe as well as Eric. Eric is the CEO of Jushi and Blythe Why don't you lead first explain your role with Jushi as well as Beyond Hello and we'll just get started Hello Blythe Ustis here. I am the VP of retail operations for Jushi I oversee a dispensary named Beyond Hello and I first started my career actually in Arizona in 2010 Prop 203 passed for medical cannabis and I joined a group there and spearheaded the opening of multiple dispensaries in Arizona worked in that market for several years and in late 2017 actually joined a new group who had permits to open up dispensaries in Pennsylvania so I relocated to Pennsylvania and At that point the the first project that I was in charge of was developing a name an identity and a brand for Dispensary and that was Beyond Hello Thank you so much excuse me. Thank you so much Blythe Eric Why don't you take a moment to introduce yourself explain how you got into cannabis if you'd like? Absolutely, my name is Eric mouth. I am the president and co-founder of Jushi. We're a multi-state operator We have operations in Virginia, Pennsylvania, New York, Illinois, Ohio, Las Vegas and in California So I had a a non-traditional path into cannabis. I was 25 years on Wall Street. I retired four years ago We've been investing into the cannabis space privately and You know, I'd say over the last four or five years have really seen how large and complicated this business is and Two and a half years ago Elected to actually start our own multi-state operator. We thought there was a tremendous lack of highly qualified management teams the market needed to consolidate and We thought it was a great time to raise capital and consolidate into the sector and it's been a it's been a fantastic Journey so far. Thank you. It's a yeah, not a bad business if you can get into it, right? All right, so anyways folks We're here today to talk to you about branding and marketing at the dispensary level at the retail level and there may be some of you out They're wondering why branding why marketing at this level, but you know when you think about it from a consumer or from a patient standpoint The the retail location and this the structure the aesthetics the vibe that you get in one of those locales is So central to what your consumer experience to what your purchase process is like as a patient in a medical state Or just as someone in an adult use state as well And so life, why don't you walk us through why? Branding is so critical for you know, something like Beyond Hello and how Beyond Hello sort of evolved So One of the first projects as I said was developing a brand And ultimately we recognized that that's developing an identity and an opportunity to also develop something That's a differentiator. So we worked with a branding company and After several hours of interviewing and asking questions We Came to the birthing of Beyond Hello and ultimately, you know, we say it's two small words But with massive implications beyond hello going beyond a hello beyond the Transaction and really starting to have open honest dialogue and conversations with our patients With our consumers with the community with medical pros And so what we what we really did is we wanted to focus on the consumer and the patient and the experience so you can have Product pricing and people and sometimes at our Level you can't really control the product or the pricing per se But what you really can control are the people that you have representing your brand so we've been hyper focused on staffing hyper focused on training on Making sure that everybody we have working for us our experts and know the product But also maintain a Very strong element of customer service. So Really when you walk into our space, what do you feel? What's what's your experience and I? Genuinely believe that positivity is palpable. I think that you can walk into a space and feel the energy So part of our job is to create a happy healthy environment that our patients because in Pennsylvania We're we're medical that our patients want to be in and really Making sure that from start to finish They've enjoyed their experience because they can go somewhere else and sure location is incredibly Important, but if somebody has a choice between two locations that are relatively close They're going to go to the place where they know they can just have a Phenomenal experience that they're confident in their purchase and that they were really well taken care of Absolutely, Eric. Do you mind just taking a moment as well to sort of walk us through? What jushi saw with beyond hello and what was really sort of the process in terms of What drove you guys to build it out in the way that you guys have? Yeah, absolutely, you know, I think You know, we've always had kind of a two-prong strategy One to build businesses in the adult use markets like California and Nevada Where you have, you know really quite deep product expertise and capabilities you have great variety You have actually a relatively con you know the consumer in In California is quite quite educated versus what you see out east where you know at this stage places like New York and New Jersey and Pennsylvania are still very much medical markets I'd say, you know, I still remember the first time I met Blithe We walked into the first dispensary that they had opened in Pennsylvania and when you walked in you really did get a feeling that this was a lot more like a a California-based facility the product selection because of the state is actually quite forward-thinking so the product selection is quite quite quite wide Blithe really had done a fantastic job in making it feel warm and welcoming. It doesn't feel sterile or nor does it feel overwhelming And then the