President Melise Panetta on BevCanna Acquisitions: the Funnel is Full
The Dales Report is happy to bring in Melise Panetta, President of BevCanna Enterprises Inc (CSE:BEV,Q:BVNNF, FSE:7BC), to discuss some of the exciting recent news for the company. BevCanna develops and manufactures a range of plant-based and cannabis-infused beverages and supplements for both in-house brands and white-label clients.
Here’s some of the highlights of the interview:
New hires Raffael Kapusty and Bill Niarchos bring Tier 1 CPG experience to the table
Recently the company announced that it added two veteran CPG senior sales leaders to the organization. Raffael Kapusty has joined the company as Vice-president of Sales and Insights and Bill Niarchos will hold the role of Vice-president of Sales and Sales Operations.
Panetta says that Kapusty’s focus will be to strengthen company insights, Niarchos’ focus will be on delivering revenue and growth and operations scaleup, and between the three of them, she expects the company to have the experience and skill to build something strong.
Panetta says that BevCanna controls distribution of Keef into Canadian market
The relationship with Keef, Panetta says, is going incredibly well. BevCanna currently holds the rights to US distribution Keef brand, and they’re also in possession of a fully compliant route to market.
One of the most exciting aspects of Keef for BevCanna is that it is a cola-based cannabis beverage. The Canadian cannabis beverage space doesn’t currently have a meaningful cola presence, and the millennial cannabis consumer is also a heavy cola consumer, so customers have reason to get excited about this partnership moving north of the border.
White label partnerships with State B Cannabis Beverage Co and Enthusiasmus just the beginning
Panetta says that BevCanna is really pleased to have entered into the definitive agreements with State B and Enthusiasmus, but this is only the beginning. Active conversations with groups have been taking place daily, and the sales funnel, Panetta says, is really full.
Part of the appeal for others is taking advantage of BevCanna’s pre-existing compliant route to market in Canada. For beverage companies who do not have the means of establishing these lines, the white label route BevCanna offers is valuable.
Panetta says BevCanna has room to grow; the infused beverage space is ‘in its infancy’
The idea of cannabis-infused beverages only came in around Cannabis 2.0, meaning that it’s an incredibly young product in the space. Panetta believes, however, that it will follow the trends of every other product in the space, and indeed may follow traditional packaged goods principles.
