Category: Interviews
Instagram Live Interview from 10/14/2020!
https://thedrawingroom.blog/luxury-cannabis/warren-bobrow-on-cannabis-with-cocktails
If the name Warren Bobrow rings a bell, we wouldn’t be surprised. Warren is a multi-published author of six books, Forbes contributor, chef, mixologist and cannabis professional. He basically does it all! We had to get the scoop on his life, work, and what he has coming up next! Hint: it involves a gnome named Klaus.
First off, how are you doing and how are you coping during this pandemic?
I had a mild form of the virus in Boston. I was there during the Biogen time, and I stayed at the Marriott. I had a 102 fever, and I lost my sense of taste and smell and slept for two days in a pool of sweat wearing a down jacket. It was like I was on acid—a bad trip, not a good one. I feel MUCH better now! I’m accustomed to working from home. I have for nearly five years. It’s cathartic, and I can smoke as much weed as I want.
Tell us about yourself! How did you get where you are today?
That’s a good question. I was originally in TV/film starting in my teens, and I had dreams of making movies. I got my degree in film and worked in TV for several years. I also worked at the famed NYC club, Danceteria, in their video booth. But nightlife and I aren’t perfect together. So I found myself with a substance abuse problem and no job.
I moved up to Maine, where I spent the next few years really poor, working as a dishwasher. I wanted to become a chef, but I didn’t know how until I moved to Portland—before it was chic. I worked my way up the culinary line, finally landing a job with the late Jim Ledue, who taught me the value of soups, stocks, and sauces.
My path took me to culinary school at Johnson & Wales in Charleston, South Carolina. While I was there, I founded a fresh pasta corporation, which should have been a dream but was a nightmare. My first failure of many to follow.
I bounced around for a while, working nights and weekends in wine stores and gourmet food shops. Finally, in 2009, I started writing, and the words just flowed from deep inside me. It became my therapy and passion. I was writing restaurant reviews for NJ Monthly, and I happened upon a brilliant, young, hot-headed chef named Anthony Bucco. He was the toughest boss I’d ever had, and his beverage guy, Chris James, taught me everything I know about the business. I had forty years of experience, but knew nothing! They’re so important because they gave me my first opportunity to really make something of myself. On my 50th birthday, I started working as a bar back at the Ryland Inn, in New Jersey. That was the hardest job of my life, and it defined my future.
If I was going to write about spirits, I needed authenticity. Very few spirits writers ever got behind the stick. I had the stick bashed (metaphorically) over my head. Now, I’m a master mixologist, who coincidentally has smoked weed since I was twelve!
My first book of six, Apothecary Cocktails, was nominated for a spirited award at Tales of the Cocktail. But I quit drinking in 2018, and started working in cannabis full time. Forbes followed, and I recreated myself, yet again. This time for real.
Opening up a bottle of wine, and that would be ______?
Biodynamic, organic, or, at least, sustainable from the Languedoc region.
Guests are arriving in 15 minutes, can you share an easy go-to cocktail recipe?
For an easy cocktail, I’d make a punch. You should always have fresh juices on hand and Rhum Agricole. I’d make a Martinique Fruit Punch for ten or more. You’ll need:
2 bottles (750 ml) of Rhum Agricole
2 quarts of freshly squeezed orange juice
1 pint of fresh lime
1 pint of fresh lemon
6 oz. of cane sugar simple syrup
1 750 ml bottle of Pickett’s Ginger Beer Syrup
2 bottles of club soda
pinch or two of sea salt
lime bitters
lemon bitters
Combine all ingredients in a punch bowl. Garnish with fresh citrus fruit rounds. Easy to drink and to enjoy no matter the season—especially in the winter.
What’s everyone drinking when they hang with you?
People are drinking non-alcoholic beverages from my THC-infused drink company, Klaus Apothicaire. Most don’t drink alcohol that much, but they love my well-crafted mocktails.
