Our returning Chief Cannabis Officer Wendy Bronfein of Curio Wellness discusses the celebrity culture, Hollywood and sports investment and the emerging cannabis industry that you’ll no doubt see in Las Vegas in the coming weeks as the Super Bowl brings more stars out who are vested in a new health business.
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
cannabis, product, curio, brand, thc, wellness, line, people, week, timonium, store, topical, tablet, daughter, resolutions, gummy, called, baltimore, wife, ravens
SPEAKERS
Wendy Bronfein, Nestor J. Aparicio
Nestor J. Aparicio 00:01
Welcome back. W n s t test in Baltimore and Baltimore positive we have suspended the Maryland crabcake tour just momentarily for for festivals for the ravens to get this thing going here next week Luke’s gonna be out. No one’s middles. Any breaking news you get first on the wn S T tech service as always, we’re gonna marry the lottery tickets. If you hear this before Saturday night for the wildcard. We’re going to be up there at Hollywood casino because a peacock. So they got your peacock right there up in Hollywood Casino. We’ll be up there on Saturday night watching the dolphins freeze out in Kansas City. I tell you what, we’re celebrating our 25th anniversary and we’re counting down these incredible memories. And I’ve been like slipping them all in. They’re coming out every couple of days here, especially if you’re out on social media and Facebook and LinkedIn. I’ve been sharing them one a day every day leading up to February 3 Where Fingers crossed. We’re in the Superbowl this year. So what are the broad findings here? Yeah, she and I had an off the air conversation. Last week. We I don’t know if before after we actually did the segment about cannabis and laws and Mississippi and all these things are going on at curio wellness as well as our 25th anniversary year and how they sort of commingle. But you said something special to me. You said you your sister, your dad, you fought for Super Bowl tickets. 1112 years ago, you made it to New Orleans, it was a special family member. And I said the same thing you said to everybody, you go in this year and you said how much and I think everybody said that now we all want him to win. We think all that but I don’t know that everybody that went to Tampa or went to New Orleans or maybe went on some corporate junket somewhere. I had a buddy of mine from Budweiser who said I went to this I went to the prince Super Bowl. I’m like and the Colts were netland. But how are you happy new year? I know your resolution is yours. Maybe for the Ravens. They have another parade here, right?
Wendy Bronfein 01:46
Thank you Happy New Year to you. Oh my god, that would be amazing. You know, the first Super Bowl, I was abroad and watched it through the middle of the night in like a dive bar in Italy that had a satellite connection to carry the game
Nestor J. Aparicio 02:02
and no one there but you yelling at the TV? No, no. Well, I
Wendy Bronfein 02:06
was I was so I was in college. I was studying abroad at the time. And so I happened to be with one of my best friends who’s also from here. So there was genuinely another Baltimore person. But then it was just the other Americans on the trip Who would watch the Superbowl summer from New York. So they were into,
Nestor J. Aparicio 02:22
like a two week jokin Are you like living there? No, no, no,
Wendy Bronfein 02:27
no, I was there for the whole semester. And this was like, you know, a week or two into it. And we were in Siena, Italy. And this one bar would carry the Super Bowl and
Nestor J. Aparicio 02:37
I found out Yeah, two weeks to find a place. There’s no internet. There’s no street. There’s none of that. Okay, yeah. I love these. Yeah. Because everybody remembers where they were that night. Everybody. Right? It’s that special? Yeah,
Wendy Bronfein 02:49
well, and I said before cannabis, I worked in television. And my last television job was at Live with Kelly and Michael. And when I first started I like it, I was thinking about just like, engendering myself towards Michael and as you’re saying, and so basically I was like oh and I’m from Baltimore. I’m a Ravens fan and like not thinking about Giants game Super Bowl loss, whatever. And he was like a Ravens fan. But it was all good fast friends in the end but that was that was not the ideal opening stinky barbers
Nestor J. Aparicio 03:22
