The Playbook Behind Consistent Cannabis Products at Scale ft. Ryan Crandall

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Ryan Crandall: Controlling those in a central location, making sure they're measured properly, offers a level of consistency to our ingredients. Not necessarily our cannabis dosing, but certainly the dosing of non-cannabis ingredients in all of our recipes is centrally controlled and centrally monitored for us. So it doesn't matter whether I'm in 30 states or five states — I've still got the same level of control over the ingredients and the discipline with which those batches are going to be made. Bryan Fields: What's up guys, welcome back to another episode of The Dime. I'm Bryan Fields, and this week Kell is off, so I'm flying solo. This week we've got a very special guest, Ryan Crandall, Chief Commercial Officer of MariMed. Ryan, thanks for taking the time. How are you doing today? Ryan Crandall: I'm doing great, Bryan. Thank you for having me today. Bryan Fields: Excited to have you here. We're going to talk some edibles, maybe some rescheduling information, some strategy, and one of my favorite topics — how you plan out the future with all these variables floating around, and how you build a cohesive plan that's flexible and dynamic at the same time and can be run across different states. I know that's not as easy as it sounds. But before we get into the fun stuff, can you give a quick background on yourself and how you found your way into the cannabis industry? Ryan Crandall: Sure, Bryan. My role is Chief Commercial Officer at MariMed. I got into the industry — I started an edibles brand about ten years ago now, and ultimately MariMed bought that brand. I came in to run product and sales on the heels of that acquisition, about eight years ago. They bought Betty's Eddies, one of our number one edible brands. Now we have a large portfolio of award-winning brands that we bring to market in several states. Bryan Fields: Specifically, when you started with that, what was the origin of your focus? Was it a belief that consumption would move this route, or take us through that process? Ryan Crandall: I think it came down to business plans and some intuition, a good blend of both. A group of us got together to apply for a medical license in Massachusetts to run a vertically integrated operation, and ultimately we didn't get the license — but we built out all the plans to get it, and I focused on the edible side of things. When we didn't get the license, I'd already done a lot of analysis on margins: when you sell cannabis as flower, here's your price, here's your cost; when you move it to an oil format, your margins go up; and when you move it to an edible format, your margins are the highest. That's held true over the years. So one piece was the margin story. The other piece — my business partner says this a lot — nobody cares where the tomatoes come from in Heinz ketchup. They just care that it's Heinz. The moral isn't that you can put bad tomatoes in ketchup — it's that people care about brands, and quality and consistency matter to brands. Pairing the high-margin story with building brands that matter, and the fact that the Budweiser of cannabis hadn't been created yet — that was the exciting part of what we were getting into. Bryan Fields: That's really important, and I want to go down that rabbit hole, because it's more complex — you don't have one central processing facility creating a unified product and distributing it out; you have to work in these different silos with different incoming ingredients and processes. But going back to your first point — understanding brands matter — how much has changed since you first got into the space from an edibles standpoint to what we know now? Ryan Crandall: Oh my god. Bringing you back to the early days — I remember Colorado right after medical happened out there. We made several trips out; we had a partner there and were going to bring Betty's to market. The leading edible in the market at the time was a brand called Edipure. I don't know if you remember Edipure, but they would buy bulk convenience-store candy and spray it with oil — it literally had oil residue on the outside — and package it in containers. For years that was the number one edible in Colorado. Their ability to create product at scale was really chasing the quick dollar instead of the long one. Now Edipure is nowhere to be found, but some of the other brands that started in Colorado are still around, because they focused on quality and the long dollar. Back then we tried a lot of cookies, brownies, and gummies, and there were a lot of inferior products — a lot of misdosing, a lot of inconsistency. We decided there was a lot of opportunity to do things better with better ingredients, better processes, and more consistency. Bryan Fields: Everyone has that edible story, right? People always relate it back to a brownie experience in college, but there's a substantial difference between someone mixing ingredients in a dorm room and an operation today that's way more complex and precise, giving a controlled dose that consumers can expect and rely on. Ryan Crandall: Spot on, couldn't have said it better myself. Consistency of dose, consistency of flavor, consistency of experience — as a consumer, I think those are the most important things. Bryan Fields: How do you make that consistent and repeatable state to state? I always think about it like this: if I grabbed a Coca-Cola here in New York and it tasted one way, then went to Maryland and tried another Coke that tasted completely different, I'd think, "this isn't Coke," and I probably wouldn't drink Coke going