staff, you know, I think this is all about training now in a in a medical market Clearly you you have patients who have gone to a physician to get a card to treat a certain issue they have and so if you have a pain Issue you come in for your pain So so it's really important for us at the at the at the dispensary level to to understand what the Patient needs and you know, I think you know when we looked at that I think we've learned a lot and we've learned a lot about the education process of what what what we need to do within cannabis and you know quite frankly how Uneducated the general consumer is on dosing on variety and also the various Aspects that you can use cannabis in your everyday life. You don't just need it for a certain outcome. Oh, yeah, I mean I think that So many of us in California or again who work with California companies even though we wear black and are based in New York Something we see is a degree of sophistication in terms of consumers in terms of patients in terms of what we know, but What's really difficult for us to sometimes pause and take a step back and recognize is that? So much of the rest of the country is not there From an information standpoint from an education standpoint from a sophistication standpoint So now Blythe if I am John Q. Public and I'm walking into a any Pennsylvania dispensary I may I may be getting a different Experience than what I would get at Beyond Hello. Why don't you walk us through? some of the intricacies of Pennsylvania with regards to having medical staffers and then sort of how that helped you to mold and shape what you really thought was a patient-facing experience so Pennsylvania has a unique requirement in its medical program Where you have to have a medical professional on staff during all hours of operation? So we obviously had to abide by that and be compliant But through that experience we really identified just how valuable that is The sense of comfort that it provides to the consumer We are prepared to see everybody from the new to cannabis consumer and the experienced consumer alike But she'd be surprised people who are that you know Experienced consumer maybe never had an opportunity to speak with a medical professional In a dispensary environment and ask some of those Questions so it's been really fascinating Seeing how even our perspective of having a medical professional on staff has evolved So when somebody comes in to one of our stores The medical professional is first checking their records that are provided by the Department of Health looking at what ailment they qualified for Understanding if there are any restrictions that a doctor in Pennsylvania has placed with regard to what products they can actually consume And then from there, you know, we ultimately try and understand what that patient is looking for in their experience So if they want more of a hands-off experience and they want to wave to our medical pro and go work with one of our patient Consultants, that's fine if they want their hand held and to work side-by-side with the medical pro We offer that too But in the end, you know, it's also incredibly important that our teams are able to talk through an entire consumption process with with the patients and Understand dosing and titrations and methods of consumption So again, I mean it just kind of goes back to making sure that everybody is so well trained and passionate about the product and professional and Ultimately ensuring that the consumption is responsible. That's really insightful Something else I wonder I'll get I'll get back to you Eric. Don't worry, but I have a follow-up question for Blythe And I actually better than I am I Want your opinion on this as well, but I just want to roll with Blythe for another moment Blythe when we're talking about branding and you know as we've seen in California, Colorado Nevada Arizona, Pennsylvania What we will see in states like Missouri and Illinois as they roll out their plans There's really, you know an influx a constant constant influx almost a flood of Competition it's a very crowded retail market For beyond hello and for juicy at large What are some of the steps via the medical aspect? But other just broader branding notions that you guys have implemented to help differentiate Sure, so I think Ultimately what makes beyond hello so sticky and have this expansion ability Is that it's believable and it's real and it's true I genuinely believe in the brand and what our mission is and When that's clearly conveyed to the people who are joining the organization and then they Believe it and they get behind it and there are these ambassadors for your brand and their advocates for what you're doing then the patient comes in and They're talking to the employee and they can see that that employee believes it it just becomes real and tangible and You really, you know can feel good about what you're doing and what you've experienced and I think ultimately That's been the cycle that we've seen we believe it our employees believe it the people they help them believe it and then they go out to their friends and family and talk about it and They can feel good about what they've done because They're confident in their purchase. They're confident with who they purchased from they know that we're curating products and making sure that we have the best products available for safe and responsible consumption Eric do you have anything to add to that? That was a a plus response from Blythe, but Eric I know that you you've had a hand in this as well. So Yeah, yeah, I would challenge one of your statements that you think this is an overcrowded retail market You know, I think we take a very different stance on that. We actually think that this