Music you’re listening to when you’re imbibing?
Ry Cooder—Jazz with a twist. He’s an American legend!
We’re serving cocktails for dessert, what should we make?
For dessert, it’s Chartreuse, straight up. Like horseradish…enlightening to say the least.
Take a frozen glass, preferably a tequila glass, rub the inside with lemon zest, pour very cold Chartreuse into it, and garnish with lemon twist.
One person you’d love to share a cocktail with?
Legendary mixologist, Gaz Regan, because he’s gone. He taught me so much, and I want another finger-stirred Negroni with him.
On pairing cannabis and cocktails, share your secrets and tips
Less is more. Like Thai food, don’t get too spicy the first time out. Never more than one cannabis cocktail per hour, because it can hit hard. Take some CBD if you get overwhelmed—I wish I knew about that when I wrote the book in 2015.
Talk to us about future cocktail trends
Future cocktail trends include lighter drinking, vermouth, and amaro. Bourbon will always be popular, like Scotch. Gin will come and go. Vodka? What’s that? I prefer Mezcal to Tequila. For rum, an Agricole with an AOC.
We loved Cannabis Cocktails, Mocktails & Tonics: The Art of Spirited Drinks and Buzz-Worthy Libations—what are your plans for future books?
I want to write a book with Jamie Evans on THC/CBD cocktails and mocktails.
We also hear you’re coming out with a new THC-infused drink, share the details!
Yes, I’m coming out with a new libation, unlike anything on the market. There are some contenders out there, but this one isn’t an insipid seltzer or a fake beer. It’s unique because it’s what we call in beverages an RTD, or Ready to Drink.
It’s called Klaus, and it’s my recipe, not one developed by a Madison Avenue Ad Agency. (I know all about this, more than you’d ever imagine. That worm in the Mezcal? Toss it down the drain. It’s the creation of an ad agency. And good ice, no cheater ice please.) My drink is named in honor of my 1800’s German drinking gnome, Klaus. He’s come with me all over the world.
Klaus is powered by the early Apothecary—the full name is Klaus Apothicaire (the French way of spelling ‘apothecary’). Klaus is live THC resin. It hits fast, and it tastes as delicious as my cocktails and mocktails.
When can we try Klaus?
It’s safe to say that we will have the brand launched and available for purchase in 2020.
Fill in the blank—I’m supporting ________ because ______
I support animal rescue efforts in Morris County, NJ, because my now three-year-old kittens, Isabella and Amabella, came to me this way.
- Please tell me about where Natty Rems has gone since we spoke last? What kind of change have you activated?
Natty Rems since we last spoke has expanded its cultivation canopy, extraction operations, and overall square footage over 3x growing from 23,000sf to 83,000sf. We are on track to be in 300 doors statewide by end of Q1 2021 and plan on being in 400+ stores by the end of 2021. Natty has revamped all branding presentation, packaging, labeling, business plans, and overall messaging in line with our expansion. Our genetic library has been expanded and reinvigorated old heirlooms to start reintroducing them to the market that we feel is drowned with so called “exotics”. With us releasing the familial parents of these genetics back to market including our OG Line as well as a Long Flowering Line by the end of 2021 we feel this will uniquely separate our brand from the rest of the market. Both lines will be limited releases every 2-4 months we believe there’s still a lot of room for these REAL exotics to make a comeback in the market, we are one of the only companies in the country that I know of with a lot of these real OGs and unique Sativas. We have held some of them for over 11 years so the team knows how to properly revive and nurture these legacy cultivars through experience and true appreciation!
2. What are your six and twelve month goals now that you’ve expanded your business? What obstacles do you face how? How do you anticipate removing those obstacles?
