When people imagine launching a cannabis brand, the pictures in their minds tend to be glamorous: sleek jars of flower displayed under glowing dispensary lights, a social media feed buzzing with lifestyle photos, maybe even a booth at a trade show with a line of eager fans. Few picture themselves in a manufacturing facility, watching products roll off the same line as their competitors.
But for many entrepreneurs, that’s exactly how the journey begins. White labeling—where a company manufactures products for another brand—has become one of the industry’s quietest, least glamorous, but most effective ways to get to market.
“It’s not the sexiest part of the business,” admitted one operator. “It happens behind the scenes. But if you want the lightest lift in starting a cannabis company, this is it.”
Behind the Curtain
To understand how white labeling works, picture a beverage bottling plant. On any given day, the same conveyor belts may churn out sodas, sports drinks, or sparkling waters—each with its own recipe, but all processed and packaged on the same equipment before being loaded onto trucks and shipped to stores.
Cannabis works the same way. A facility can produce competing brands on the same equipment, switching out ingredients and packaging, but otherwise running the exact same process.
“It all happens in the background,” said Jon Marshall, COO with Deep Roots Harvest. “Most consumers don’t realize it—but the model is everywhere.”
Two Models, Two Mindsets
Marshall breaks the model down into two paths.
The first is co-packing: “I charge you a fee to make your product,” he said. “That could include manufacturing, distribution, even sales and collections. You’re essentially paying for services à la carte.”
The second is a royalty model: “We handle everything—production, sales, distribution, inventory, invoicing— …
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Author: Debra Borchardt / High Times