forward. That inconsistency layers on challenges for consumers who are still new to cannabis. How do you build in the roadmap and testing to feel comfortable that the product meets consistency and quality across states? Ryan Crandall: It's been experience over the years, but I can get more specific. From the beginning we've obfuscated our ingredients from manufacturing. From an R&D standpoint, for each brand we make what's called a "bomb bag" wherever we can — it contains the dry ingredients that make up key components of a product. By controlling those in a central location and making sure they're measured properly, it offers a level of consistency to our ingredients. It's not necessarily cannabis dosing, but certainly the dosing of non-cannabis ingredients in all of our recipes is centrally controlled and monitored. So whether I'm in 30 states or five, I've got the same level of control over ingredients and the discipline with which batches are made. I'm not sure a lot of other companies have gone down that path. We kind of stumbled into it — we were born out of licensing, so we were worried about a partner knowing our recipe and stealing it, similar to how Coca-Cola or Kentucky Fried Chicken own key ingredients. We thought there was real IP in the way we make our products, so protecting that as part of our production process also standardizes the product across state lines. Bryan Fields: That's really smart — I hadn't thought about it that way. You're limiting exposure to a partner going a bad direction while also centralizing your purchasing. Does that create economies of scale? Ryan Crandall: Absolutely. Bryan Fields: So you're tightening the purchasing process, buying for a SKU across all states, and instead of a hundred random variables with different vendors, maybe it's only seventy-five that are consistent — reducing the room for error. Ryan Crandall: Right, and at that point we're less focused on whether the right ingredients were used — though that's still always a concern — and more focused on process, equipment, and packaging as the other pieces of consistency. On the cannabis-ingredient side, we believe in carrier oils in all of our products — blending THC into a base oil and distributing that across a product whenever possible. We get that carrier oil tested before it goes into the product, so I know exactly how many milligrams per gram are in the carrier oil going into Bubby's Baked brownies or the coconut oil going into Betty's Eddies bedtime fruit chews. We test the raw oil, then the infused carrier oil, then the finished product — testing all along the way to get a passing test result as close to the labeled dosage as possible. Bryan Fields: Is that mandatory, or an additional step you take to ensure consistency? Ryan Crandall: That's an additional step we take. We're not mandated to do it — there may be a state that requires testing the pre-oil, but we're not mandated in all our states. We do it as an enhancement to the process. Bryan Fields: On a scale of zero to a hundred, a hundred being most critical, how influential is that in producing a consistent end product? Ryan Crandall: I'll tell you this: when we spin up in a new state, it typically takes time for a new lab to learn how to test your products properly — it takes several runs. When we don't test the carrier oil and go straight to the finished product, labs have a harder time nailing it than when they've tested the raw oil, then the carrier oil, then the final product with the carrier oil in it. It gives them more familiarity with you as a customer, but it also puts more onus on the lab to produce results in line with previous results. Bryan Fields: It's also important from a checks-and-balances standpoint — you know where you're at from zero to one, one to two, two to three — so if something goes wrong, you don't have to rip up the whole process; you can trace exactly where the problem was and fix it. Bryan Fields: How common do you think that kind of consistent testing throughout the process is industry-wide? Ryan Crandall: I think it's a challenge across multiple states. You see it in flower testing too — there's no standardization across state lines. Some people take out water content, some leave it in; the same strain across state lines will test twenty points up or down. There's a lot of inconsistency and a lot of opportunity there, especially since consumers buying flower focus so heavily on THC percentage. But the important part is that when you deliver a product, the end customer gets that same repeatable experience — not just because a recipe was followed, but because they had a good experience and come back a second and third time. Brands spend so much money getting customers in the door; the real question is whether they come back. Bryan Fields: That's one of the challenges right now — early on there's an unknown period where consumers see a shelf full of brands and don't know which stand for quality versus price versus brand recognition. Ryan Crandall: We do, and I'd say we still see what we saw in early Colorado, just less of it today — not the spraying of edibles, but inconsistency of dose and taste in a lot of markets flooded with cheap product. On the edible side, we've seen people are still willing to pay for quality, and our brands stand for that. Bryan Fields: Is part of your role educating the consumer that your products might cost a bit more but deliver consistency? Ryan Crandall: Yes. It's a multifaceted approach. In-store, we do a lot of activations — we upped those year-over-year by 40%. It's about letting people taste a non-infused version of the product, talking to them about ingredients and