had the same problems with me so so did Jim fossil but we got over the lake Great. Jim fossil. Wendy Brown, fine is here for Curie once you got the purple shirts out there with the Purple Purple zeros and all that stuff. I know. We’re doing a lot of stuff in the new year. And I just thought to begin the year I that thing about I went up to your website for our piece and I’m like, Oh, what are their specials and they’re doing stuff with CFG Bank Arena, and they have rewards like Marriott and like, you know, anybody that’s got an app has a rewards program that doesn’t let for anybody that doesn’t know what you do. And they’ve maybe listened here and again, or maybe they’ve got a car and maybe they don’t maybe they shop elsewhere. And you’re in Timonium, and they’re in Woodlawn, or Dundalk, or Essex, and they go to the website and they see this or they see that. What would you say to folks about foreign daughter as a place locally to come in? That makes six we talked a lot about the Mississippi concept last weekend did all of that. But But I do think your place is really unique and different that if somebody is going somewhere else. And they’re looking for a different experience, or they’re looking for even if just a one time visit to stop in and say, Hey, I’ve got to drive out there. But I want to see what all the buzz is about because I see curios name on different things. And it’s sort of your I call it your flagship, I don’t know if that’s the right word for it. But it is a flagship location the same way that if somebody was talking about a brewery, they would want to go experience it there to talk more about what you do. And I think your place is so equipped to do that. And it really, I mean, again, I was in Denver, California and in different places. I’ve been to different places here. Your place is really a different kind of experience. Yeah,
Wendy Bronfein 04:55
well thank you for that. So yeah for clarity. So curio wellness is the company. The products that you buy in a dispensary are made by curio wellness, our flour and our manufactured products that are infused with oil from cannabis. But then our store name is foreign daughter. We have a store in Timonium, that is the flagship store. We also have a store in Elkton that is called farm cat that will be transitioning to foreign daughter name this year. The like you’re right, I make the same analogy you said to be or I always say it’s like, you know, you could you could work at footlocker or you could be at Nike town, right? And so it is that field, right? You’re in the flagship store, you’re amongst the ethos of our brand, and what we stand for. I think part of that difference is just the array of products and services that dispensary offers, right? So we have a dispensary. We also have a lot of wellness products in the store. When you walk in that’s traditional retail you can get hemp based CBD, you can get cannabis lifestyle products, you can get health and wellness, Korean skincare, all kinds of good stuff. And if
Nestor J. Aparicio 06:02
you like my shirt, you know, so yeah, right. You
Wendy Bronfein 06:06
can get merch. We have we have a spa there. Right? So we have acupuncturist and esthetician. So this was all created back when we were medical only and the thought was if a if a patient from the MediCal program is coming in and they’re open to cannabis, they’re probably interested in other products and services that are complementary. So kind of we have two awesome estheticians they’re a fabulous acupuncturist you can use the mind body app to book appointments with them. And then in the center of the store is the dispensary. So prior to July 1, that was for medical patients only now it is open to anyone over 21. And I think our differentiator there is our like unabashed focus on customer delight. Alright, so we are here to serve patients and customers. We want to hear what you need, what you’re looking to try and solve, and then match the product to the person, right? It’s not kind of this idea of, you know, well, we got this product and we want to move it out. So we’ll tell anybody to buy it. We are really kind of thinking about what do you need? What do you want? What’s the right dosage form? Right? Is it a topical? You should rub on your body? Is it something you should inhale? Is it a gummy? You should to chew a tablet you should swallow? And how do we help you reach your goal of why you’re trying to use cannabis to improve your quality of life. And we have a large array of products we have the full suite of products that we make, which are products under our own brand and several brands that are licensed from other states. So brands like Dixie caviar fuse flower by Ed Parker, happy Eddie, anyone who’s a Real Housewives of Potomac watchers, that’s, that’s a brand from that show. And many more. And then we have the other providers from the state other licensees who produce their products are available as well. So full service and full product array and a really knowledgeable staff.
Nestor J. Aparicio 08:03
What’s interesting with your brand name Farr and daughter, I think we’ve learned across time we had data on machine shock last month. You’re the daughter he’s the father, foreign daughter, you know, it’s a Norwegian, Finnish, Swedish,
08:17
Swedish she got the wrong place and scan I love them all.
