Loos News: Engaging with Governments:

In addition to thinking about what you want your cannabis cultivation facility to look like, it's also time to start thinking about how to engage with local governments, both at the city and county levels. The scope of your engagement might also be determined in part by your verticality. With Minnesota's licensing structure, there are set to be a lot of micros that cultivate and do retail on the same site. Either way, your business should be engaged in the community in which it operates, but should be even more so if you're doing both cultivation and retail. Not only does this entail more zoning and compliance, but from a retail perspective, you also really want to get out in the street and form those partnerships with other nearby businesses to drive foot traffic early.

For example, if you acquire a space that you'll be doing both cultivation and retail in and it's inside a strip mall with a Planet Fitness, a laundromat, and a couple of restaurants, why not start frequenting those places and introducing yourself? It could even be time to start talking coupons i.e. bring a receipt from so and so, get 20% off your next zip, and vice versa. The key is to make it a win-win so that both businesses benefit (from the same customers). This is more of a local, cultural approach, but next, let's switch gears to the dirty, legal stuff.

Ideally, you'll want to start attending city council meetings and other town forums. It would be beneficial to start getting to know key decision-makers, but also those behind them. And I'm not talking about constituents, but rather city clerks. See, they don't have an agenda to push; they're mostly there to take notes. Notes that you'll want and can scan through for details you may need, or even more aggregated pieces to decipher general sentiment on certain policies. The city clerk is your friend. The city councilman may or may not be 😅

Luckily for us, the OCM has also published a guide for local governments on how to effectively approach cannabis licensing from their end: https://lnkd.in/gP2Smj85

Let's grow some great cannabis for Minnesota! 😎