process, and sharing customer success stories — people who've told us how a specific product changed their life. We share those in-store and digitally before people even get to the store, and we're focused on growing our loyalty database and continuing the conversation with those customers. Bryan Fields: Give us a high-level view of MariMed's different brands — I think there are more than people realize, which is part of the challenge. Ryan Crandall: Sure. Nature's Heritage is our premium flower brand — glass jar, hand-trimmed, wooden top, freshness seal inside, typically over two-and-a-half percent terpenes, hitting high-20s to low-30s THC, a mix of unique and throwback strains. It covers larger-format flower, pre-rolls, infused pre-rolls, vape, and concentrate — it's our largest flower, concentrate, and pre-roll brand, operating in Massachusetts, Maryland, Illinois, and Delaware. Then there's InHouse — similar to Cresco's High Supply — a value segment: value flower, pre-rolls, vapes, and a value line of gummies. InHouse also works with veterans, helping provide homes for veterans across multiple states. Those are our two flower-focused brands. On the edibles side, Betty's Eddies is our fruit chew brand — effects-based chews for sleep, energy, pain, stress relief, and some just for fun. Bubby's Baked makes baked goods — soft and chewy brownies, chocolate chip cookies — flavorful, all-natural ingredients. And Vibations is our drink brand — powdered drink mix, think Liquid IV meets cannabis — using different minor cannabinoid blends and supplements to elicit effects. We're also expanding into ready-to-drink beverages, with announcements coming soon. Bryan Fields: From a day-to-day standpoint, how would you describe your role? Ryan Crandall: I give leadership and direction to sales, marketing, and R&D, and act as a liaison between our CEO and the rest of the business. I started with sales and R&D — R&D has been a passion of mine for years, and I understand the inner workings of this place probably better than anybody. I lost R&D for a bit and took it back recently, and I feel good about it. At a high level, I'm focused on product trends, deploying them quickly within our walls and stores, and building the brand — we want top market share in our categories in each state. Bryan Fields: So is it like a triangle — understanding, say, minor cannabinoids are working well in edibles in Maryland, and considering rolling that out in Delaware? Ryan Crandall: Exactly — our brand managers are laser-focused on expanding their brands across our network, whether owned or licensed. As we sign an agreement in a new state like Maine, they're immediately thinking about how their products compete there and how to go to market — for example, Maine's new regulation requires a 200-milligram pack, which we don't do anywhere else, so we have to modify products quickly to align with that opportunity. Brand managers and R&D work hand in hand on those. Bryan Fields: Is part of R&D also pushing the envelope on what's possible? Ryan Crandall: Focused R&D is important — we need to make sure the products we create today are the foundation for tomorrow. That's how we've kept Betty's and Nature's Heritage at the top for so long, and how we've brought Vibations up quickly. Over the years there's been nervous energy like "we don't do chocolate, we need chocolate" — but we ask how much a segment is really growing. We've stayed away from some segments and gotten into and backed out of others — we did microwave popcorn years ago, a great product, but manufacturing state to state isn't margin-rich, so it wasn't a good business plan. Focused R&D means continually improving what we have while being laser-focused on new areas with a stage-gate approach to what actually gets developed — not squashing creativity, but making sure projects that hit R&D's desk are well vetted and make unit-economic sense. Bryan Fields: Is part of the strategy scenario planning — knowing today's environment is X, but if interstate commerce opens up, here's how we'd approach it? Ryan Crandall: Yes, though a lot of that is pie-in-the-sky. We spend most of our time on our current business and how to expand it in the short term, but we do have regular conversations about things that could happen further out, and our CEO in particular is focused on that. Bryan Fields: I want to go back to edibles — the "trifecta" concept, combining three cannabinoids for a specific effect. What was the reasoning, and was there a feeling that was more important than just using two cannabinoids? Ryan Crandall: First, we believe full-spectrum oil is very important — across Betty's, Bubby's Baked, and InHouse we use a full-spectrum oil input because we believe there's benefit beyond just THC distillate. Beyond that, we want to add safe supplements in combination with cannabinoids to elicit desired effects. Whether it's three, four, or five cannabinoids, I'm not opposed, if testing shows that combination gets the best response. We haven't brought anything to market without multiple test cases and samples behind it, to get to what we believe is close to a perfect product. Bryan Fields: And "test cases" means individuals actually consuming the product and comparing, like which gave a better night's sleep? Ryan Crandall: Correct — not just one individual, but many. Bryan Fields: That becomes an educational factor — someone buying a sleep edible has six different options with different cannabinoid ratios, so the emphasis falls back on the budtender to point them in the right direction. Is working with budtenders part of communicating why the trifecta matters more than just two cannabinoids? Ryan