Nestor J. Aparicio 08:21
I love Scandinavian people. I will not forget that Sweden, because I’ve been there. By the way I’m looking at this northern light stuff and I’m you know, a meandering off and all that but the curio brand and curio curious. I remember your billboards curio and it leads itself to that. But then I hear things like caviar and I hear things like dog Wah, I hear all these different brands. And then more than that, I hear Snoop Dogg or I hear Mike Tyson. Like my kid went to Amsterdam. It’s in like, Tyson’s got to shop over there. And I’m thinking to myself, well, of course he does. Right and like, and rappers and Wiz Khalifa and like, and Cheech and Chong. I mean, Tommy Chong shows up on my timeline all the time, you know, like, I guess, because you and I talk once a week and the walls, listen to things but all of the celebrity side of this and people getting involved in this, I think it’s really important when I talk to you guys like about how serious you are and our educational we are about all of this, but how different maybe some of it is for you and what your family is doing here in Maryland and elsewhere, versus like someone like you getting involved with I’m making it up right look up a celebrity, you know, a local celebrity or a social influencer. But more than that, putting your name on the brand. It feels like this is there’s been a celebrity dive to get in this. And I don’t know that they’re really doing the same sort of research, you’re doing antimony and to get patents and do things that my wife’s like, Tell me about that pill with a time lapse thing where I get to sleep better because she’s having some sleep problems right now.
Wendy Bronfein 09:53
Yeah, I mean, it’s very common in the industry that there are these celebrity, celebrity driven brands. So I mentioned happy Yeti, right? That’s one that’s coming out of our shop. So if you watch the Real Housewives of Potomac, I
Nestor J. Aparicio 10:08
do not just just for the record,
Wendy Bronfein 10:10
this is probably not that audience. But the OSEP bows are a local company, when do Sefo is the wife, she’s the housewife, her husband is Eddie. He came to us if there was something on the show that that sort of happened, and this nomenclature of happy Edie came along, and he wanted to get into the cannabis space. And so we became his partner. Right? So we have the Artifactory license. See,
Nestor J. Aparicio 10:36
I didn’t know Yeah. So you don’t just stop the line? You’re, you’re in a partnership. Okay. Right.
Wendy Bronfein 10:43
So So in starting the line, and the time that they wanted to start the line, we said, you know, here’s our garden, here’s what’s coming out, we can, we can take these strains, and we can put them onto your line and make them available so that you can launch but coming, but in the months of follow because you have to grow the plant, we can grow some cultivars that are just for you. So for example, as I said, his name is his wife’s name is Wendy. They’ve got a strain called Zen when. And so now you’ll see kind of that line expanding. That’s not for you when it’s named at all. No, no, no, that’s not me. No, that’s me. That’s a
Nestor J. Aparicio 11:17
little pig tail girl who sells me the french fries in the Singles Doubles.
Wendy Bronfein 11:21
Yeah, not her either. I even I didn’t even think about that. But yeah, no, it’s not me. But But yeah, so like, that’s a perfect opportunity. And that’s what you see a lot of the brands doing right there, they create the IP around the brand, and usually somebody else is growing their flower or producing their product. And it’s a space that you know, I think people obviously like naturally I think, you know, Snoop Dogg is a fit for that, that it makes sense that he was he has been in that space. So the Tyson line was here in Maryland, I think it’s still around, someone was producing that for, for their company. So it’s very common to see these celebrity introductions. But even like the flower by Ed Parker, that we produce at Parker is a women’s line of handbags and accessories. And they came into the space with a line called Flower by Ed Parker, targeting a female off audience, and in the way that they kind of package and deliver products like vapes and pre rolls and flour and things like that.
