A cannabis work in progress, Connecticut currently is a state without delivery, but that is about to change. Green Coach Delivery plans to commence deliveries by the end of May, making it the first third-party delivery service in operation in the state. And with only 10 dispensaries open statewide, and a presumed immediate demand for home delivery, Green Coach Delivery will hit the ground driving with enviable first-mover status in a state with 6.3 million people and a land mass of just over 5,000 square miles.

Unlike other cannabis-legal states, however, Connecticut does not allow independent delivery of cannabis products, and it does not permit delivery services to load up vans ice-cream-style with products that have not already been ordered. Instead, sales must be processed through licensed retailers prior to delivery and tracked by the state’s seed-to-sale service provided by BioTrack.

Per state regulations:

A licensed delivery service may deliver cannabis and cannabis products from certain cannabis establishments to consumers or qualifying patients and caregivers.

Delivery service licensees may deliver cannabis directly to a qualifying patient, caregiver, or consumer from the appropriate cannabis establishment — either delivery from a retailer, hybrid retailer, or micro-cultivator to consumers, or delivery from a hybrid retailer or dispensary facility to patients or caregivers — but they are not licensed to sell cannabis directly to a qualifying patient, caregiver, or consumer.

Delivery service licensees only deliver cannabis between cannabis establishments and end users, and each individual delivery order of cannabis must be delivered (or returned to the originating establishment) within a 24-hour period.

Connecticut generally speaking has been in no rush to implement its cannabis program, and that is also the case with delivery, which is getting under way with a measured pace. Green Coach Delivery, as a social equity applicant, only recently received its final approval, and according to owner Jack Cochran, it will be the only game in town for a while.

“We’re going to be starting in the third week of May, but there won’t be another state licensing meeting until June, so that pretty much gives us at least until then,” said Cochran during a call Tuesday with Cannabis Business Executive. “

Like everything cannabis-related, the application process had a lot of moving parts. “There were about 16 different criteria you had to meet,” he said. “For my license you first had to be qualified as a social equity applicant, and that was based on income, where you live now or where you grew up in terms of disproportionately impacted areas, and you had to own at least 50 percent of the company.

“Once you achieve that status,” he added, “then you apply for a provisional license. Once you receive the provisional license, then you have to have a lease agreement, the okay from the town to run your business in town, and a labor peace agreement, what’s called a workforce development plan, with the union.”

But once up and running, the business will have no limits geographically. “We can deliver anywhere in Connecticut,” said Cochran. “We can deliver for recreational establishments, for medical-only dispensaries, and for hybrid retail, which is both medical and recreational. Right now, we have contracted with adult use and hybrid facilities that we’re going to be working for.”

Unique to the state, retailers are given a choice whether they want to use a licensed third-party for delivery or do it themselves, but only for a period of time. “The way the regulations are right now,” said Cochran, “the establishments can use their own employees for delivery until there are five delivery companies up and running, and then they’ll have 30 days to cease using their own employees, and they’ll have to hire one of the five companies.”

Cochran said he had heard of only one retailer in the state that is currently doing delivery with its own employees, but he did not name the company and a search did not turn up any delivery currently available in the state. It could be there, of course, but we couldn’t find it and Weedmaps lists no delivery service for the state at all.

If there are holdouts, Cochran is ready to pitch them on the benefits of using his service. “The main pitch is that we’re going to be great at delivery because that’s all we’re going to do,” he said. “We’re going to figure out the fastest routes, the windows of time to use, our drivers are going to be trained just in delivery, and we’re hiring drivers who have done delivery for other companies, who are familiar with schedules and routes and using the GPS, and with communication with customers. We’re not taking your budtender or assistant manager and throwing them in the car, which is basically what the companies are doing if they do it on their own.”

But the second pitch is probably the most convincing. “Why waste all that time purchasing the car, installing the security devices, and training your employees, when you’re going to have to stop doing it when there are five companies,” said Cochran.

“This is brand new to Connecticut,” he admitted. “The good thing is we have a great Department of Consumer Protection that’s been unbelievable to work with. They’ve been helping me through the process as a startup and a young business owner, and they have been invaluable in getting this started. The Social Equity Council has also been tremendous. Because I’m a social equity business, I had to do a social equity plan – how I’m going to give back to the people in the community in the disproportionately impacted areas. They were phenomenal in helping me get through that plan, and I’m very excited about it.”

A Joint Venture

As the delivery start date looms, much of the process is still being worked out, said Cochran. “Honestly, it’s all store by store how that works, but basically, the order will go through the store’s POS system and their e-commerce, we will take custody of the package at the store through a Biotrack manifest, and deliver it to the customer’s home,” he added. “We’ll follow all the regulations to make sure that we meet the identity check, the age verification, and the residence verification, and we will make sure it is delivered compliant with all of Connecticut’s rules and regulations.”

In terms of payment, there will be a service fee per delivery, but the amount is not set yet. “We’re still working on whether it’s going to be cash or a debit transaction,” said Cochran. “It’s one of the last elements because it’s brand new, but we’re working through that now.”

