MJBizMag January 2021 - 11

I find it helps relax muscles, and it's great in massages,
salves and things like that. I love CBD.
Whole Foods was a little slow to do it because CBD
was being legalized in states, but it didn't have a national
legalization. We were worried that if the FDA (U.S. Food
and Drug Administration) wanted to clamp down on it, they
would pick a visible target to punish. And we didn't want to
be that target. We didn't want to be a first-mover in this.
We wanted to get the OK from Amazon because we didn't
want to create negative publicity for the parent company.
So that's why we delayed. But now we've jumped in with
both feet, because it looks like it's all clear. It's being sold
everywhere now.
I know you're far removed from specific decisions
about CBD products that Whole Foods carries. But
can you give us any insight into what you've seen in
demand for CBD products?
It's definitely got cachet, it's got momentum. I'd have to say
a lot of people were confused about it, but it's getting a new
trial (from consumers).
CBD has to be effective, meaning it has to have a dosage
that's sufficient for people to actually feel a relaxation
effect. And I think the potency levels-or the efficacy of it,
in my own personal experience-can vary tremendously.
So that'll be a quality issue that, somehow or another, the
industry will probably have to work on.
This happened in the supplement industry; there've
been a lot of studies that show some of the vitamin
manufacturers don't put in what they claim to be putting in.
It's cheaper if you cut back a little bit less than what you're
supposed to do.
Unfortunately, if you cut back too much, then you don't
have the efficacy, the effectiveness of the product. And
that can hurt not just your brand, but it can hurt the entire
industry. So that'll be something the industry will need
to regulate itself, or it runs the risk of people becoming
skeptical that CBD is actually doing any good for them.
How have you kept up with changes in consumer
demand over the years?
They say one way to best deal with the future is to create
it yourself. And to a large extent, that's what Whole Foods
did: We invented a category, invented a new market.
Retailing natural, organic foods in a large-scale and
supermarket form, we invented that. We were creating
that for a long time.
There's a lot more competition today. Whole Foods keeps
up with it because we have a marketing team, and that's
what they do.
But if you're a small business starting out, you have to
realize you probably know the market better than anybody
Whole Foods was deliberate about when to begin selling CBD at its retail
stores. Courtesy Photo
else because you're living it: You are the market. You
embody it, you know the customers. And that gives you an
authenticity that these big players will never have.
The entrepreneur has that firsthand knowledge for living
the market itself. They're part of it. They understand it in a
way that the big players will not understand, at least right
now. That will change over time.
We're at the entrepreneurial stage for (the cannabis
industry) right now. The best entrepreneurs who have the
greatest intuition, who can see what their customers want
and create value for them, they're going to win. And market
research will be playing catch-up.
But that entrepreneurial phase has probably got 10, 15
years left, and then it's going to become more professional
with marketing research and whatnot.
Those folks that have this passion and imagination and
good entrepreneurial instincts, they're going to reinvent the
world. I think they're doing it right now. I can't wait to see
how it turns out.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Solomon Israel is a reporter for Marijuana
Business Magazine and Marijuana Business
Daily International. You can reach him at
solomon.israel@mjbizdaily.com.
January 2021 | mjbizdaily.com 11
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MJBizMag January 2021

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