Our overall goal is to showcase our hard work since 2009 to be able to continually produce consistent and highest quality cannabis products even on a large scale producing the most of the best. With all of our business expansion we have also focusing on being a responsible that sustainable company. Natty is very excited to announce that we plan on implementing fully recyclable or reusable packaging within the next 3 years. We plan on improving our overall water/energy use in both operating and new facilities once the technology is at a place where we feel it is truly effectively accomplishing it’s overall goal. We are currently testing multiple manufacturer’s LED fixtures not only in Colorado but all other markets we are working on entering. Our live resin cartridges have taken off as we’ve continued to automate and optimize all of our processes to be able to continue to focus on the quality of our products at scale and we want to use this success to be a responsible and sustainable company.
At Natty Rems the focus has always been elevating community, culture, and cannabis by blending artistic expression and applied sciences and it has been great to see this come to fruition especially with our upcoming sustainability and social equity plans. We plan on being a fully inclusive company with all current and future business initiatives being updated including reviewing our hiring and employment training/educational materials with a minority owned HR entity to ensure accurate, appropriate information and practices being utilized by donating to community movements; donating and supporting Last Prisoner Project and including educational materials about cannabis incarceration throughout all of Natty Rems’ clients/partners across the country! While the company continues to grow we hope to truly be responsible and humble partners to right the many wrongs that were created by the war on drugs especially for minority communities across this whole country.
Andrew Boyens, Founder of Natty Rems
The 6 month goal is to be in the aforementioned 400+ doors statewide while still maintaining the brand reputation we have built over 11 years in the industry. Our 12 month goal is to continue to expand our SKU set starting with ice water extracted products and several others that we believe are underserved SKUs on the market. We know this will make a lot of people in Colorado and beyond as excited as us because we plan on being able to apply our dialed expertise to these products to make them more scalable and affordable quality for the consumer with the same quality that Natty is known for!
3. Tell me about your company in the current day world? What do you do that’s better than your competition and how do you continue to raise the bar now that you are a much bigger company?
Natty Rems’ team as a whole is bigger and stronger than it has ever been and that scale is what we have been waiting for! I am personally very proud of our team and how they have shown the ability, knowledge and overall wisdom to effectively scale our quality product lines (both plant and extract). Now that we have been able to accomplish what we feel was the hardest part of building a scalable product line as well as a brand we plan on using it wisely, strategically, and pragmatically. The timing for the first time in my many years of being in this cannabis business has aligned and I plan on utilizing the consistency of our product, expanded production, new skus and experiential marketing style to our advantage to continue to build our brand presence to truly show how we are better than the competition. We want to educate consumers to show them that they can depend on Natty for the same experience every single time they purchase not only in Colorado but nationwide.
4. What’s your favorite food memory from childhood? What’s your favorite Saturday Night dinner consist of?
This one is easy, homemade-from-scratch southern chicken and dumplings or biscuits and gravy made by my mother, hands down this is still my favorite thing to indulge in. Saturday night usually consists of a nice meal ordered in or going out with the favorite still being a proper pizza(which I’m still searching for consistently in Denver).
5. What’s your passion?
My passion is truly family and business strategy in that order.
Herbal Goods Company
1. Please tell me about yourself. Why cannabis instead of law, medicine or science?
I was on track of becoming a doctor… . I was doing the pre-med courses, the long nights and sometimes all-nighters in the dorm room studying… but really this was more the vision my parents had loaded onto me (the classic immigrant parent story- “the way to be successful is to become a lawyer or a doctor!”). My parents immigrated from El Salvador during the civil war and I was born and raised in San Francisco CA. My parents are a big motivator and importance in my life. My father is a custodian and my mother a florist.
Thankfully I had it within myself to challenge the family pressure and to drop the pre-med studies and to follow my true calling, entrepreneurialism.
2. Please tell me about your company. What is your goal?
Herbal Goods Co. is a Vancouver, BC-based company with startup roots in my hometown of San Francisco, CA. All we focus on is our wild foraged pre-roll cones we call Herbal Goods.