As an equity applicant, Cochran was the beneficiary of a partnership with one of the country’s leading MSOs. “I’m what’s called an equity joint venture with Curaleaf, which has four medical dispensaries and a cultivator,” he explained. “They had the opportunity to set up 10 equity joint ventures, two for each store.” The partnership between Green Coach and Curaleaf is for delivery only, he said, adding that the MSO has also entered into equity joint ventures with retail and micro cultivator licensees.

Connecticut also simplifies delivery by making it essentially a last-mile service, with no responsibility for branding or selling of products. “Our business is simply picking up the product, getting it to the consumer safely in a reasonable amount of time, and making sure they have the education that goes with it,” said Cochran.

To accomplish that task, the state allows delivery services to acquire up to 25 delivery vehicles, but Cochran will not be starting with that many. “I wish we could have 25 in a month, but I think it’s going to be a slow crawl because there are only 10 licensees in the state.”

Instead, he will launch with two vans and add from there. “If everything works out, we’re going to start with two stores and one driver at each store, and we’re going to ramp up as the demand warrants it and once we figure out the flow of it, because we don’t want to go too quickly,” he said. “We want to do it very professionally, and only take on additional stores when the market is ready and when we figure out the most efficient way to do it. The biggest thing is that consumers want their product now, they want instant gratification, and to cover a large area that’s not always possible. Reaching a happy medium, that’s my goal.”

But even starting with a few stores could be daunting at first. How was he planning to manage the logistics of delivery throughout the entire state? “Our goal is to have delivery windows, and to figure out what works,” said Cochran. “Is it a two-hour window? Is it a 90-minute window? Is it a three-hour window where we can get the most product out to the most customers safely? It’s just going to be ebb-and-flow and trial and error, and just working through it.

“But the one thing I’m committed to is figuring out the right SOPs and the right plan so that customers are happy,” he added. “There’s a large number of people who don’t want to leave the house, they don’t want to be seen in line at a cannabis retail store, or they don’t have the time to travel to pick it up. Those are the people we want to service and get the product to in a discreet, professional way.”

The medical program in Connecticut is older and still larger than legal adult-use, and comes with special delivery allowances. “The big thing with medical is we can deliver to the patient or to their caregiver,” explained Cochran. “I think that’s going to take a load off the caregivers, who are now traveling to pick up prescriptions for the patients. I think they’re going to enjoy that service.”

With just two weeks to go until the anticipated launch, a lot of details still need to be worked out, but the essential elements are in place. “We have to get the drivers certified with badge credentials, and we need to have the vehicles equipped with security devices, and that has to be inspected so the vehicle gets certified as well as the employee,” said Cochran. “We were able to get ahead of the game in that we got several drivers badged, and we got several cars that have been certified. We were diligent about starting early and having enough people, so we’re ready to roll and get out as soon as possible because there are a lot of people who want to use the service.”

Consumers and patients will have all the necessary resources, he said. “We’re going to do a lot of pre-verification, we’re going to have a step-by-step process on our website, and there’s going to be text messages sent out, so the customer will know exactly what they need, and the stores do an excellent job of packing to making sure everything’s right. There’s always going to be some issues and we’ll address them as they come, but I don’t foresee there being any big problems.”

Once delivery launches, however, it basically never stops. In state after state, delivery is often considered the heaviest lift in terms of expense and logistics, and people quickly learn that it is much harder than it looks.

“The biggest thing I’m going to analyze is the demand, and time,” said Cochran when asked where his focus will be at launch. “Do people want it from four to eight, do they want it from three to six? Is there anybody who would take a delivery from nine to 12? I want to analyze that part of it and see how fast the windows are filling up.

“The other thing is traffic patterns,” he added. “When you get into Fairfield County, there are towns – like Greenwich and Stamford – that have the most disposable income and the most users, but it’s a big challenge to get into those towns and move around with traffic, and you’ve got very tight windows. But I think I have a good plan to get in and out of Greenwich and Stamford, where there are only two windows throughout the day to do that.”

The downside to not figuring out those details could be substantial. “You get a driver stuck for 45 minutes, and you’re going to lose money,” said Cochran.

Indeed, as prepared as Cochran is for the rollout, and as determined as he is to scale up to meet demand in a controlled manner, even if he starts with a few stores, requests for delivery by the people of Connecticut will be the determining factor, and that demand could potentially overwhelm the system in place. When adult-use began in Connecticut and orders could only be made online for pickup when the order was ready, the wait-time between order and pickup reached as high as four hours, plenty of time to drive to Massachusetts and back, with hours to spare.

In that sense, first-mover status could turn out to be both a blessing and a curse for the only game in town. But whatever happens, Cochran is eager to get started, and even looks forward to the day when he faces direct competition, but not immediately. “There are 11 delivery licensees in the state,” he said. “How many of them are going to get their final license in the next six months, nine months, 12 months, 18 months? I don’t know. Selfishly, I hope it takes longer, but I also hope a lot of them get up and running, because I think the more companies are out there, the better it’s going to be for the state, because competition is great. It’ll make us all work harder.”