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CNN Live Event/Special
High Profits: She Will Kill Us All. Aired 10-11p ET
Aired May 17, 2015 - 22:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
[22:00:18] UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: People just look at me, and they just don't take me seriously. I'm the boss. People should be listening to what I have to say, and they are not listening to what I have to say. I don't get the respect that I deserve. I'm like boiling inside just thinking about it. I shouldn't have let it gone on this long, and I don't want to let it go on anymore. I'm fed up.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Marijuana, pot, grass, whatever you want to call it is probably the most dangerous drug in the United States.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I shall continue to oppose efforts to legalize marijuana.
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I inhaled, frequently. That was the point.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What we're doing now is creating a next big tobacco of our time.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is a highly regulated business.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're talking about daylighting a black market activity.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We are on the cutting edge of a brand new industry.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is absolute lit next gold rush. This is the green rush.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Now the dominoes are falling, especially when they see the economic revenue.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's $2 billion to be had next year. I plan to take more than my fair share.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I called the M.E.D. for weeks trying to get written permission just to move our plants to another location, and they were like definitely not.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We grew all these plants to move them. Unfortunately, we can't move anything.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: State rules, we got an unrecognizable slush and then mix them with non-marijuana at a rate like 50 percent. Throw them all away. I mean, if you include all the little ones we're going to destroy, all the little one gallons we're going to kill, probably 80 percent.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are killing 80 percent of our garden.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Eighty percent of the plants.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: About 600 to 700 plants cut down.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: At retail this is about $1 million worth of plants that we're shredding that we could have had in 60 days.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sometimes you have to follow rules that you don't agree with, that don't make any sense.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The M.E.D. that you're referring to is the Marijuana Enforcement Division, the state marijuana regulators. They are the ones that keep the tabs on this whole situation we got going on in Colorado. Really since day one we've bent over backwards every chance that there was to ensure we are on the straight and narrow, that we're following the line of the law.
When I was 21, I got busted in college for growing three marijuana plants and had possession of two ounces of marijuana. I wasn't in the business of selling marijuana. I got caught growing my own pot, and I got two felony convictions out of it. I regretted it every minute since, but everything I did that day would be completely legal here in Colorado right now.
Until this point I have not officially been an owner. I've not been able to call myself an owner. I finally get to apply to be the owner of this place. We're going to schedule an appointment for as soon as portion basically like a second chance to prove that I can be a professional and I'll finally be able to claim ownership around here.
JEFF SOENKEN: This was, I mean, the last four months of my life, and, I mean, for what? This is what's left. A bunch of stems. That was a lot of our winter crop so I don't know what we're going to do with ski season right around the corner.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We just threw away all our weed, and Christmas is right around the corner, and it takes a while to grow plants, 100 days minimum.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And now the council is talking about letting voters decide if we stay on Main Street.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: See, I like to drive by. I love to drive by and see like is that store hurting anyone? Like is it bothering anyone?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Camera one would like to call the meeting to order. Obviously mayor warner is not here.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I would like to entertain a motion, a resolution submitting to the registered electors of the town of Breckenridge and advisory ballot questions considering whether retail marijuana stores should be permitted in the downtown overlay district calling a special town election for December 9, 2014.
[22:05:12] UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think that people have this fear, this fear that it's going to change our town, the fear that this could alter the family-friendly reputation of Breckenridge.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Should the Breckenridge town council enact a local ordinance that allows the retail sale of marijuana in the downtown area of Breckenridge subject to restrictions, yes or no? Any council discussion?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Roll call, please.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mr. Gallagher?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Miss Lawrence?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I was feeling so beaten down, especially after the last meeting, and like I was sick to my stomach, like crying every day, even Zoe was like, mom, why are so many people mad at you? It was just so awful.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Miss Wolf?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mr. Brewer.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Miss Jailo (ph).
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mayor Protemp Burke (ph)?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Now the report of town manager and staff.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We need to be organized. I don't think we don't need to campaign that heavily. I think as long as people are register and know that this vote is happening, that enough people will vote.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And it's happening now, on December 9th. Not like a maybe. It's on the ballot.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I can't help but notice this neighborhood, the highlands, and these people that live out here are the supporters of the summit foundation of my job. Many, many of them are my campaign supporters. There are many that live out here that would like me to recall. It's unfortunate, a some of them I used to consider friends or acquaintances. This might sound so hokey, but like my childhood dream to be on city council, and hi no idea where that would be.
