Josh Genderson in the Holistic Industries’ cultivation center in Washington D.C.
I had the rare chance to interview Josh Genderson, CEO of Holistic Industries. Since starting the company in 2011, Josh has grown Holistic into a national medical and consumer goods company, a cultivation and extraction network, and a retail dispensary chain. Josh launched Holistic based on the expertise he gained serving as President of Schneider’s of Capitol Hill, the Gendersons’ fourth-generation, family-owned liquor store, that is a staple in Washington, D.C. Today, Holistic Industries is one of the largest private multi-state operators (MSO) in cannabis and runs fully vertical operations (from seed to sale) in California, Maryland, D.C., Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Michigan, and soon Missouri.
Abe Genderson, Josh’s grandfather, in front of Schneider’s of Capitol Hill
Warren Bobrow=WB: Please tell me about yourself. What was your path to our plant?
Josh Genderson=JG: I’m proud to be a born and raised Washingtonian, which is rare. I have always been a fan of the plant and got into the industry about ten years ago. Before that, I studied at the International Wine School in New York which gave me a great foundation on the business side of the wine and spirits industry. That led me to take over as President of my family’s fourth-generation liquor business, Schneider’s of Capitol Hill. There’s such a complex regulatory environment in D.C, but I was able to navigate it to start my own import company as an extension of the family business. Cellar.com is an e-commerce platform, and a distribution arm of Schneider’s, that brings wines from around the world directly to the consumer. I grew the family business significantly, but one of the biggest learnings was how to operate successfully in a highly regulated space.
Fast forward a few years and Washington D.C. became one of the first on the East Coast to embrace medical cannabis. In 2011, I saw an opening in Congress which has oversight of D.C.’s budget and worked with advocates and staffers to help craft new cannabis legislation. The following year, we applied for and won the grower/processor license. During that time, I was also traveling to legal states like Colorado and California, and countries like Canada and the Netherlands, meeting growers and processors to learn best practices. I knew I wanted our facility to be the best which meant also learning everything I could about medical programs, licensing and regulation, so everything we did was a best practice and completely above board. Today, we are the largest private multi-state operator in cannabis and growing every day.
Jerry Garcia: Holistic Industries will launch the Jerry Garcia cannabis collection later this year
WB: Please tell me about what you’re working on right now. What are your six and twelve- month goals?
JG: When I started Holistic, I was determined to create a company culture that centered on treating people well. Our mission has always been to be the best place to work, shop and invest in cannabis. We work towards that mission every single day as we continue to bring new brands to the market, win licenses on merit and open new facilities.
If you asked me what we were working on a few weeks ago, it would have been very different than what it is today. Since cannabis has been deemed essential during the COVID-19 crisis in the markets we operate in, we’ve been working hard to continue to serve our patients and customers while also keeping our employees safe and protected. We’ve had to innovate quickly by adding curbside pick-up, creating an app for online ordering and using data and analytics to tackle supply and demand in the most efficient ways possible. Right now, we are also working out cashless payment processing and cannabis delivery systems, among other things.
Prior to COVID-19, we were on track to double our number of employees by the end of the summer and had planned to open two new assets per month in addition to a number of construction projects in the works for new licenses we’ve won. Timing may be pushed out a bit, but our focus is to continue growing.
We are also busy building new, national cannabis brands. You may not know this, but me and my entire senior leadership team are huge Deadheads. If you were to create the Mount Rushmore of weed, you would have Willie, Snoop, Bob Marley and Jerry Garcia. They all have cannabis brands except for Jerry. After an extensive search for the right MSO partner, The Jerry Garcia Family approached us to create and launch the Jerry Garcia cannabis collection. It is a huge honor and one we know we have to get right. We plan to launch the new brand later this year.
The exterior of Holistic Industries’ Liberty dispensary in Rockville, MD
WB: What obstacles do you face? What about stigmas? How do you anticipate removing them?
JG: A lot of our competitors classify themselves as multi-state operators or MSOs, but we see them as MSAs or multi-state aggregators because they swoop into new markets by buying licenses instead of winning them on merit. They are collecting assets for financial gain instead of really focusing on being successful operators in cannabis over the long term. We often get lumped into the same category as other MSOs, but our approach is completely different. When we go into a new market, at both the state and local level, it’s because we won the license on merit and by working with the communities. We go where people want us to be. We are committed to the communities in which we operate and make sure our employees, facilities and outreach programs reflect and help those communities. That said, there are some communities and people still resistant to cannabis legalization because of the propaganda from the War on Drugs and the stigma associated with the plant, so we focus on education, outreach and giving back to the local communities.
Most of the resistance to cannabis comes from lack of education. We have a Rabbi on staff who goes to hospitals, senior facilities, synagogues, and teaches people about cannabis and its benefits (which we are now moving to a virtual format). We also hired a chief marketing officer last year, Kyle Barich, to help remove some of the stigma through our marketing and communications. Kyle was the CEO of one of the largest pharmaceutical advertising firms in the world and helped launch Viagra into the mainstream. We hired him because of his understanding of the patient and doctor dynamic and his experience taking difficult conversations riddled with stigma (like impotence) and changing them to be more medical and acceptable. He helped introduce new terminology like “erectile dysfunction” and implemented influencer strategies to make people more comfortable with the topic and eventually de-stigmatize it altogether. He’s here to do the same with cannabis.
The interior of Holistic Industries’ Liberty dispensary in Rockville, MD; Credit: Holistic ... [+]
WB: I know you have a deep understanding of wine, so what is your favorite springtime wine to accompany a pipe of natural sunlight grown Biodynamic flower from the Northern appellation of Mendocino? What are your thoughts on terroir in cannabis?
JG: Great question! Burgundy. I love drinking Burgundy in the Spring; Pinot Noir and Chardonnay for people who don’t know. Very earthy, bright and light. I love the complexity of wines and terroir that makes them so unique. Many people think the same is true about cannabis. This might stir up some controversy, but I believe the best cannabis is actually grown indoors, which takes terroir out of the equation. I think outdoor weed grown in Oregon can be the same as in any part of the world depending on what latitude line you are on. It’s all about soil, air, water. But if you have a good growing climate for cannabis, you have a good growing climate for cannabis. With indoor grows you can really control the micro-climate.
WB: What is your passion?
JG: I have three: wine, weed and the Grateful Dead. No, in all seriousness, I have a huge passion for the plant and know that my passion can help shape the industry. Anyone who willingly starts and operates an MSO is insane. No one would choose to run all of these business – cultivation, manufacturing and production, distribution, retail and marketing – at the same time. You have to really love the plant and what it does for patients to do what we do. It’s a virtually impossible business and anyone who treats it like a commodity won’t succeed in the long run.