is a very underserved retail market You know and I'm talking Nationally it's clearly state-by-state. There's differentials, but just across the US being a multi-state operator I look at the entire country not just regions although we break each region up one You know, I don't believe that there is an abundance of safe clean tested Well curated highly trained staff that can really service the new customer So if we just going to be out there servicing the traditional stoner who we you know There's the old rule that you know 80% of your sales is 20% of the people that come in I think that is definitely a business model and that's a business model I think you can pursue and you must probably would be quite successful if you believe that over the next decade Cannabis as a product and the cannabinoids within the entire spectrum of that they exist Will become a much bigger part of many people's daily health regime However, you want to think of that, you know our largest purchase a douchey as a founding company was We partnered with the largest cannabis clinic in New York and most probably the country It's up in Buffalo, New York run by dr. Laszlo Metzler Dr. Metzler is a very well-known national neurologist. It's a very large neurological practice The cannabis clinic has been operation for four years 9,000 patients He was a he was a cannabis skeptic going in and now he is looking at the amazing results that he sees only on the Medical cannabis side and so we've always felt as a company that this is not just to service the traditional users of cannabis It's also to bring in the millions and millions of people that have abandoned this product one because of stereotype You know, it's a it's a great gateway drug, which is my generation. It is absolutely. Oh, no So that's how many of you know people over the age of 50 or 55. That's how they grew up They had a bad experience in college and so dosing The way you can invite it I think there's an massive amount of education that we can get people comfortable that going into dispensaries Not a naughty thing to do that it should be a natural thing to do a safe thing to do that There are products available in our dispensaries, which can help you with many different aspects I look at myself as an example in three years ago I was an active user of ambient in when I traveled I have a tough time sleeping I have found a much better cocktail of cannabinoids that are far more efficient and you know, I don't need to have that that hang over the next day from Those pharmaceuticals and that was an education process for someone who was buying, you know a multi-state business, so I feel deeply that there is a great combination between what we're doing in a place like Pennsylvania Which is very medical orientated but bringing that into the traditional adult use markets to allow my patients You know young maybe not younger people but people in their middle age older people woman people who have not traditionally Walked into a dispensary for for for a lifestyle choice so That's really interesting the the concept of bias or stereotype where you know It's one thing for for me to make terrible jokes about New Yorkers always dressing in black But you know for cannabis patients for cannabis consumers. There really is There's a stigma that you have to erode What do you think and either of you should please just feel welcome to answer this but um How do you think that? Beyond hello and jushi. I mean we've we've spoken at length blight of about the pharmacists on staff What are some other steps that you think the company itself takes but also that the industry should be aware of to erode this stereotype or of a gateway drug or you know, I mean ultimately it's it comes down to education and Having honest Conversations about cannabis and creating a space where anybody can feel comfortable coming in and asking questions Even if they don't want to purchase something if they want to just come in and find out a little bit more about it I could come in and just will this get me high and It's a terrible question, but then you you guys would explain Well, there there'll be effects, but these are the effects and I think there's there's just so much to parse through There are there is and Pennsylvania right now really is restricted on who can even come in the doors to ask questions But we've really made a conscious effort of going out to The community and talking to medical professionals And making ourselves available to somebody who maybe hasn't considered consuming to ask those questions So I know my mom for instance She Would never have stepped foot in a dispensary or consumed cannabis to her it was wrong And unfortunately she passed before she could step foot in a dispensary, but I genuinely believe if she had today We could change her mind and make her more comfortable with cannabis as an option for anxiety chronic pain as a sleep aid To assist with your appetite nausea and other So I really think that's what's so important and We have such an opportunity now to start really talking to people who typically wouldn't consume cannabis About how it is safe and how you can consume it responsibly and how you can feel good About making that personal health choice for yourself Eric you have you mentioned at the top that you have kind of an interesting perspective with your Your decades of work in the finance industry What do you what do you see from your perspective now in charge of I mean We're all in cannabis, but you guys also are in cpg to an extent. Um, what do you think? Where do you see this going? Um I'm not going to say where I see it going. I just Tell you a little bit about how I I see the industry and how we are involving as a company You know, I've