The thought of that I've worked so hard to get here, and I could be taken away because of marijuana. Yes. Yes. So, oh, blah, this is what stresses me.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
[22:11:05] KATHERINE GRIMM, ENTREPRENEUR: I want to run a big corporation. I want to be running Coors. I want to be running Sam Adams. I want to be running the biggest wholesaler of marijuana in the country. I'm in it to be a household name.
From what I see publicly from Brian, he is focused on his dispensaries. Do I think he's missing the forest through the trees? Absolutely. You can only make so much out of one dispensary. This place is huge, 6,000 square feet, 104 lights. I mean, there's a lot of money that can come through this place. If Brian decides to suddenly start wholesaling and he starts today, its two years before he scales up to this. Brian is too late if he's not already there.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Looks good in here, this is great. All the lights up.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. Goes up yesterday and all the gutters.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And then the drainage is new?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All the drainage is done. They said it would be good. We might have to get some replacement parts for these.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The plants look good though.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. Real nice.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're going to be busy in three weeks.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And we don't have enough weed, plain and simple. It's really disappointing that we can't supply ourselves.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I asked everyone how much they had in stock, and it was not enough to get us till your next harvest.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And I don't even know where we're getting it from yet.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We don't have any weed, we don't have any money. This is a kink in our plan.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have over $125,000 worth of bills due in the next 30 days.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's a disaster. It's really -- it's really upsetting Caitlin a lot.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She hates it. She -- she's over it all.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm just selling widgets. That's how I look at it. You know, my widgets just happen to be very desired. I've dealt with a lot of people in this industry, and Brian and Caitlin take this more serious than anybody I've ever met. They actually care about their employees. You know, they are very concerned with, you know, not only how we're doing as in job but how we're enjoying the job that we're doing. I never want to let Brian and Caitlin down. I'll try 110, 115 percent, you know, just to make them happy.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He's way over scheduling the employees that he does have and maybe the end result is we do have to let go of some of our employees down there, but I would just like to see what his scheduling structure is, and like you said maybe we start from how many hours need filled.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's where we definitely start from, not like maybe.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK, yes. Sorry. Definitely.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I see what you're trying to do. You're trying to save people's jobs.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm trying not to fire everyone if we can help it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Agreed.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hey, how is it going?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What's happening, guys?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Check this out.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Look at the oriental rugs.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is nice. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Cool. Well, it looks nice. It's nice and full
so that's good.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. And people are really digging us. You know, people come in here and it's very welcoming, it is very friendly. It is very inviting, you know. It's nice to hear that because that's pretty much what I was going for.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You know, I want people to feel like they are not doing anything wrong.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So we were reviewing everyone's numbers mostly from a labor as a percentage of revenue perspective.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The big story is we were pretty sure we'll have to have a conversation about slicing off half of your staff.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Pretty rapidly.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Your store does great actually, and it does one- third of the greatness that her store does.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Which is what you wanted.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And it is exactly what we predicted, one-third.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But your labor is 300 percent over the percentage of sales that hers is.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So my labor is more than your labor.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's three-quarters her labor.
[22:15:01] UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You do a third of the revenue.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So we've got to shave that down. So we can probably also say we are going to be asking a little bit more of everybody because there will be less of you to do everything we've been accomplishing. We can probably offer a raise, you know, to help increase morale, right, while we're stepping fewer people into the same tasks.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Such pretty bad. I definitely like everybody that works for me right now. I'm definitely not looking forward to the talks that I'll have to have with these guys, but it's all about numbers. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We have 30 employees right now. We've had
employees that have come and gone and some that have been with us since the first or employees like Lauren that have been with us much longer and Nick. And they start to become friends and family, and then all of a sudden they are not working out. They are not doing their job, and have you to let them go. You really just kind of emotionally detach yourself from the situation.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It sucks.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You've got to put the business first and do what's best for the business. Otherwise you just won't be successful.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hey. I was just calling to see if you got to make that payment for our mortgage today? Hope that all went well. I figured it would easier to call. Let me know if you have questions. Thank you.
