Brett Gelfand's meteoric raise through the cannabis industry is nearly as impressive as his company, PAQcase. Made from recyclable plastic, this discrete container is uniquely designed to store and protect prerolls / joints. Brett speaks to Dan Humiston about the inspiration, it's special features, it's first year sales and investment opportunities. Produced by PodCONX https://podconx.com/guests/brett-gelfand
Brett Gelfand's meteoric raise through the cannabis industry is nearly as impressive as his company, PAQcase. Made from recyclable plastic, this discrete container is uniquely designed to store and protect prerolls / joints. Brett speaks to Dan Humiston about the inspiration, it's special features, it's first year sales and investment opportunities.
https://podconx.com/guests/brett-gelfand
Dan Humiston: [00:00:00] The race to be the first national cannabis dispensary chain is heating up. Who will emerge as the Starbucks of Cannabis? We're kicking off the Dispensary Spotlight series featuring CEOs of twelve of the fastest growing dispensary chains. Listen in February for the Dispensary Spotlight series and you may hear the future Starbucks of Cannabis.
Brett Gelfand: [00:00:22] I think with the growth that we've had, the opportunity in front of us is completely on the horizon for me. We've got very fortunate starting that there's never been able to leverage customer deposits to type deals, to be able to fund the business, not very much part of the line of credit. Family, friends.
Brett Gelfand: [00:00:40] Aside from that, we can really cash flow positive ever since definitely opened to you invested money in the future from MJBulls Media.
Dan Humiston: [00:00:51] It's the Raising Cannabis Capital show. I'm Dan Humiston. And on today's show, how this entrepreneur went from executive assistant to CEO to eventually owning his own Cannabis packaging company.
Dan Humiston: [00:01:16] Raising Cannabis Capital, we are joined by Brett Gelfand, the CEO of Pach Case.
Dan Humiston: [00:01:22] Brett, welcome to the show.
Brett Gelfand: [00:01:23] How are you doing, Dan?
Dan Humiston: [00:01:25] I'm doing great. I'm doing great. Got to say, I'm going to start off by congratulating you on this product. I love it. Everything about parkade design, its simplicity, its functionality. I like logo. I mean, his everything is a type of super. Well done. Congratulations.
Brett Gelfand: [00:01:41] Thank you so much. Hasn't it is great. I'm glad were coming along well.
Dan Humiston: [00:01:46] It's like one of those ideas that it's like in front of everybody and nobody saw it. I think it's so great. Before we get into it, I'll let you explain to some of our listeners who may not have as much experience with Cannabis what some of the challenges people face transporting and storing their pre-roll, or as we used to call them, joints.
Brett Gelfand: [00:02:05] Sure. From a general high level answer, if you are a smoker or know a friend that smokes joints, it is once the situation rethink, how can you transform your joints? You see people putting joints in Ziploc bags that you've crossed or trying to use like maybe an old cigarette box or something. And it really hasn't been a good solution. It's funny because I had no idea what a pre-roll was maybe four or five years ago. Basically, my first job at a college, I was hired by executive assistant to a vertically integrated Cannabis company right around Aspen, Colorado. Yeah, I heard about our team trying to launch the new lineup pre-roll and back then it was like a year after legalization. People are like the bottom of the barrel. You know, we would put it like the nastiest stuff thrown in a pretty roll and sell it for like ten dollars. And that's what everyone was doing previously. Did not have a good name in the industry when it started in Colorado. Kind of a crazy story. My boss, the CEO, got sick and I was basically running the business. I was thinking, one, roll their own cigarettes these days like criminals, they're gonna become a hot, hot, hot product. The joint that is basically pre-filled in a cone makes it really is a production and people are going to start getting better product in there and then be better packaging and better just branding. And the problem was it was not a good case or any kind of packaging to lead to the good packaging presentation and preservation of pre-roll joints. And, you know, it screwed. I'm going to do it myself. I ended up inventing the packaging and manufacturing units for brands. Oliver, North America Legal Cannabis states. It's really have an amazing brand pre-roll which is now coming, as I thought, one of the hottest products of the cannabis industry.
Dan Humiston: [00:03:47] From the executive assistant to CEO to now owner of.
Dan Humiston: [00:03:52] Well, good for you. Cannabis. Yeah, I'm going to the candidates.
Brett Gelfand: [00:03:56] And then I had a business degree out in the mountains of Colorado. And you know, why not promote Brad to some extent?
Dan Humiston: [00:04:03] Thanks. You're doing a lot worse places, that's for sure. The pack case.
Brett Gelfand: [00:04:09] I mean, for those that haven't seen it and if you if you have it, you need to visit the website. It's sleek, smaller than a cell phone. It fits in your pocket. You use recyclable plastic in this crush proof. I think what really is the difference? What makes it so it's not a commodity? Is this inner gasket seal 100 percent.
Brett Gelfand: [00:04:28] And we were the first ones ever to have a gasket seal child resistant product. And when I was in Colorado, big problem that we had with packaging was shelf life and preservation. And then I figured, wow, you know, if I could come out with a child resistant product that also has a gasket seal. This leads to not only consumer value, but also value on a shelf and also older businesses. And we actually have a utility patent that was recently filed and approved after three years in September for childhood, just in gas fields case, you know, really designed for a lot of the material approvals. Really, you know, the gasket is pretty much what makes us so different. Anything else on the market? Like I said, preservation odor resistant to it does make our product more expensive. You know, we are premium pre-roll packaging. That to us is our bread and butter brands that we work with put a lot of value not only in their product and the quality of their products, but what it sorted. And we have something that's way better than a duty.