always said this that you know, this is going to be a 200 billion dollar plus industry just in the united states It's already according to certain statistics a 40 to 50 billion dollar Illegal market and so really what am I required to do as a as a business person as an operator of dispensaries? I need to create a safe clean Informative environment in which you can go into one I need to have product that is tested with a high degree Of authenticity on where it came from So, you know, I think people have consumed cannabis for a very long time without an ability to look at the label and on that label identify All of the aspects within that product that they are consuming Now that's the second thing I need to do the the third thing I need to do is I need to comply by By state and hopefully at some stage federal law And operate a clean safe tested Compliant company if I can just do those three things I can build myself an incredible retail Manufacturing processing extraction and cultivation business that can serve the community And I think that that community is going to evolve very quickly into looking at this as a Part of their national net their daily wellness regime And so that's really how we look at it. And that's how we are building the company That's how we're going to be building our brand And you know, it's it is for me a relatively easy thing to do if we just do it right Yeah, I I agree with that. I think what's really interesting with what you're talking about Eric is that You know for a lot of our audience for ourselves on stage We all to a degree one or another degree understand the intricacy of Compliance of licensure Of testing but for patients or for consumers That's all background noise and so many of them don't necessarily understand that they just don't have the awareness of it blithe What do you think from an education standpoint because I know you guys Do a wonderful job of hiring so many people from very diverse backgrounds Not only in terms of what you provide with the pharmacists on staff, but also in terms of hiring minorities hiring women Um From an education standpoint, where do you think that plays into it? Well first off just to kind of discuss what what you mentioned about Our staffing something that we've really found to be important is Ensuring that the team we have in the stores represent the demographic with which they serve So incredibly important that we are having a diverse team Um, and that way they can connect directly with that patient It doesn't seem unnatural or out of sorts for a patient to come in And you know see or find somebody working in our shops that they feel that they can instantly connect with and have a conversation with And relate to so that's a big piece And then you also discussed, you know women Interestingly, um I myself am a woman and my marketing manager In pennsylvania is a woman my practitioner outreach lead is a woman My two regional managers who oversee all operations of our facilities in pennsylvania are women 60 of our pharmacists and medical pros on staff are women And that's not necessarily a strategy of ours. However We do see that right now the majority of cannabis consumers Are are men, but we're seeing more and more women Come into our shops. And so I think it's it's really nice to to be representative of the population and Know that there's also just a nice bedside manner that our our medical pros have and they can come and and have a very Organic conversation with with the people who are are in our stores. So It's been interesting to see the evolution. Uh, it's been very natural and organic But incredibly important and it makes me proud to see. Yeah, it should. I mean, that's a big deal Yeah, right guys, give it up. Come on Uh, blithe I do have a question. Um You've done two cycles in two separate states now, right arizona and pennsylvania For jushi as well as for but beyond hello What are some of the hurtles that the companies themselves had have had to work through in terms of maintaining A consistency of brand in different markets. We were talking backstage about how In pennsylvania, there's certain stuff you can and cannot have on shelves So some similarities. I mean it's it's I've worked in medical Markets so arizona was medical pennsylvania medical. So very highly regulated industries Incredibly important that you operate Compliantly and that you are developing strong relationships with the regulators understanding what they want And providing what they want Lots of times people discuss operating in a gray area and that has never been What we what we do for us It is very you know by the book And maintaining compliance at all times. So those have definitely been some similarities The purchasing trends Have been incredibly similar Your new to cannabis consumer is typically more comfortable with a tincture or A topical lotion Where your more experienced consumers can Have hard concentrates or flour or oil cartridges So it's been very very similar. Obviously they have their own unique facets, but overall very similar The big difference that i've seen between arizona and pennsylvania are the products that are allowed in the program Pennsylvania currently does not allow edibles, which I think is incredibly unfortunate I second this And what's interesting too in pennsylvania is A patient can purchase product and go home and make their own edibles And that's perfectly fine, but they cannot purchase edibles in the dispensary So that's been a big difference the product availability But I think it's I think pennsylvania will eventually have edibles I think they'll see the the value in it if they haven't already identified that and it's with any new medical market It evolves and it grows