I am trying to do a budget. It's a short-term budget. Just bills that we have to pay over the next -- over the next month really. We are in our slow season, and a lot of our bills are hitting really hard. We already told our landlord in Breckenridge that we would be late on rent. Our employees are managers and on a salary wage and between their actual net pay and the payroll taxes we pay, with unemployment taxes and wage withholding, it's a lot of bills, a lot of bills.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hey Wade, its Brian.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How you doing?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Pretty good, man. I'm calling to ask if you really don't mind if we're a little bit late on this last 20 percent or so. You know, come the holiday season here, this town starts to get a lot busier and I don't see in reason why we won't have a similar winter to last winter.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK. Yes. I guess that will be fine. I -- I can handle that.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I appreciate it, Wade. I really, really appreciate that.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Brian and I have spent thousands of dollars of our personal money for the company that should be coming out of the company budget. Yes. We're -- we're just getting hit from every direction right now.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[22:21:22] JOSH SMITH, ENTREPRENEUR: Five years I would like to honestly be somewhere else with the education that I've taken from here, you know, have my own enterprise somewhere. The dream is to sell a business to Philip Morris for $100 million, you know. Never have to work again.
Casey Jones, come here.
Both my parents are entrepreneurs, you know, feel like it runs in my family. This is college for me. This is me learning. It was like two months into working in here. Brian and Caitlin were showing confidence in me, and you know, it says something to have people believe in you and as soon as that happened, it was like a just a switch flipped for me. You know, they are no different from me, you know. Brian didn't finish his degree in college and he's out here just doing it. It's about how bad you want it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Does it smell like weed yet?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, my God.
SMITH: Hi, Momma.
My parents are coming today. My mother has never seen weed. My mom's going to (bleep) herself.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is ally, her mom Brenda. This is Steve.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Nice to meet you.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Nice to meet you as well. Heard a lot about you.
SMITH: This is pretty crazy. This is weed.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I've seen it before.
SMITH: You have. I was under the assumption you've never seen it.
We have all of our buds here. Now, if you open them up and smell them, they are all different. They are all very different.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Can I smell this one, the tangerine?
SMITH: Smell them all.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My family's from Kansas and very, very conservative, and I -- I have never smoked pot, never even tried it, so it's a little different for me, but, you know, I'm open. I'm open.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I've never inhaled.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Not to trying it yet. I'm going to pass on sour diesel.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: These brownies come, (INAUDIBLE), so this would be like a Downey body buzz.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A Downey body buzz.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, you know, lets you mellow into the couch. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: One day, you know, I text him, how are you?
What did you do at work today and he goes I rolled 300 joints, and I just said, you know, sorry I asked, as a mother.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Right now as far as expansion, we're focusing mostly on the production side of the company. If we're going to get big, I think that's where we're going to get big. If we want to be, you know, the best of the best and the biggest of them all, I don't think that it's going to be worth it for us to continue to focus on the storefronts. If we can make the same money out of the wholesale side and not have to deal with any of the headache or the stress that the store locations have caused us, why not just opt for that? Hopefully alley has been paying our taxes.
ALISON NITKA, ENTREPRENEUR: Caitlin is an extremely, extremely intelligent person and I respect her a lot. But emotion emotions are hard for her to keep it out. She is 25-years-old running a million dollar company and has all these different passages that are coming from everywhere, an outrageous amount of stress that's on her.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I guess everything with the company is just -- is bigger. It's the good and the bad. Of course, the council thing easy to deal with. That has been like the most stressful event ever.
You know, just feels so personal. I team on trying to tell myself that it's not personal but it kind of is. It's our livelihood. I just don't know sometimes if all of the work that we've done so far is going to be worth it or not.
You know, the last thing that I want to do when I go home after a long hard day of work is fight with Brian at home. Like, I've already had enough stress to deal with that I don't need to like do that, you know, 24/7. I don't need to do that all day every day, but I hope -- I hope -- like right now I don't feel like it's worth it. Maybe it would be better if we were like, you know, right now we're dumping all of the money back into the business which is good. We want to do that, but -- and we're like collecting a pay check so it's not like we don't have any money at home. But, you know, it doesn't feel like five years' worth of work yet, that's for sure. So hopefully we get there at some point, but it's hard -- it's hard to like want to keep working towards that when everything else is so hard.