Nestor J. Aparicio 12:25
What a specialized industry, you know, and you thought we’d run out of things to talk about Wendy Brown, fine is here. She’s the Chief cannabis officer here to teach us about things. She’s Chief Brand Officer for all things at curio wellness, where they’re doing science, and they’re doing with it. You know, I gotta tell you when I had been on the air 32 years, and my ego was such like, my face was on shirts and dollar bills and all sorts of things to build this thing 25 years ago, then I had a brand that was NST where was all about like my hosts and I built a brand around that. And then my wife got cancer and we are we are in Baltimore positive. But I’ve had like, you know, Clancy serves the beer with you. He’s he’s got his face on a beer. And that got me a little jelly. I’ll be honest with you. I see Eddie Murray and Ed Reed all these hall of famers and whatever. And I figured maybe one day I’d have a nasty Nestor beer or something. Maybe I should aspire to do this and become more successful so that we can have like, a strain called awesomeness or something like that. You know what I mean? tastiness? You know what? I mean? Like, wonderful net. Yeah, I’m just coming up with ideas. But I got to work on myself because this is coming right football play. There’s no question about that. Right? That that’s the next thing to come. Because it’s becoming ubiquitous. That Look, man, I got guys that won Super Bowl selling me gambling every week. Right? So to think that this is not going to take long to go from Mike Tyson and Snoop Dogg to somebody who’s a former elected. You know, I mean, I just don’t I we’re really we’re closer than maybe I think, in even discussing it to where a television show five years ago, 10 years ago, becomes something that can become a brand that can be associated with this long beyond Cheech and Chong for 50 years ago.
Wendy Bronfein 14:13
Yeah, I mean, look, the the schedule one status of cannabis is the thing that holds back everything. Because that’s what makes kind of larger corporations continue to stay away. You know, we, I think people in the industry know that. For example, there are football players who definitely use cannabis to deal with pain and inflammation and things like that. I mean, think about the topical products we make that don’t get you high, but make your body feel better. So hang on, to this
Nestor J. Aparicio 14:44
hold on because I had I used this Hold on, we taught move this product here. If I rub this and I own me, and I have a job where I’m tested. Well, tell me what happens with this. Because that would be a big issue for any if if you were along that lines that involves your employment, you fly a plane, you do things like that, to where? what’s safe and what’s not. And coming to somebody like you’d at least know what’s right and what’s wrong, right.
Wendy Bronfein 15:10
Yeah. So so there’s topical and transdermal transdermal crosses your bloodstream, topical does not. So the topical product should not show up on anything. So and I can I can attest to that, in the sense that as employees were badged by the state, and have to have drug testing, when when we had bad renewal, and I was pregnant at the time, and I use our topical, I had back pain from being pregnant, and I would use the topical to deal with the back pain. And I had to go get my my drug test or my badge, and I have no testing positive testing of Canada.
Nestor J. Aparicio 15:45
Well, that would have been the issue. Players are on a basket, you know, when there was testing all I mean, athletes have been using marijuana for as long as I’ve been doing. I’ve been doing this 39 years, I’ve been in out of clubhouses forever and ever. But I have wondered where the line skated, especially for Denver, Bronco player seven years ago, were, you know, in state when they before it became more ubiquitous, but also what, what triggers something to be a test and what’s not? And where are the these? This is one of the greatest products? Like I mean, I use this product, and it helps, and you talked about it. But I do wonder when I put it on, like, I wonder, because I don’t understand the science as well as maybe I need to?
Wendy Bronfein 16:28
Well, I think the other issue is that like, unlike alcohol, where you have that breathalyzer test, and you understand that it is active now, right? Like you can test positive for cannabis, and you could have had it 10 days ago. So that gets it’s all goes back to that schedule. One thing of like, leaving schedule one allows for better research and a will allow us to have for people to develop those tools to be able to say like, yes, cannabis is active in your system. Now that may impair you from something versus you had it last week. And you’re just sitting here eating breakfast, and it’s not really active in your system.
Nestor J. Aparicio 17:03
Wonderful and fun to share their carrier wellness and foreign data short the road antimonium If you stop by you need some education needed some smarter people more than what you’ll get on the internet, and certainly people that can help you out locally. In regard to all that. I wanted to talk about New Years and resolutions because you wanted to talk about that. And also in regard to some things you guys do in regard to rewards and stuff. I’m getting into my concert season I’m getting my mojo going here, I saw tool was playing I didn’t go to I’m not a tool guy. It’s not that guy. I’m more of a rush guy than a Tool Guy. Fighting go. But I know you guys have been a part of that as well. And you got a whole bunch of things going on that set you guys apart make you a little different than just maybe the place down the street.