and you learn with the state And make changes together All right. Thank you Erica's medical markets do continue to evolve as well as expand I know that for jushi and beyond hello both brands are very focused To one degree or another they're focused on mna As a means of expansion, uh, would you care to to chime in on anything from that standpoint in terms of What it's what it's like just working behind the scenes to expand into new territories and to recognize What makes sense or versus what doesn't make sense? Yeah, um Look, you know, I I will say this, you know having had a 25 year Um career in finance having you know bought and sold billions and billions of dollars of companies It's it's it's probably more challenging than I ever thought it would be Oh, that's interesting mna is not easy. Well, you know, if again The the the thesis and why we came out of retirement to start this company Was we felt that there was a dearth Of well managed highly compliant companies that over time if you built that company Over the next three to seven years and you were able to have Best in class fortune 500 financials compliance structures Team training dispensary management how you did extraction and processing packaging High quality cultivation if you were able to build that That that would be a differentiated product over time And if you look at the mna scene, you know, there are a lot of people that got into this business for very many reasons Many people were underfunded and so you often come across businesses that have just not been run The way you would be able to if you were to be scrutinized by a kpmg or by a a compliant business And so mna is incredibly taxing. We have to spend an enormous amount of time on diligence So let's just take a dispensary, you know by a dispensary. That's great if it's operational You need to make sure it's audited because I can assure you it hasn't been audited and I'm a public company Number two, you need to make sure that when you do your inventory analysis that the inventory in and the inventory out Is consistent because if it isn't you have an issue And you have to make sure that the legal structure in which it was procured either through a competitive Application process or another mna process that you have diligence that that there's nothing in that Process that may come back to haunt you over time where there may have been payments made There may be other people on that application that were not appropriate And so the amount of of of really detailed diligence required to do if that's the company you want to build Is is actually is is one thing that we really underestimated And so, you know, it's it's hard, but you know, we will continue to add to the portfolio over time They're I think the there are many good operators I think there are many people that believe and and and and value the story we bring I think they value that we have people like like blithe running an amazing business And yet they can rely on our financial skills to raise capital a very large legal staff It's it's it's a complicated business. It's okay. It's even more difficult to do it well Absolutely and folks, I mean what eric is talking about and this is me putting on my I worked for a cannabis consultancy hat for a moment He's touching the tip of the iceberg We could have a completely separate panel solely On compliance regarding Mergers and acquisitions within the cannabis industry. Some of you guys know this Some of you guys will learn this hopefully God's blessings. None of you learned this the hard way But what eric's talking about is 100 true Anyway, you know, I would just say this I don't want to you know push sushi too hard One of the very big fundamental differences between us as in the business and many of the other multistate operators Is as as a management team An enormous amount of the capital is our own personal capital That's interesting. We thought that was really important that we align ourselves guys have some skin in the game We know we have a lot of skin in the game And so, you know, as opposed to gifting ourselves 50 percent of the company We we are we are deeply deeply invested in it And it comes a little bit from the hedge fund background that we come from the most successful hedge funds over time Have been hedge funds where the principles are a very large portion of the underlying capital Because you just behave differently when it's your money and when it is other people's money And so, you know, every time I go into an m&a situation I am putting my money and because you all know this Most of us are funded by private capital And that private capital has traditionally been people that jim the ceo and i'm the president And the board know personally and these are people often who did not know much about cannabis But have relied on us as successful business people to say look that sounds like a really interesting endeavor And so, you know, we have a very high Degree of personal responsibility to the underlying shareholders. This is not something where we went public and raised a ton of money This is people. I know who I've worked with these are family officers So, you know and in that isn't also an issue because one of the issues I have with cannabis is it is Unfortunately being funded by wealthy people And it's not really an ability for the general public yet to participate in this because it's so damn difficult to invest in cannabis It's it's exceedingly expensive I I know that in california. There are a lot of reasons why it's expensive And you know, I was at a talk last week where one of the panelists explained Not all of us are going to be owners And that's something to bear in mind, but at the same time it doesn't have to be That