We’re not trying to introduce new grinders, cone fillers, pipes, or anything like that. We are literally head down in making what we truly believe is the smoothest pre-roll cones in the game.
Each and every Herbal Goods pre-rolled cone is meticulously hand-rolled and tied. This allows us to completely eliminate toxic glues, bleach, paper, and additives while providing you with what we believe is the smoothest and cleanest smoke you’ll experience from a pre-roll.
Herbal Goods Company
We wild harvest our Ebony leaves in Bengal. This process enables a machine, pesticide, and monoculture free harvesting process. After harvest, our leaves are sun-dried for two weeks in preparation for rolling. Once dry, each Herbal Goods leaf is cut to size and shape by hand. Each of our cones is then carefully rolled and tied by hand to create our Herbal Goods cones.
Our unique filters are made from sun-dried corn husks that are rolled and tied by hand. No paper, no card stock, no glue. Finally, our cones undergo a curing process which sets the final Herbal Goods cone shape and removes all remaining moisture. This is done in an open flame clay oven.
What’s really lovely is that our cones are made by our amazing team of workers in India. We are proud to have a workforce made up of 85% women who would otherwise be without work given their rural location. By decentralizing the process of rolling our cones we are able to offer workers the freedom to earn a living while staying in their local communities. What this means is that rather than traveling to a local center for work, they are able to sustain normal rhythms and tasks by working from home. This is particularly important for female workers in rural India who are expected to care for the home and children.
Our goal here is to have Herbal Goods be a widely distributed accessory product within the space of cannabis as the best all-natural pre-roll option.
3. Our ‘elevator pitch’: A 100% natural wild forge ebony leaf pre-roll that eliminates toxic glues, bleach, paper, and additives and provides you with what we believe is the smoothest and cleanest smoke you’ll experience.
Herbal Goods Company
4. Favorite food memory?:
My nickname my entire family (including distant family) calls me is Gordo (fat in Spanish). I was nearly 13 pounds when I was born. Yes, poor mama, indeed.
Anyways… I loved mangos, still do! My earliest memory is chasing the mango with my mouth as it danced around the bowl my parents put it in. I’d be chasing it for hours… The result, a face that looked like a mango.
Do you cook?:
I love my breakfast. Two poached eggs over a bed of sunflower sprouts, organic farmers market sauerkraut, a cashew jalapeno spread on a lightly toasted olive sourdough bread.
Favorite thing you prepare?
Pupusas! A Salvadorian dish I highly recommend.
5. What is your passion?
My passion is using my creativity to create things people love and enjoy. Since University I’ve been designing products and putting them out into the market. From meditation tools, water bottles, to plant-based shower sponges, Herbal Goods is just another one of my product creations made with a lot of love and creativity – that we hope everyone loves and enjoy when they try!
The Cannabis Business Coach Michael Zaytsev interviews and coaches Warren Bobrow, the one-of-a-kind mixologist, chef, and writer known as the Cocktail Whisperer.
Warren and I share many stories and laughs in this episode as we chat about leaving corporate America, feeling like the luckiest guy in the world, writing books and Cannabis news, getting arrested for smoking pot in NYC, the differences between working in the alcohol world vs the Cannabis world, and much more!
In the Executive Coaching portion, we work on managing timelines and the many other administrative requirements of starting a business.
Resources:
Cannabis Cocktails, Mocktails & Tonics: The Art of Spirited Drinks and Buzz-Worthy Libations – Warren Bobrow
The Craft Cocktail Compendium: Contemporary Interpretations and Inspired Twists on Time-Honored Classics – Warren Bobrow
The Cannabis Business Book – Michael Zaytsev – The Cannabis Business Coach
Subscribe to “The Cannabis Business Coach Podcast” now on Apple, Spotify, Google Podcasts, or on YouTube.
I’ll be on Instagram Live with The CannabossBabes~! https://www.thecannabossbabes.com/
Meet Warren Bobrow – a cannabis journalist for Forbes, Cocktail whisperer extraordinaire, author and CEO of forthcoming cannabis clinic Klaus Apothicaire.
