Introducing: Clovr, a Manufacturing License Winner

Missouri has finally begun distributing medical marijuana licenses, and when it comes to manufacturing, only 86 of the 373 applicants received a license.

Today we’re thrilled to introduce you to one of those winners, Clovr. Headquartered in Kansas City, Clovr is passionate about contributing quality cannabis products to the Missouri market. They believe that cannabis has long been misunderstood, and they are dedicated to helping normalize cannabis by providing a safe and dependable resource for patients.

We were honored to speak with Bethanie White about what makes Clovr special, their experience with that grueling application process, and their plans for the coming year. Keep reading to hear more about what this group plans to bring to Missouri!

Greenway: Tell us about Clovr

The Clovr team currently has about five people not including our investors. Now that we have secured manufacturing licenses, we look forward to growing our team this year! We have all, for the most part, worked together for eight or more years for the same agency and same investor group, just different lines of business. It is a great group of forward thinking people that all bring a unique set of expertise and share a passion for the industry.

At Clovr, we believe that legal, consistent and quality cannabis should be available to all patients. We feel reliable access to natural medicine is a safe alternative to prescription drugs — providing a positive impact on the lives of our Missourians.

Greenway: What makes Clovr special?

Clovr is special when it comes to infused cannabis products, because we’ve partnered with proven, quality brands from other states and combined them with an experienced, local, team to bring those products to Missouri. At Clovr we know that not everyone consumes the same way. We are proud to offer a large variety of delivery methods such as topicals, tinctures, capsules, concentrates, edibles, inhalants, and more.

Greenway: Only 23% of applicants received a license. Tell us about the moment you found out you were one of those winning applicants. 

Unfortunately, we didn’t receive cultivation licenses. Being superstitious, we didn’t want to do anything the day the manufacturing licenses were being announced that we did the day the cultivation licenses were announced. We wanted to get out of the office, so our team met for breakfast at Black Sheep in Kansas City the morning of.

We had a very quiet breakfast — it felt like hours as we watched Facebook, Greenway’s website, and our emails to gauge licenses come in. Our approvals came in and we lit up the restaurant with cheers (sorry about that Black Sheep patrons!). Champagne was promptly ordered and we went back to the office where we soaked up the calm before the storm that was inevitably coming.

Greenway: Tell us about the application process

When did you decide to apply? We started the planning process as soon as we knew the amendment passed. From day one the goal was to be vertically-integrated. Manufacturing was our biggest goal of the three licenses because we had a mission to bring some of our favorite brands  cannabis space to Missouri.

What was the highlight of the application process? The teamwork. It was all hands on deck from the meetings, to the writing, editing, reviewing, and submission. It was very cool to see each person’s expertise shine as they answered their portion of the application.

What was the lowlight? The amount of time given from the application questions coming out and the application being due.

Did anything surprise you? The degree to which the questions could be interpreted in different ways and generic guidance to the scoring options.

If you could tell your former self one thing before you started the application process, what would it be? Convey and emphasize our community impact plans better. We all love Missouri and Kansas City, and it is very important to us to be a positive part of a new industry — from our team members to the consistent products we will produce, to the patients we serve and giving back to the larger community.

Greenway: Tell us about what you plan to do with your manufacturing license

As far as Clovr branded products, we are working on concentrates including wax, shatter and live resin out of the gate. In addition to those we are producing a Clovr disposable vape pen and 510 cartridge.

We are currently finalizing agreements with a few companies to bring chocolate bars, gummies, and sodas, among many others. As our goal states — we want to produce as many forms of consumption as possible, so all patients can find a product that brings them relief. We are bringing years of experience and have stringent R&D, testing, SOPs and automation in place to ensure quality and consistency.

Greenway: What are you most excited about? 

The patients and the partnerships, hands down. At the end of the day we are doing this for the patients. They deserve safe, affordable, high quality medicine. I look forward to hearing the first hand feedback from the patients that find consistent relief in our products. That is what this is all for.

This is an ongoing series about medical marijuana facility license holders. The Greenway Media team has contacted all facilities for participation and posts will be written after receipt. If you are a facility that has not received the questions in error, please email [email protected] to be sent questions for participation.