cost prohibitive Anyways, we we could have another panel. We'll have another panel afterwards. Just talk to us in the lobby It'll be an impromptu panel panel is too strong of a word. I'm digressing at this point Blight I do have a question for you though Circling back for a moment Eric mentioned dosing and how correct and how critical correct dosing is and that, you know, particularly for New patients or new consumers who are just getting into it, you know, be it a baby boomer someone in their 60s who You know had one bad experience 40 years ago in college or someone who's, you know, never tried it, whatever Can you talk to us inform us? What's it like from a retail experience for anyone going into a beyond to low or any or the experience that anyone should have At any store, what's it like walking someone through a dosing? Criteria or selection sure So consistent with our brand and going beyond a hello and a simple transaction, you know Those are conversations we really want to have And we do understand that dependent on the patient they may or may not want to discuss it and that's that's fine but if they want to and If we're offered able to offer our guidance, I mean, it's something that we do all the time. So If somebody's not asking a direct question It's incumbent upon us to make sure that we're still informing that person purchasing how to use the product appropriately So dosing You've got to know how to properly use your product and it's important to understand what type of Experience you're looking to have or what type of effects you are looking for and for us We really want to make sure that we're titrating doses up So we will always encourage that I'm sure most people have heard this start low and slow And it's true because you might come in and tell one of our our employees, you know Oh, yeah, you know, I consume all the time or I've had this I've had that and that's wonderful And we respect it and so we'll make sure that we get something that works for you But to be responsible, you know, we're going to suggest that this is the proper dose to start with and then you titrate up Slowly to find that sweet spot that works best for you We really recognize too that It takes really Unfortunately one time for somebody to have a bad experience and they will forever be turned off towards cannabis And eric mentioned it earlier, you know, you've got a bad experience in college And so you're going to stay away from it. So we want to offer up that information and help the consumer have The experience that ultimately they're looking for so Talking to the patient or the consumer about what they're looking for and knowing the products really well I mean this this oh You know, I I put I'll take a slightly different angle, you know being Being, you know, a founder and a manager of the company. What are the scary things that go bang at night that you worry about? You know, and I I make a parallel between our industry and the electric car industry Um, and let's even talk about self driving And so you have a self driving incident that happens and a person unfortunately dies And all the non-believers which are the car manufacturers of combustion engines the skeptics out there Jump on this like oh, yeah, you know never have self driving. That's that's So ours are going to take my jobs. That's just all that and so we live in an industry Which is new and nascent. It's developing It's got tremendous Capabilities for people to add it into their wellness regime But there are a lot of skeptics the tobacco companies are terrified of us The alcohol companies have to be terrified of us and the conservative non-users of Of of cannabis who believe this is a drug one I'm not particularly fond of us either pharmaceutical companies is endless. So it is absolutely critical That we manufacture highly curated products That has a chain of custody that we can defend That has no additives in it. They're going to create Deaths by vaping and that we teach people how to How to dose themselves? I have a friend of mine who's in the audience who when we opened up stores in In in in colorado for the first time a reporter walked in bought 100 milligram edible Was told not to eat at all ate at all had a terrible experience and wrote online and that polluted I'm sorry. Is your friend a rhinoceros? I mean 100 milligrams is a lot I mean if you don't know I always make this this this this analogy It's it's it's quite amazing to me is no one would walk in and someone pour a clear liquid into an entire glass And you would just drink it you would ask what is it if it's tequila you drink less than more So I think for us from a business perspective This is a terrifying aspect that we need to make sure we do this right because there are so many People that would like to see us fail. Absolutely. And I mean folks some of this might sound remedial, but you know Cannabis is having its moment. It's having a prolonged moment But because we're having a moment it means the spotlight is on us and not just because We're all literally on a spotlight because we're on a stage, but because literally, you know Everyone is looking at us and so from a scrutiny standpoint What eric and blight they're talking about in terms of maintaining the tightest ship Behind the scenes in front of house Everywhere these are big big lessons that we all understand the critical importance of not just for an individual company But for the industry we're all ambassadors for the industry Um moving to a slightly sunnier topic I I really want both of your perspectives on this because I know that you know There are a lot of people out there who are probably wondering You know, if they're a smaller company if they're a local company What what