Watch our chat with Warren as we take on his extraordinary life and how 420 has played a role.
1. Please tell me about yourself. What do you do? What brought you to cannabis? Do you enjoy the plant?
I am an award winning entrepreneur, marketing plant medicine advocate, and spiritual guide and coach/mentor.
I founded the first ever cannabis marketing/PR/branding agency and consultancy Cannabrand in 2013 on the onset burgeoning cannabis industry. It disrupted both the cannabis and advertising industries.
Cannabrand specializes in creating cannabis brands and defining their identities and purpose in an ever-evolving, increasingly competitive marketplace. I have dedicated my life to removing negative stereotypes and stigmas from cannabis and “rebranding” the entire industry. This has been done by creating, educating, internationally speaking, employing, inspiring others to do the same and live their purpose.
I started working as a kid, doing any odd job I could talk my way into. Helping out in the neighbor’s garden, selling handmade jewelry or art, lemonade stands, nannying, you name it!
I got more serious when I was 13 years old, I would work ‘under the table’ at a retail children’s clothing shop in Connecticut where I grew up.
As a kid, I really loved working with people and being a helper. I loved to create my own abundance in all areas of life. I was always fascinated in learning everything I could and still am.
I felt compelled to help everywhere I felt there was an opportunity.
At the University of Colorado at Boulder, I earned some important internships working for Fortune 500 companies where I was able to learn first hand, the ins and outs of corporate business. I was adamant about getting tons of experience before I entered the “workforce.”
Little did I know, I was going to be creating my own companies.
I am blessed to have come from a very hard working and successful family. Many members of whom continue to inspire me to spread my entrepreneurial wings and push the business envelope in new and exciting ways. My great-great grandfather was Elmer Ambrose Sperry who invented the first electric car in Europe and uses it for the Gyroscope, including Auto-Pilot. He was known as the “Father of Modern Navigation Technology.”
From an early age, I knew that I must absolutely be able to work for myself so no one could limit my drive or desire to grow. I did not want anything to stand in my way from manifesting my own reality.
At only 23, I created my first start-up called MARCA Strategic (Marca translates to “brand” in Spanish, Italian and Portuguese), which is a marketing and branding agency and a holding company.
I was drawn to cannabis because I believe that there are so many medicinal values and uses for cannabis. I am so happy to see how much progress we have made in 7 years (since the Adult Use Legalization in Denver in 2013).
I was also in the right place at the right time –It was fate, and was able to take the risk of creating the legal industry in its infancy. I remember a ‘limiting belief’ I would tell myself that I would probably never be able to get a “real job” after I took the big leap into the cannabis industry — due to the stigma other industries placed on the cannabis space. (I’m so proud that we’ve come such a long way to legitimize this industry, but there is still a lot of work to be done!) I’m proud of the part that I have been able to play in moving the industry forward and grateful for the opportunity to help so many people with my acumen of marketing and of cannabis. It is incredibly rewarding to me and drives me to want to do more.
I have recently launched Psilocybrand, which is dedicated to the research and data surrounding the use of psychedelics as a medicine. It is also working with a handful of publicly traded Psychedelic Science and Data companies for their marketing and strategy needs. There is a TON of work that needs to be done in these spaces to further our understanding of how the plants can and are used medicinally.
I feel that plant medicine is a conduit to feeling and awakening into elevated frequencies and dimensions. I am certainly not a proponent of using plant medicine as a vice, but rather as an opportunity to give people with illness and depression hope and to learn that there is so much more to this life than what meets the eye. I also want to make it clear that you can ascend not using any substances, through thoughts and feelings, breathwork, meditation and just your vibrations of emotions (energy in motion) you are radiating and attracting at all times.