Wendy Bronfein 17:47
Yeah, we had Yeah, we had people we gave tickets to her attic tool last night, haven’t heard how the show was, but hopefully because they slept in and had a good time. Most of the shows I’ve seen at CFG have been like just the production value has been awesome. And the sound there is fantastic. In terms of rewards yet so the stores have rewards programs kind of just like when you go to the grocery store and you’re swiping something, you know, you’re getting points for all the dollars you spend, you can turn your points back in for different sorts of reward items. It’s very common in our industry, and I think creates a lot of stickiness between the customers and the and the doors. And you know, you got double points, days, all that kind of stuff. So anyone who comes in to shop would encourage you to sign up for that loyalty program so you can maximize your opportunity there and earn those free products.
Nestor J. Aparicio 18:41
I always tell people to wait for the Deal of the Week to by the way, is that for me to say that, that you’d like Tuesday and Tuesday and say, you know, I say to my stuff 50% less on Tuesday go on Tuesday. You know, I mean like if you’re gonna Yeah, she She really does. She’s having some sleep issues. And I’ll let you speak to that. Because I know we’re gonna talk resolutions and new things. She’s on that too. She’s doing a lot of stuff with her diabetes, she’s been on a treadmill, the I mean, she’s got the January thing going on. So I know a lot of people do as well. But but but getting a deal was also, you know, I mean, if you don’t like the price of it, find the day of the week where maybe you want to try it?
Wendy Bronfein 19:19
Absolutely. So when when you sign up for that loyalty app, you’re in communication with us. And those messages are sent out via email and text messages that will tell you what the specials are every day. And it is really common to see people who say like we do Tuesday, Tuesday because our gummies are called choose. And so that’s the day when those are on a promotion. But we also have like certain products that we have kind of a consistent promotional price at our store since it’s our brand where you can always get a really great deal on things. But in terms of the resolutions, yeah, I mean, look, people are gonna want to they’re gonna want to exercise their one I’m going to want to sleep better, you know, get organized and focused in their life. I mean, there’s lots of different places where there are products that we have that can be useful to that that are worth trying. You know. So you’re talking about the sleep product that’s called Good night, you can get that in inhalation through a vape. You can get it in something that you can chew and eat through the good night choose. And you can get it in our proprietary patented tablet that uses a pulse system to dose it immediately. And three hours later to help you fall in stay asleep. And that’s a child really
Nestor J. Aparicio 20:33
wants to try that. So yeah, I mean, that’s yeah, that’s she she said that Commodore nights problems. Yeah. Yeah.
Wendy Bronfein 20:40
So So for adult use patients that comes in a 10 pack. And for medical, you can buy a higher count product to use across the whole month. So of course, if you are adult use and you buy and you like it, it is worth it to migrate to the MediCal program. You won’t pay tax when you buy medically. And you can buy higher volumes of products and you can in adult use. But you know, and encourage anyone who gets that product to sort of, you know, in the spirit of the resolution, take that week, right? Use it across a week and see how it changes your sleep when it was trialed with patients. Not only were they showing deep, longer sleep patterns in the deep cycle of sleep, but they also were getting up less through the night, they were going back to bed easier if they did wake to do something like go to the bathroom, they nap less. And they also felt more well rested. And if you go on our website, there’s a page dedicated to the good night tablet product and you can learn more, you can read the study that was published about it and familiarize yourself, you can also just come to our store. And the staff will take you through that. But it’s counterpart product is good day. And that takes advantage of a cannabinoid called thc v, which is shown to kind of increase your ability to have better focus. The formula overall can help with levels of anxiety because it’s THC, CBD and THC V. It also uses that posttest system, so you get that sustained effect throughout the day. It also is available in an inhalation form as well as a gummy. So we try and sort of, you know,
22:16
if you think to get you quote unquote, high,
Wendy Bronfein 22:20
it’s a very low dose of the THC in there. So you shouldn’t really feel a lot of psycho activity throughout the day. And that’s where, like with with with that product, also with our GI product that’s for issues like IBS, IBD, Crohn’s, the THC is low, it’s present, but it’s low so that you can be functional. But again, it’s going back to that how can we address quality of life issues for people, because there’s a lot of people who are using these, either medicinally, or from a lifestyle perspective. And so it needs you need to be able to be functional? And all Yeah,
Nestor J. Aparicio 22:54
if you can’t drive on it, then it’s a different, we’re talking about a different kind of product, or you can, you know, use the stove, you know what I mean? Just simple thing, right? That you shouldn’t be doing lighting matches, think there’s serious things that that you wouldn’t want to do if you’re on cough medicine even literally, right?
