Why One Multi-State Cannabis Operator Is Betting On Wholesale, Not Retail, Despite Declining Flower Prices

TILT Holdings Inc. TLLTF helps cannabis businesses build brands, through a portfolio of companies providing technology, hardware, cultivation, and production services across 36 states in the U.S., Canada, Israel, Mexico, South America and the European Union.

TILT's Model 

During Benzinga Cannabis Capital Conference in New York City, Santo explained how TILT's business model is contributing to navigating industry challenges such as the lack of economies of scale, and interstate cannabis trade.

“It’s different altogether,” Santos said. “We don’t really look at our retail footprint as where we’re going to grow. We look more on the wholesale side.”

The company acts like a partner using its own stores to promote the brands of its partners while focusing on the wholesale and distribution side of the cannabis equation. Brands come over with their own brand architecture and TILT works with them to see what has to change to keep abreast of regulations. “It could be packaging, formulation, or form factor,” Santo said.

“What we do at TILT is basically give you the run of our cannabis assets. So we have facilities in Massachusetts, in Pennsylvania, in Ohio, soon-to-be in New York, where we’re able to provide the plant itself, operations, and also access to our entire sales team.”

An initial strategy used by many MSOs is to go out and buy brands. “The problem there is that it’s expensive to buy them, it’s expensive to maintain them, and you don’t always know if that brand is going to be that winning brand,” Santo explained.

During the first quarter of 2022, Tilt experienced the effects of inflationary pressure on consumers coupled with both customer ordering and regulatory timing delays that affected its performance. However, TILT gained momentum. In April, the company's inhalation business booked its second strongest month of sales orders in its history. In addition, TILT announced two sale-leaseback transactions totaling $55 million, which will enable the company to reduce a portion of its senior and junior corporate debt.

According to Santo,  “opportunistic improvements” introduced in cultivation and processing operations “would appear to be well-timed to these changing market conditions, positioning the company for a strong second half of 2022."

Come and meet extraordinary cannabis visionaries and let’s network and learn together. Join us in September at the Benzinga Cannabis Capital Conference and stay at the historic Palmer House Hotel. Don't miss out on a chance to hear about future market forecasts and worldly advice on investing and finance from those embedded in the cannabis industry. Ready, set, go! 

Book your tickets HERE, and your room HERE.

With more than 25 years of experience leading lean, high-performance teams in sectors such as Consumer Credit, Financial Services, Technology and Specialty-Pharma, Santo says that CPG (consumer product goods) are the future of cannabis, and that certainty is what led the company to build a business model to navigate the space.

Meet Gary Santo in person and learn more about TILT’s approach to cannabis cultivation, manufacturing, branding and logistics. The Benzinga Cannabis Capital Conference, the world’s largest and most successful cannabis investing and finance event, is being held on Sept. 13-14 at the Palmer House Hotel in Chicago, Illinois.

Get you tickets HERE. And book your stay HERE.