My greatest expertise is not only marketing, business strategy and creation, but also the ability to help business professionals and their companies to understand how to step into their highest empowerment by aligning their passion and vibration with their greatest purpose.
“Do you enjoy the plant”
Absolutely! I am growing a gorgeous Sour Tangie plant I named “Buddy” in my garden this year and am thrilled. I have been a cannabis enthusiast for a very long time, but have never had enough space to grow my own. I use cannabis almost everyday. I use it in my baths, on my body when I have aches and pains, and sometimes in cooking.
2. What does your company do better than its competition? What kind of obstacles do you face every day?
I really enjoy combusting a beautiful flower everyday when my work has been done, or sometimes during the day as a motivation and creative inspiration. I am also very athletic, practice yoga and go hiking almost everyday. So i’m excited I have been able to break the “lazy stoner” stigma.
Our competition uses “Cannabrand” (the word I made up) as their Google Adwords, if that tells you a little something.
Our marketing strategy in the cannabis game is second to none.
My company and team have dedicated themselves to being of service to others.
We love our clients and partners and blast them with positive energy and results!
Usually the CEO of a company does not work with all of their clients personally, but I do, because I love to use my strategic genius to help companies and be involved as much as I can.
We have an incredible team that is all on the same level about our mission and values so we are always on the top of our game!
We are different from our competition because we were the first to launch and I disrupted this industry back in 2013. We were on the cover of the New York Times Styles Sunday with an article titled: “The Rebranding of Pot Inc.” We build extremely valuable brands and then get to promote them. We are proud that our clients have gone on to thrive and range from 10M-500M valuation in size.
3. What are your six-and twelve-month goals?
One obstacle that we face is that Cannabis is still very stigmatized and has a long way to go. It is highly censored when trying to communicate facts and has a long way to go with legislation, research and data to name a few. It is difficult to advertise cannabis companies because of Facebook and Google’s community guidelines.
My 6-12 month goals are to watch our world receive healing and to be a catalyst of healing.
I will continue to expand my team and our areas of reach. I would like to be able to create even more abundance for people during “these times.” I am also working on a few special projects including a retreat series, where expansion, abundance, and business meet.
Cannabrand/Psilocybrand and Superconscious leaders have also launched a series of Spiritual Expansion Retreats for people who are purpose driven and willing to live their best lives while manifesting their passions. I have used my vast experience in business, energy healing and creation for this.
4. What kind of food do you like? Favorite food memory from childhood? Who taught you to cook (if you do cook)?
I absolutely love to cook! My mother is French, so I grew up always eating incredibly healthy French style meals. I was able to be in the family kitchen and stood by my mother and her mother (Mamette’s) side my entire life watching them cook and helping them. I was always so impressed – they could make miracles out of scratch.
My favorite food is ACTUALLY SUSHI- and Uni to be exact. I love the brininess, the weirdness and the whole experience of it. I also love to cook, and get to cook dinner pretty much every night from scratch for my husband and I. My favorite thing to cook is smoked salmon eggs benedict!
5. What is your passion?
What is my passion? Everything I have discussed above and my Husband and new puppy Stella.
I am living my life on purpose with no fear. Everything that I am doing and what I have dedicated my life to.
Please tell me about yourself, where are you from? Where are you living now? What was your path to the plant? Who was your inspiration for what you do today?
