BRANDS SERIES | Meet COCO
While brand names are seldom the result of a national safety scare, for COCO, that’s almost exactly what happened. The team at COCO, who applied for licenses under MoMed, were discussing their company name and the topic of the vape scare from illicit market vape cartridges came up in conversation. Sean Carriger, COO, said “We want people to realize we’re a Cannabis only company. You’re buying legitimate and quality products from us – nothing that patients should ever worry about the safety of.” Thus, some brainstorming led them to COCO – Cannabis Only Company – or Cannabis Only Co. Quality and safety are the hallmarks of the COCO empire and their multitude of planned brand names.
During our time together, Ethan Foster and Dylan Tampow, both manufacturing leads and co-founders talked at length about the excitement of their launch. The day of our interview, manufacturing equipment was being moved around and the feeling of progress was apparent. COCO was awarded a manufacturing license, as well as 3 dispensary licenses, and will have a lab custom-built for extensive research and development of products.
The product mix in their lineup will include smokeables, manufactured items, and edibles and dispensary menus will be consistent across all three locations, with some room for market-specific flexibility depending on the needs of patients. The signature line – COCO will be the most focused on medicinal specific items like tinctures, flower, and edibles – including RSO – or Rick Simpson oil. Their Mojo brand will be the most experimental, with seasonal products and seasonal flavors – this is where Ethan says they’ll be testing new strain types and products to see how patients react to other potential items. Mojo’s first products will include vape cartridges and concentrates. Their smokeables – like flower and prerolls – will be branded under their Cochiba name, and there are specialty lines under Cochiba, including the Cochiba Rose preroll line. Plans are in place for Twax Joints (flower, wax, and kief infused) and Cannagars (flower, shatter, and kief infused) cigars.
Finally, their edibles collections will all fly the brand banner of Hot Box, and some of those edibles will include the already named, “Oozie Chews” which will be similar to the popular candies called “Gushers” in supermarkets everywhere today. Also part of the Hot Box family of fine edibles will be their chocolates, aptly named “Boujee Bars.”
Foster and Tampow were like kids at Christmas when talking about their excitement about the lab and their plans for product development. They’re looking forward to producing not only new products, but also concentrates like diamonds, rosin, live resin, and shatter. They were quick to point out that they’re pulling out all the stops with their planning to ensure that they meet cGMP standards. cGMP is the international Regulatory Standard to ensure pharmaceutical-grade manufacturing requirements are followed and it’s not easy to get that status, but it’s a core tenant for this group and a top priority for the team.
Our discussion about the dispensary experience revealed that COCO has a partnership with both NuggMD and Show Me Medical, who are focused on patient education and will be tapped to help patients understand products for their conditions. Skyler Thomas, is the team’s patient advocacy champion and also participates on the MoCannTrade Advisory Board as a member of the Health, Education, and Training committee. The COCO dispensaries have plans for private consultation rooms in order to provide patients the opportunity for quiet and uninterrupted discussions about their needs.
The COCO team made it clear that their “one thing” that readers must know about them above all else is that “At COCO we’re doing all the legwork and the detailed planning for the design of our facilities, products, and experiences based on the absolute highest quality standards for Missouri’s patients. We want our brand to be known for the highest quality and consistency in everything we do.”
This article appeared in the November/December 2020 issue of Greenway Magazine.