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NewsCut
Bob Collins

Bachman’s and weed: Bad for the brand?

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The news today that the owners of Bachman's Floral Gift & Garden Centers are interested in getting into the medical marijuana business will certainly present a challenge to the company, whose brand isn't usually associated with pot, even if it's legal.

"There are several family members that are interested," company spokeswoman Karen Bachman tells the Star Tribune. That means there are several family members who probably aren't. That's challenge #1.

But challenge #2 might be whether customers have a problem with Bachman's -- one of the region's more revered brands -- being associated with the "m" word, even if it's legal in the eyes of the state.

"Bachman's, the company itself, is not including this in our core mission of delivering beautiful products at a real value," Bachman told the newspaper in an attempt to distance the interests of the Bachman individuals from Bachman's the company. That'll be a neat and delicate trick.

But it figures that a company with relatively deep pockets would be one of the ones likely to emerge as one of the two manufacturers and eight distribution centers called for in last session's legislation authorizing the use of medical cannabis for certain qualifying medical conditions and creates a task force to conduct an assessment on medical cannabis therapeutic research. Just applying to be included will cost someone $20,000, a fee which is not refundable.

The company obviously has the growing facilities and Bachman's also already has a distribution system. Those petunias don't get themselves to market, you know.

It also has a lot of college-age kids working for it, which is a strike against the idea. Nobody under 21 can work in a cannabis facility.

But the "m" word is still enough to make some people clutch their pearls, a demographic that tends to be really into gardening.

On the other hand, the marketing is ready to go.