My name is Brett Richter and I am 39 years old, born and raised in Brooklyn, NY. I am the Vice President of Ecological Laboratories, Inc. a family owned and operated Biotechnology company. I am a 2nd Generation Family Member. I live in Long Island, NY with my wife and two kids. Until the pandemic and quarantine I would spend time going back and forth from our Corporate Office in NY to our Laboratories, Production, Warehouse, Training, Shipping Facility in Cape Coral, FL. Our microbial technology that is proprietary to ELI (Ecological Laboratories, Inc.) can be used in many different applications for environmental issues. Mostly focused on the agricultural, wastewater, Farm Waste Management, Ecosystem Restoration, Aquaculture, Biogas markets on the Industrial Side. As well as major focus on the consumer hobby markets that include Pond/Water Garden, Aquarium, Septic, Birding, Pet and Lawn & Garden. With having large success in the commercial agriculture market for many years, and having our microbial products used on hundreds of thousands of Acres and Hectares globally and we always look to expand to new markets. Roughly 10 years ago, my amazing and dedicated Science and Sales team identified the Cannabis/Hemp Cultivation market as one that would benefit from our technology. Our national sales manager and product expert Scott Berke along with Bill Swearingen our Sales territory manager in Northern California and Southern Oregon including myself was the group that felt the cannabis community needed our technology. It shouldn’t be just for commercial agriculture, Cannabis/Hemp needed this! We did know that microbes/bacteria were used in the Cannabis/Hemp market, if it was growers brewing their own teas and starter microbes. Or other types of microbes being sold to the market, however none of them with the consortium that we produce with a long shelf life. We understood at the beginning that the success the commercial ag farmers experience using our product resulting in a healthier, stronger, faster growing crop would translate to the Cannabis/Hemp Cultivators. We also understood that for those growing for medicinal purposes can feel confident using our technology that it is 100% safe for the plant, non-chemical, nontoxic and safe for the end user. We surveyed the marketplace, put our R&D team to the task to develop our strains of microbes to put out the Best Microbial products to the Cannabis/Hemp grower. After a two year process, we launched the Microbe Life Hydroponics brand of products. Although Hydroponics is in the brand name, every product is safe and great to use in Soil/Aquaponic/Aeroponic grows. 8 years later we are very proud to have our Microbe Life technology being used by Cannabis/Hemp Cultivators from small , mid, and large scale all over the globe. Our path to this plant was very exciting, and to know we are helping caregivers/cultivators/home growers is extremely gratifying for our entire team. I would have to say my inspiration for what I do today first starts with my father and uncle, co-owners and founders of Ecological Laboratories, Inc. I have grown up in our lab from a very small boy when it was still in NY. I was able to understand microbes by this time spent in our lab, as well as other areas of the business from Shipping/Production/Marketing/Sales, etc. My work ethic was heavily influenced in me by my father and uncle who still have their hands involved in all aspects of the business. They are my heroes. Having them as mentors and having a front row seat of running and operating a biotech business has allowed me to be successful in my professional career and personal life.
Photo of Cape Coral Florida employees
What are your six-and twelve month goals? What obstacles do you face? How do you anticipate removing those obstacles?
With so many different markets we serve, we set different goals for each of them. However specific to the Cannabis/Hemp market we are always looking to grow, improve, and get our products in the hands of everyone! Within the next 6 months we are looking to finalize our formulations and packaging for several new products to be launched under the Microbe Life Hydroponics brand. We have not had any new items since our initial launch 8 years ago. When launching a new product we want to make sure that the grower will truly benefit from what is in the bottle. We want to make sure we offer the best technology out there. A longer term goal for us is to have our products fully registered in Canada. All of our products are registered in each state in the US. That allows us to make the claims we do on our labels, and allow the grower to feel confident in putting our products to use. There are so many products on the market that the contents are unknown in the bottle. We want the grower to fully understand what is in our formulations and how they work and interact with the plant. We have been working on Canadian registrations for a while now. It is a lengthy process, and hope to have this available to all the growers in Canada in the long term. Of course in business there are always obstacles, and they come in many ways. They can be other microbial products out there that may claim to do what we can do, but don’t. Growers have purchased and used biologicals for a very long time, and many didn’t see results. So at the beginning it was always proving to each grower that our products do what we say they do! That never goes away! We can have a lot of success with a farmer, but the next farmer rightfully so needs to see the proof themselves. Other obstacles always include product registration, being that we know our products are 100% safe for the environment, people, pets, aquatics, however different countries have their own specific microbial strains that are approved and safe for import. Our consortium is so unique that some states, or countries never worked with anything like it. So it is a delicate arena to have to navigate in order to educate these governmental departments. Our Lab team made up of PHD’s, Biologists, Microbiologists, Chemists steer that ship for us and make these bacterial product registrations happen for us to sell and for the grower to use.