Wendy Bronfein 23:11
Right, and a lot of enemies, and the majority of high potency products are still relegated to the medical side. So everything that you’re gonna buy in an adult use would never have more than 10 milligrams per dose of THC in the form of the products. But with with that good night product and that good day product on the tablet side, they’re also scored. So you can break them in half, you can take half a dose, and you can still get that pulse system that’s giving you sustained effects. So you know, we’re really trying to try and think about you know, most people enter cannabis through inhalation. That’s what they think about smoking, felt flowers using vape, stuff like that. But then we want to kind of migrate you to say, Well, yeah, that’s what you know, that’s sort of reflexively what we think about, but where it How else can you use it that’s useful. If you take something like a gummy and you chew it and eat it, it’s going to take longer to kick in than smoking something, but it’s going to last you longer. So are you looking for something that has longer lasting effects, then you might want to move to a chew. If you’re really looking for targeted sustained relief that’s been clinically trial to show that it can do exactly what you’re looking for it to do, then go to that tablet because that’s the next generation. And in the tablet, we’re able to use that sort of technology to give those effects were were working behind the scenes to try and develop similar things that we can put into a gummy form because people liked that form. But today that’s something that we can only achieve inside of a tablet. It’s
Nestor J. Aparicio 24:44
moving fast and it like right I mean you guys are moving at the speed of sound to try to get products and get this thing was not around a few years ago. Wendy brown fine is here. She’s our chief cannabis officer here as you can tell, she knows a whole lot more than me. She’s Chief Brand Officer I carry a wellness. They make products like this move product that I use and I rub on my awful L three l four thing that they’re telling me I’m going to have to have surgically repaired and I’m trying to get through with a nice little dose of Planet Fitness and some hot yoga as well as stretching and being limbered 55 a day, which got me limber, man, these football games, this whole Festivus thing the crabcake row thing we’re doing for charity beginning February 5 brought to you by the Maryland lottery. Our friends at curio wellness and foreign data are sponsoring our 25th anniversary trying to do some really special things. I don’t want the cat out of the bag. I’m trying to like just get through the Ravens first. Win, please next weekend at home. And we’ll have an AFC Championship game here and then I’ll spill the beans and I’ll tell everybody what’s going on in our 25 stories of glory are counting down to something very special that happened in New Orleans as well as winning a championship a few years ago. You get fine when do you find the good folks who carry a wellness NFR daughter add ons ammonium into Timonium area just south of Timonium road on York Road, as well as a foreign daughter.com and curio wellness.com. Lots of education out there. We always advise people use this product responsibly now that it’s adult use, but it’s very easy to learn more about how it can be helpful, even in a bomb form here that I gotta read. transdermal I want to make sure I get that right. Did I cover all the bases? When do we get it? What’s your next concert by the way? Which one are you going to?
Wendy Bronfein 26:28
Oh, at CFG I’m going to Germany todo next month.
26:33
All right. All right. All right.
Nestor J. Aparicio 26:34
I like Germany.
Wendy Bronfein 26:35
I’m excited. I’m really excited for the TODO part. I’m not gonna lie. That’s really what’s getting me there.
26:40
I love toto to Yeah,
Nestor J. Aparicio 26:42
I’m a big fan of you know, you know, I
Wendy Bronfein 26:44
can’t hold you in Germany but not Toto.
26:46
I’ve only seen total
Nestor J. Aparicio 26:47
like twice they played. They played at Pier six a few years ago. They didn’t tour in their prime and they were doing hold the line and all that they were session musicians. Those guys they played know so many other artists, Dan Fogelberg, all sorts of people, but yacht rock forever is what I say when we see some Roseanne I am Nestor we are wn st am 1570, Towson Baltimore. We never stopped talking rock and roll Festivus cannabis and we’re gonna be doing some charity so stick with us. It all begins on February 5. We telling you more