are some steps? What are some takeaways from the The journey that beyond hello is seen from the journey that jushi has seen Um to becoming a larger company to becoming a national company if somebody wants to go national if you want to if you want to grow um ultimately believing in your brand and Making sure that everybody from The bottom up believe in the brand is incredibly important. You have to have that consistency So we obviously want to have consistency from store to store, but even at a more granular granular level People in the store there has to be that level of consistency You have to make sure that you are training your staff that they know the product that they understand what the missions and goals are and They'll carry that through so even if you are a a small Local singular store there's still such an opportunity because If it's a believable brand and everybody in the operation are sticking to that that singular mission It'll resonate and you will find that that population that you can connect with And and it'll allow you to to expand and and really get into A larger market with a larger demographic and and have a loyal following. It's so ingrained I feel that with beyond hello and with jushia. It's so ingrained into the company culture that Customer experience comes number one. It's such a priority for for you guys whether it's patients in pennsylvania Whether it's an adult use consumer in los vegas um Can either of you speak to that and sort of how you maintain that consistency and that dedication On a store on a per store basis Yeah, I'm not going to talk about it on just a per store basis I'm just going to talk about it as a country a company in general I'd say the most remarkable thing in the last three years is the the the quality of Of person wanting to join the company and so I'll use an example. I would never believe three years ago that a You know a a Harvard MBA would delay Harvard for two years to come work at jushi Whose mother was very disappointed that he was working in a cannabis company and whose father was mildly Supportive, but I just think you know I look at the quality of people that we can hire The diversity of people we can hire and the passion that those people have for the industry Is to me is is really the sea change and if that continues to be the case I think that's a real winning strategy because you need a great team on the field And to have people like blithe who who can operate with this degree of integrity In this business really makes me feel that you know when I look at my my team that we're building I'm astounded by the quality of people the passion that the people have for the industry And you know the people I'm partnering with I mean it's just amazing And if we can keep doing that and we can keep getting this many really talented smart creative ethical people Into the business that to me is the winning strategy Thank you guys folks we're going to end our formal panel But we're going to stay on stage because we're sure you have some questions We're going to open things up for a little thing we call q&a Do we have microphones and Well, it's a small peter if you have a question. Please just stand up and start shouting Just kidding. Please raise your hand Oh, please go ahead Sure, so for us we've seen the value in maintaining That one-on-one relationship and rapport that you build with with a customer and a consumer and we understand that When you transition into an adult use market You might see just more and more people and how do you keep up with maintaining those relationships and ultimately It just has to remain in the forefront and as a focus for the company we are Very medically oriented at the core and I hope that that's something we we never lose because we recognize There's always a place for that and and it is so important. So Ultimately our part of our mission and part of our brand will be to do to maintain that and have individual conversations with consumers and Provide an opportunity. Maybe if it's not right then in there, but for a follow-up question Or consultation or conversation It just has to be part of the plan You know, I'd say it's it's it's going to be a a A decision that we're going to need to make as a company to incur the higher costs of having potentially a better informed Staff More staff on site and that decision is is that long-term accretive to your value or short-term accretive to your value? I think we'll continue to think that the long-term accretion is more important than the short-term Bump that you have on not wanting to spend the money To have those types of professionals in your organization, especially at the retail level Eric my name is Bob Lewis I had the fortune of speaking to Jim your partner about six months ago One of the questions I have is every conference. I go to the discussion comes up about consumer education And I stand ready to say Can you See a solution where there's a public-facing communication strategy that the industry can back that you know would allow Messaging to be shared with consumers across the board Because I absolutely think that's the one missing piece Is a PSA strategy an activation of all the cannabis industry together supporting Sort of like a nonprofit almost, you know acting as a voice for the industry Is that something you could see being beneficial to all? Absolutely Yeah, and something that we're actively doing now too is From state to state engaging the various medical pros that we have in our organization And really increasing the communication so they can have that knowledge share And develop a platform so that information is more readily available to the public You know when I speak to dr. Laszlo matchla One of the things