Dan Humiston: [00:05:25] They throw that out with yours. You just hang on to it. It's it's, you know, wasting it's not going into a landfill 100 percent.
Brett Gelfand: [00:05:32] And if they wanted to get into the conversation about recycling and sustainability, that's a neat how everything needs to be in our world. Having said we're packaging is just not a sustainable option anyway.
Dan Humiston: [00:05:43] You know, I'm going to jump here. But as far as reusable or making sure you don't waste. Talk about the roach coach.
Brett Gelfand: [00:05:51] Absolutely. I think that's a fan favorite on the bottom of our case. There is a little hidden compartment.
Brett Gelfand: [00:05:57] The average consumer smoke an entire day. And so know, putting it back in the main compartment where the secret compartment on the bottom, where you can store your roach to smoke later. It does give you the ability to store it in a safe environment and dispose of it properly.
Dan Humiston: [00:06:12] They think that's clever name. It's clever name. If.
Dan Humiston: [00:06:20] I want to take a quick break to thank you for listening to today's show as the exclusive Cannabis podcast network. We're constantly adding new Cannabis podcast to support our industry's growth. And that's why we're so excited to welcome the Seed to Sound podcast to our network. The team at Seed to Sound has produced over 50 exciting and thought provoking Cannabis podcasts. And now you can listen to all their previous episodes and all their new episodes at MJ dot com. So welcome seed to sound. And stay tuned for new exciting Cannabis podcast on the MJBulls Cannabis Podcast Network.
Dan Humiston: [00:06:59] You've so many partnerships, but the one that really just jumped out at me was that the deal that you guys did with Canopy Growth Corp., they're using the J Park as their primary packaging. I mean, that is gotta be great for your company 100 percent.
Brett Gelfand: [00:07:13] It's been an amazing relationship. We actually started the business with that relationship, solidified that arrangement exclusively in Canada. Canopy has been selling our five pack packaging for all of their brands to be able to be partnered with such an incredible company and to be able to kind of piggyback off all of the big things they're doing with different brands. Yeah, it's been great. Well, they're amazing company what they've done.
Dan Humiston: [00:07:39] I know it's been really helpful for you, but I mean, you feel you have an amazing company right now. I mean, you're really just getting out of the gate. I saw your first year revenues. I was like, you killed it.
Brett Gelfand: [00:07:49] Yeah. Is it sometimes hard to take a step back and kind of just look at the lay of the land and be proud of the accomplishments of the business and where we've gone after, you know, just grinding every. I mean, it's only been one year since you really launched the product. We're pretty much at 3 million in revenue and we're hoping to grow much more this year. And I love this industry because every time the state goes legal, you get a whole new market for an end product.
Brett Gelfand: [00:08:14] Like I you know, everyone's looking for the hottest innovative packaging, marketing, whatever, to keep them competitive. There's really not a better way to do it. Approval's and I go back.
Dan Humiston: [00:08:26] Well, you're off to a great start in naming the revenues. Great. But what's even more exciting is that you're cash flow positive. You know, this is a perfect investment for a lot of investors who are still not comfortable with making a plan, touching, even though this is kind of it ends up touching the plan. But it's an ancillary product. I'm sure there are a lot of people in or will be interested in investing in. By the way, are you. Is there ever a point where you're going to consider raising money?
Brett Gelfand: [00:08:51] I think with the growth that we've had and the opportunity in front of us, it's completely on the horizon for me. We've got very fortunate starting the business and being able to leverage customer deposits, an exclusive type deals to be able to fund the business. And I very much part of the business, a small line of credit, family, friends. Aside from that, you can really cash flow positive. Ever since definitely opened, you invested money in the future. But we'll see what happens.
Dan Humiston: [00:09:15] Yeah, well, we'll have you back on the show and when that happens and I'm sure if people wanted to reach out to you and have the conversation, I'm sure you're not going to not take their calls.
Brett Gelfand: [00:09:25] Of course not. Of course. No, no, no. Not at all.
Dan Humiston: [00:09:28] Well, we've been speaking with Brett Gelfand from PECC Case and all his information and links to their Web sites will be in the show, notes in an MJBulls.com. Brett, thanks for being on the show.
Brett Gelfand: [00:09:41] Dan, thank you so much for having me. There's a lot of fun and we've got to connect it.
Dan Humiston: [00:09:45] Me too. Good luck with this often.
Brett Gelfand: [00:09:47] Thank you so much. I appreciate it.
Dan Humiston: [00:09:52] Today's show was made possible by the generous support of our sponsors, like all 36, the country's premiere blockchain payment processing platform that's providing dispensaries and its customers with a safe and secure payment option other than cash. To learn more, go to all 236.com. Today's podcast was produced by MJ Bulls Media, the industry's premier Cannabis podcast network with original music, produced in part by Jamie Humiston.
[00:10:19] I'm Dan Humiston and you've been listening to the Raising Cannabis Capital podcast.
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