Ramping up business ... As Ottawa prepares to make recreational marijuana legal in October, cannabis companies with deep pockets are on the hunt for talent. For many, the obvious place to go to poach talent is the food and beverage sector.
Examples of the cannabis sector poaching talent from the food and beverage space aren’t hard to find. Vancouver-based Harvest One Cannabis Inc. named Grant Froese as its chief executive officer on July 4. Mr. Froese took the job after a 38-year career with Loblaw Cos. Ltd., where he last served as chief operating officer. Kelowna’s GreenTec Holdings Ltd. recently wooed two high-level employees from Kelowna food and beverage manufacturer Sun-Rype Products Ltd. – former president and chief executive officer David Lynn and Stefan Sarachie, who was Sun-Rype’s food safety and regulatory affairs specialist.
Jay Wilgar, CEO of Up Cannabis Inc. in Oakville, Ont., says people who have worked in the food and beverage sectors are a natural fit for the recreational cannabis space. “When you think about food and beverage, it’s highly regulated, dealing with the government, dealing with taxation and distribution – all the things we have to deal with,” Mr. Wilgar said.
He says Up Cannabis expects to have close to 200 employees by the end of 2019. The company currently has about 80 staff members.