In front of Ecological Laboratories in Cape Coral, FL. (Far Left Brett Richter/2nd Gen of Family, Barry Richter/Founder/Owner, Mike Gorka (Northwest Territory Manager),Michael Richter/Founder/Owner, Matthew Richter/2nd Gen of family)
Tell me about your company? What do you do that’s better than your competition?
I mentioned some brief company history above, but there is always more we can talk about! 😊 We have roughly 80 employees between our NY Corporate Office and our Florida Laboratories. We have offices in the Middle East and Asia, and have sales representatives covering all of our markets on the road in the US. Being a family owned business there are four, 2nd Generation and one 3rd Generation family members all working for Ecological. We have so many employees that have been with us for 10, 20, 30 and even 40 years! I consider myself so lucky to be able to work with my family each day. We produce all of our Microbes right here in the US. Our core technology and consortium of microbes cannot be reverse engineered or duplicated. It has been tried over many times by different companies with zero success. The old saying “often imitated, never duplicated” works well for our microbial formulations. Of course there is competition out there, and there are many other wonderful efficacious microbial products out there. However they work very well with our technology and focus on other areas of the plant health that complements ours. Our flagship product is called Photosynthesis Plus, and it is a complete eco system in a bottle. It works in several areas of Cannabis plants as well as all plants. This product made up of our propriety consortium improves a plants ability to use available light for photosynthesis, increasing carbon cycling. The plant is able to convert more Carbon (CO2) to carbohydrates. There are bacteria in the blend that fix nitrogen from the air at the foliar level, in addition to at the root, and help the plant uptake other nutrients better. Other inputs a grower uses for their crops will be metabolized by the plant more efficiently, reducing waste and cost. Nutrient companies enjoy when their products are used in conjunction with Microbe Life Hydroponics/Photosynthesis Plus!
Photo by pistil_tops
What is your favorite food memory from childhood? Do you cook? Who taught you? Favorite meal now?
I do not have the most sophisticated pallet when it comes to food. I have always been basic meat and potatoes type of person. One of my favorite food memories wasn’t exactly a good one! I am not the biggest fan of seafood, but my mother always wanted me to eat fish, you know its brain food! That’s what she would always tell me when she prepared it, but I just didn’t like it. So one night growing up she gave me a chicken dish, and I ate the entire thing, and asked for more……low and behold it wasn’t chicken it was fish. She fooled me! The power of the mind, right!? Yet I wouldn’t be fooled again, and we still laugh at that story today. I am not a big cook or fan of cooking, my wife and sister are amazing cooks, and I thank them for feeding me! Funny enough, I make a solid French toast, well at least my two kids think so. If I could have my favorite meal, it’s pretty basic, carbs all the way….give me some spaghetti and meatballs.
Photo Provided by Brett Richter
What is your passion?
As I get older my passions have changed, specifically when I became a father. So my passion is my family and raising my kids with my wife. After that, Ecological Laboratories isn’t just a job for me, it is my also my passion! It is in my genetic makeup to want to make our company continue to grow and help our environment whether its cleaning up polluted water ways and wastewater to helping all plants grow to the best of their natural ability. I have put so much into developing our Cannabis/Hemp cultivation sector of our business! This community of growers have encouraged me to want to make sure our products are being used for cannabis cultivation in order to produce the best Cannabis & Hemp out there especially for caregivers taking care of patients. However when I do decompress from the responsibilities of Ecological, I enjoy Baseball, Hockey, and sneakers! Yes, sneakers! A fresh pair of cool sneakers always gets my attention!
Thanks,
Brett
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