Second Cup, Ottawa firm hook up to open pot shops
Canada’s venerable coffee chain Second Cup has partnered with an Ottawa company to convert some of its cafés into cannabis stores.
Second Cup announced a partnership Thursday with Ottawa’s National Access Cannabis (NAC), which runs medical marijuana clinics across Canada, including one in Hintonburg.
The partners plan to start by converting some Second Cup outlets in western Canada, where several provinces will allow privately-run marijuana stores.
In Manitoba, the NAC, in conjunction with five First Nations, has already been given conditional approval by the provincial government to operate marijuana shops. The plan is to apply for pot-shop licences in Saskatchewan, Alberta and B.C., too, said NAC President Derek Ogden.
Don’t expect any Second Cup pot shop conversions in Ontario, though. The province has a monopoly on the business, with plans to open Ontario Cannabis Store outlets run by a subsidiary of the LCBO.
However, that may change eventually if a new provincial government is elected in June, said Ogden.
If Ontario ever agrees to open up the marijuana business to private stores, NAC will be ready to jump on the possibility, said Ogden. He’s a former RCMP officer who was head of drug enforcement before he got involved in the medical marijuana business. NAC clinics help people sign up for medical marijuana and educate them on how to use it.
The newly converted pot stores will operate under the National Access Cannabis brand. The name on the stores might change, though. That hasn’t been decided.
One thing is certain: customers will not be able to order a latte with their weed. The stores will sell only cannabis. But the partners would love to eventually develop some of them into cannabis vaping lounges if that is permitted, said Ogden. “We don’t know yet how the legal recreational market will roll out.”
It’s not known how many Second Cup outlets will be converted. It hinges on whether the partners receive licences from provinces. The franchisees and landlords of individual Second Cup locations would have to agree, too.
But the partnership news provided a stock-market boost to the Canadian company that has raced to compete with industry giant Starbucks. Shares in Second Cup rose by as much as 28 per cent by Thursday afternoon.
Second Cup has been serving coffee since 1975. It has about 300 cafés across Canada. That is a huge footprint of buildings, said Ogden. “They are a good, strong, Canadian partner. We can roll out locations pretty quickly.”
Another Ottawa-based company, CannaRoyalty Corp., is also part of the deal. The NAC shops will eventually sell products supplied by CannaRoyalty, which has cannabis edible and vaporizer brands. CannaRoyalty is the largest distributor of cannabis products in California.
Federal politicians have said they hope to legalize recreational marijuana this summer, although the timing is not certain because the Cannabis Act is tied up in the Senate.
Only dried weed and cannabis oil will be on sale at first, but edible cannabis products and concentrates, which could include the popular vape pens, will be regulated within a year of the law taking effect.