Crandall: We do a good job training budtenders, but they're inundated with information and everyone claims their product is best. What ultimately works is trial. I've got a guy on my sales team in Massachusetts who's really sensitive to sugar and can't sleep after a gummy — no sleep gummies work for him. We came up with Micro Dose under Nature's Heritage, a vegan pill using CBN and homeopathic mushrooms, and he's getting better sleep than he has in years — partly no sugar, partly the formula, partly his body's chemistry. I've seen people sleep better on InHouse gummies than Betty's, too. Your suite of products should offer people an array of trusted options, and ultimately it comes down to trust over time — we've been on shelves for years because we listen to our customers. For example, we're adding magnesium to our sleep SKU right now — we're the number one sleep SKU in the state but still looking to improve. We started with a sleep SKU with melatonin, then added a second without melatonin, then a pain SKU without melatonin. We'll keep iterating. Bryan Fields: That's focused R&D — you're not going to make an Adderall pill for me, Bryan. Ryan Crandall: Correct, 100%. Bryan Fields: Is there a sweet-spot balance between pushing the category forward and knowing when not to push too far? Ryan Crandall: We push through campaigns and education, but ultimately our brand ambassadors — even doing a Betty's Eddies push — are identifying opportunities for Bubby's and Nature's Heritage too, having good conversations with customers and building relationships with budtenders so we're paying more attention than the competition. We believe budtenders are key, so we do a lot of micro-events — we just did a cannabis dinner a couple weeks ago pairing Nature's Heritage strains with a chef's dishes for about 80 customers. Doing five or six of those over a couple months across a market is really impactful — people get two or three hours to interact directly with our food scientists and really nerd out on the products. Bryan Fields: You're building trust, putting a face to the name, like people who idolize a chef and eat anything they make. Ryan Crandall: Right, and you're connecting it all together for people who want that connection. Bryan Fields: Would you say it's fair that someone could take an energetic edible and expect to feel energized? Ryan Crandall: It's interesting — I'm curious what will happen with THCV. Have you had experience with it, Bryan? Bryan Fields: I love THCV, but only paired with THC. Ryan Crandall: I had one with maybe a milligram of THC but 10-15 milligrams of THCV, and I noticed a real difference — I felt like I'd had a cup of coffee, and later that night, when I'd normally have quite an appetite, I had zero. Not an upset stomach, just no interest in eating. Definitely appetite suppression and some energy. I think that's just scratching the surface — I know others have had similar experiences with that cannabinoid. Bryan Fields: I've had that too — I like THCV with THC because it gives a more euphoric feeling; I use it for socialization instead of alcohol. On the flip side, CBG makes me starving — out of control. I'm not totally sure why. Ryan Crandall: That's funny — we actually have an LTO with CBG in it, and I had a similar experience having a tough time with food after. Bryan Fields: People often ask me, as an edibles consumer, whether it's really possible to buy something for energy and feel energized, versus something for sleep and feel sleepy. Ryan Crandall: I think so. Betty's has a product, Betty's Go, a watermelon chew, and I do feel it energizes people. A lot of the energy drinks coming out, like Red Bull-type products, certainly work — our Vibations has natural caffeine and guarana in it, and if I have one too late I struggle to sleep. Ours are certainly formulated to work. Bryan Fields: And those aren't high in THC? Ryan Crandall: They're all lower dose. We do have a high-dose watermelon Betty's, but the majority of our products are 5 or 10 milligrams, with minors in the low milligrams below that. Bryan Fields: So you can feel comfortable you won't be "sucked into the couch" — my recommendation is always go low and slow. Ryan Crandall: 100% — we're thoughtful about that too, because people don't just eat one. There's a responsible way to make products efficacious without making them like a Four Loko in one bite. For example, we put 1-2 milligrams of melatonin in our sleep products — 5-10 milligrams is an effective dose for a lot of people, but many feel overdosed at that level and get a strong effect from 1-2 milligrams. I haven't seen the edible side chase high milligram counts the way traditional CPG or pharma sometimes do — hopefully that doesn't happen, because effective doses are very specific to people on the edible side. Bryan Fields: When you enter a new state, is there a brand you like to lead with, or does it depend on the state? Ryan Crandall: If flower's available under the regulations, Nature's Heritage leads, alongside Betty's Eddies — those are our two marquee brands in any new market. If it's edibles-only, Betty's leads, with Bubby's Baked and InHouse. Betty's tends to open a lot of doors given how high-performing it is across markets, and dispensaries often covet it given its track record elsewhere. Bryan Fields: Similar to how dispensaries know a brand can track consumers if it's performed well in other states. Ryan Crandall: Right. It depends on the account too — some already have their assortment figured out, so Vibations is a good one to get in with because it's unique; a lot of accounts don't have a drink mix, and it's disruptive to the beverage category — a 