that he keeps saying is Cannabis has left the medical percent professionals behind That partly because the medical community really hasn't embraced cannabis And so I think it's a mixture of not just having that type of non non-profit But I think we also need to get the medical community To start to back what cannabinoids in general can can do and how they can be part of your wellness regime And I think that's going to take a long time And I see the the uphill battle that dr. Matchla has because he is out there in the forefront publishing on cannabis Publishing on on on disease states that have had a really positive results And it's it's still a very skeptical medical audience that he's talking to Any more questions we have one more okay hold on Following up on the medical aspect Blythe this question is for you. What is the criteria for your medical professional staffing? I mean, do they have any formal cannabis training which is pretty much non-existent at the academic level? sure so in pennsylvania specifically the medical pros who Work in facilities have to go through a CME course specifically geared towards cannabis So it is required with the department of health Also in order to work in a dispensary whether you're a medical professional or not Even for us to be affiliated with an organization. We have to go through a three-hour training course that the department of health in the state has created to make sure that we understand not only how to operate but we know the The basics of of medicine and how cannabis is medicine and then beyond that We think it's incredibly important that any of our medical pros also go through an in-house training that we've developed So we're really looking for medical pros who are incredibly passionate about it I know one of ours for example We'll always share a story about how she was working in a pharmacy and people would come in and ask questions And she was starting to become so involved in cannabis just through her own self study That in her mind people would ask her questions and she knew she was supposed to respond about you know the pharmaceutical drug But she was talking about or in her mind having a dialogue about which cannabis products would really benefit this patient And so for her that was When she finally just had to you know Make the transition into the medical cannabis space. So Yeah, I mean it's it's a great question. There is training That's required and courses that are required in pennsylvania, but internally We require it as well because they really are I mean their role is so important. They're talking about the different Contraindications you can have with with your meds that you're currently taking or how you can Get off meds that you're currently taking and use cannabis as an alternative. So really important Debra, do we have any more time or Really? Oh one one quick one one more quick one folks Hi, um, I'm wondering if you are collecting any data from consumer transactions and interactions And how are you using that to both educate consumers and as well as educate your your staff? um, so we do have restrictions placed on us with the department of health on what type of information we can actually collect from patients and Utilize but ultimately We are constantly looking at what conditions people are coming in and being treated for We have we've developed something similar to a soap note in the medical industry that we refer to as the hemp note So we're able to go through with the patient and understand their current health what drugs they're currently taking what ailments they're looking to alleviate and what type of end result they're looking for so We we have those hemp notes and we're reviewing them with our medical pros on a regular basis to really have an understanding of of what products are working and for what conditions and then We always we like to geek out in the stores And talk about what we've learned from our patients or from our own personal use and so those hemp notes are really um Really useful because we can look back at just internally what what we've treated various patients with and it helps us As a whole when we've got a new patient coming in And knowing what to recommend and then as I touched on earlier too We really are increasing that knowledge share that we do across the state lines and working with dr. Metschler and dent and learning from him and what he's experienced and our medical pros Visiting him as well and just increasing communication and talking about it Yeah, I would I would argue that we have one of the most formidable databases on medical outcomes related to cannabinoids used on various disease states Now there are many restrictions around what we can and cannot do with that But we are continually looking at that Doing doing studies on it and we think that that is going to be an incredibly valuable part Of our our our business model going forward in in using that but the the restrictions around it are Immense and difficult and it's a whole separate discussion But you know, we are very focused on trying to become smarter and better at Creating our products that can really help our patients Uh ladies and gentlemen, we can't thank you enough for being such a fantastic audience Please give it up for our panelists Eric and Blythe And give it up one more time for debora and green market summit. This has been a wonderful experience. Thank you We actually have a panel at one o'clock that's sponsored by a kerna talking about data and brands so Right after lunch we'll be hitting on a lot of that with the data that they've been able to Get from you know, seed to sale tracking and such and it's pretty pretty fascinating What they're starting to do with that information