Cannabis cultivators in the mountains of Northern California’s Emerald Triangle, which is the heart of marijuana production in the U.S., are off the grid.
AmeriGas, which is owned by publicly traded parent company UGI Corp., is better known for selling propane tanks for backyard grills.
Pennsylvania-based Clark Associates, one of the largest food-service equipment distributors in the U.S., also sees an opportunity in the legal marijuana industry.
The industry is wide open, says Burg.
In industries like healthcare, a big sector for Clark, it could take three years from the time a sales rep meets a company to the time they want to be a customer.
For Austria-based pharmaceutical packaging manufacturer Constantia Flexibles, which makes blister packs for pills and child-resistant packaging, the legal marijuana industry is a growing niche.
Although many mainstream companies are sitting on the sidelines—especially those in banking and payment methods like Visa, MasterCard, Square, Shopify—others see a burgeoning market that needs help now.
AccuBanker, a 40-year-old family business based in Miami, sells cash counters and counterfeit bill detectors to some of the largest fast-food companies like Taco Bell and Starbucks and to hoteliers like the Four Seasons and Hyatt Regency.
Cepero, whose aunt and uncle started the business after immigrating to the U.S.
started in 1853 when a Bavarian immigrant named Levi Strauss started a dry goods wholesaling business in San Francisco, selling supplies to miners during the California Gold Rush.
By 1873, Strauss invented the first pair of denim blue jeans, which held up well under the strain of gold mining and became the company’s signature product.
But seven years ago, Hirsch started getting requests from cannabis cultivators who were looking for high-composite burglary- and fire-resistant safes in which to stash weed and cash.
Hirsch expects federal legalization to help his business.
I am a staff writer on the vices beat, covering cannabis, gambling and more.
Previously at Forbes, I covered the world’s richest people as a member of the wealth team.