10-pack for $20-25 at retail versus expensive individual cans. And with Bubby's, when you can say you're the number one baked good or number one powdered drink mix in the state, it lets our sales team ask an account, "why aren't you carrying the number one baked good in your state?" Saying that repeatedly, quarter over quarter, eventually erodes resistance from accounts that said no before. Bryan Fields: Let's talk about Vibations — give us a high-level view of what it is and how to use it. Ryan Crandall: Vibations is basically Liquid IV for cannabis people — a powdered drink mix in a small stick pack, sugar-free varieties a couple grams, sugar varieties 10-15 grams. You pour it into a bottle of water wherever you are. It's great for sporting events, concerts, or anywhere canned beverages, vapes, or pre-rolls aren't allowed — it lets a cannabis consumer discreetly dose anywhere responsibly. Feedback is a lot of active-lifestyle use — hikes, sporting events, workouts, concerts. Bryan Fields: How many milligrams? Ryan Crandall: Five milligrams in Massachusetts, 10 milligrams as a base in other states, with a variety of minor cannabinoid combinations. Most of the brand focuses on focus and energy, with some SKUs aimed at other effects. Bryan Fields: I imagine that's a product where shipping cans would be expensive — does the powder format help unit economics? Ryan Crandall: Some ingredients in the powders, like powderized THC, are costly, plus additional ingredient costs, but the economics get better as the brand grows. It's a good-margin product today, and I forecast it becoming even better as it scales. Bryan Fields: Unit economics are such a dilemma in cannabis — siloing manufacturing state by state versus one central facility shipping out, especially with specialized packaging equipment like stick packs. Ryan Crandall: Right, having that specialized equipment in each state can be a real barrier if you haven't accounted for those costs. Bryan Fields: Coca-Cola isn't making 75 different packages for the Northeast — that'd be absurd — but in our industry it's normal. Ryan Crandall: I know, it's crazy. Bryan Fields: How do you think about the hemp industry? A lot of teams are moving into it — what's your appetite, and how do you plan to approach it? Ryan Crandall: We're actively working on projects to expand our brands into the hemp space — cautiously, given news that may be coming down the pipe. There are interesting strategies around what minor cannabinoids might become available to general CPG businesses, and whether our brands link to that. A major benefit is brand-building — getting access to consumers in states where our regulated products aren't available. Our customers don't just shop in dispensaries; some don't like them or are scared to go in. We have to get our products to consumers responsibly wherever the law allows, holding the same standard for quality and testing regardless of channel. Bryan Fields: Something like Vibations seems very shareable on social media — someone sees it discreetly used at a sporting event, wonders where to buy it, and it's available online — that can make a big difference quickly. Ryan Crandall: Yes. Bryan Fields: What area of the edibles market do you think most consumers are missing right now? Ryan Crandall: It's interesting — the recent flash-in-the-pan hemp drink boom didn't seem to correlate to sales on the dispensary side. A lot of people are scratching their heads about why consumers weren't willing to buy those beverages in dispensaries at similar rates — is it a different customer base? I'm not sure. What's your theory? Bryan Fields: I think it's because at the supermarket or liquor store, people are already in the mood to buy a beverage, so it competes directly with other drinks. At a dispensary, people walk in thinking "edible" or "flower," not necessarily "beverage" — those don't always seem to be the same customer mindset. I've seen friends in New York who bought THC drinks at the supermarket rather than a dispensary, specifically because they wanted something for someone who doesn't drink alcohol. Ryan Crandall: That boom also opened people's eyes to feeling comfortable — smiling, relaxed, not feeling awful the next day. I'd love to see stats on how many people tried a cannabis beverage for the first time last Thanksgiving, and how that trend changes year over year. There's also the practical issue — dispensaries don't have shopping carts, they sell products one at a time, so buying six drinks looks a bit ridiculous and carrying out paper bags isn't convenient. But the appetite for cannabinoids being that massive shows we're just at the beginning of what I think will be a huge wave. Bryan Fields: Last question — what question do you wish more people asked you? Ryan Crandall: I wish people asked more about the team here — the amazing people across departments who've been so dedicated for so long on this journey. It gets me a little emotional; I love the people who've helped build what we're building, and they're going to be the future of this industry. I feel really passionate about the people who contribute here every day, and there are a whole lot of them. Bryan Fields: Great answer. Ryan, for people who want to get in touch or buy your products, where can they find you? Ryan Crandall: We're in Massachusetts, Maryland, Illinois, and Delaware with our products. We're also licensed in Maine, New York, and Rhode Island — not in New York yet, but we will be soon. We have retail stores in Massachusetts, Maryland, Illinois, Delaware, and Ohio. Bryan Fields: Love it. Well, thanks for taking the time — this was a lot of fun. Ryan Crandall: Thank you, Bryan.