Carmel is easily one of Canada's top craft cannabis brands.
With outstanding products they are sure to never miss and are undeinably potent. Specialized in flower for a reason, Carmel puts a lot of love and care into each strain grown.
We interviewed Carmels frontman in Ontario, John Strauss to get his thoughts on the industry, what it's like working for Carmel, the brand's backstory and things to look forward to for the future of Carmel.
John has been part of Carmel for almost two and a half years as Carmel had launched in 2020 amidst covid but still deemed themselves a sustainable career path for him. “Carmel is strategic,” he says, referring to their marketing techniques. The company has grown progressively and he feels confident knowing they will stick around for some time.
Many cannabis stores opened up during Covid as more people were stuck at home during lockdown periods. Carmel stood out as the company had grown and perfected some of the best craft flower in the market. Strains you might recognize like Animal Face and Billy’s Pheno.
Craft flower means grown in a “small batch”. The flower is grown in small rooms where a lot of attention and care taking is able to be provided to each individual plant. The product isn't being mass produced in a large warehouse. “A lot of love and care was put into the product, '' John explains.
Everything at Carmel is hand picked, hand trimmed then smoked by a glorious team of OG smokers. Carmel began with Drew who is a master grower and Billy who is flower manager. Both extremely passionate and talented growers.
When it comes to marketing a new strain or product Carmel goes big with their educational events for bud tenders and retailers. “Sampling goes a long way,” says John. It's one thing to talk about a product but to experience it is a whole new understanding of the product and its potential on the market.
At this moment Carmel is focused on their sales within Canada. With so many different laws following each state it makes the U.S market messy in comparison. However a lot of good information is still pulled from the States. Carmel looks to California to keep up with the latest trends. Everyone is always looking for new genetics and terpene profiles.
With such a high demand for “new” from consumers Carmel has many connections in the States providing them with the best seeds packs, clones and exotics. Billy has people that will overnight send different clones and seed packs for them to get their hands on.
John teased a few new items Carmel will have coming out for consumers to look forward to. A new Hot Cheetos strain and Carmel brand Hash releases in October which will be a two gram temple ball. The company waited over three years before finally becoming fully satisfied with what they created. Many back and forth with the design of packaging and a lot of input from retailer partners, bud tenders, customers are taken into consideration.
Carmels focus currently is innovation. They have a goal of growing a lot of new products and releasing them quarterly to meet the high demand of consumers wanting new products. We look forward to seeing what is in store for the brand.