[22:26:08] UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are very close to end of building permit construction. Basically what we need to do to get our certificate of occupancy, air conditioning is what we're waiting on. At that point we can call in for our c.o. inspection.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK. Can we schedule the c.o. inspection now?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, no. Because you have to call for an electrical inspection.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And then we have to call in for a final h-Vac and plumbing inspection and then we can call for a C.O. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Can we schedule electrical and IC inspections?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Once it's done.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Come on, Gabe.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Can't do it. Can't do it.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Give me a deadline.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Good luck.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Katherine and I, we get along great if we're not dealing with business. Once we start talking business, we definitely tend to butt heads a little bit.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So if we're talking if we could get our C.O., let's say target would be October 6th because we're here and all of this week, like October 6th, 7th.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When building is ready and everything is in, et cetera, et cetera.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: One, two, three, let's stay the last week in October. You want an actual date, Ka3therine?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I want a date. Pick one, Gabe.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She is super motivated, very good as far as business goes. I'm a fantastic grower, but I'm not a businessman.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Every time I talk to you, Gabe, there's more.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I know, I know.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: All right. And break. Call this meeting to a close.
I am throwing everything I own on this gamble. I'm at a point now where this is starting to become my full-time job which means that I really can't do anything else, and there's no money coming in from this right now. But the potential upside is so much greater than the potential loss.
We expected when I first came into this that we would be harvesting come Halloween. That's not happening. We're looking at Christmas right now, and I'm still not sure that I totally believe that. I know how to run a business. Do I know anything about the marijuana industry? (Bleep) no, which is terrifying. I mean, we can dream as big as we want, but if we can't grow a (bleep) plant we're not anything and we're not going anywhere.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(END VIDEOTAPE)
[22:32:14] NITKA: Me and Brian are actually good friends in college and were going to move out here together and we graduated just because, I mean, who really wants to live in Philly, ever. So he moved out here and he was serving in restaurants and I was running some restaurants. He got this whole things going and, you know, he said if anything opens up, you know, you've got the knowledge how to manage people. So, I need you to step up and do that.
We've had some inner personal issues with some of the managers. Saturday my day off, get a phone call at 8:00 in the morning from a manager who says there's nobody in the building. It's hard, you know. We went from two employees to 30 literally overnight, bit off a little more than we could chew at the time.
A couple of things to go over. Basically I've -- there's been a lot of animosity and stress I think on all of us if not the last eight months but seems a lot more the last two. I technically was never a general manager before. I worked under great people that taught me a lot, but there's still those issues of we don't know how to do everything.
One of my owners has had one job prior to this. She worked at a restaurant for five, six months and now she owns, you know, a multiple location marijuana dispensary.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Sent an e-mail out asking every single manager to call me and got one of three did.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Can still write someone up for me.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: But I dint feel - I feel like no one ever knows that I'm disappointed.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I mean, just let them know there's no more write- ups.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Exactly, they are not listening to me.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Caitlin asked to these people, your staff, to get this done. They didn't do it.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I've never had to had an opportunity to tell these managers how upset I am that I send e-mails, especially ones that are as important as a steeped mandated report that we have to send in, like --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Daily.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I can't tell people to respect me or listen to what I have to say or care about what I say. They either do or they don't. When the owners ask you a question --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think this is what we get for having a staff of an entirely untrained management who had to grow up with other non- managers.
NITKA: What's the solution to all this then?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They could just show us a little respect. I feel like nothing that I ask of our employees is unreasonable.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, why don't you have your write-up meeting with Josh, how does that sound?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: People just look at me and they just don't take me seriously.
NITKA: All right, man. Ready to have me give you these things?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
I'm the boss. People should be listening to what I have to say, and they are not listening to what I have to say. That's infuriating. I'm writing your paychecks
NITKA: You know why you're getting these. I gave you two write-ups.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: More upset about the fact that my employees won't listen to me than I am that council wants to kick us out of our location, and it's that upsetting. I'm like boiling inside just thinking about it. At this point I'm fed up. It's been eight months now. Eight months is too long. I don't want to let it go on anymore.
[22:35:00] UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm giving out little coupons called a cash and for a bcc specifically. Giving them $5 off and thanking them for being here and supporting our economy and our community for the weekend.
We're the cannabis club. If you're into trying recreational marijuana. Don't hand any to any families.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Don't hand them to families because sometimes moms and dads need to get high, too.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's sad that this conflict has to happen. It's tough because I care very much about our brand. I care a lot. I don't think that it will have a negative effect on our brands.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Weed has always been part of the culture.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Right.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And the brand of Breckenridge. You would come here and ask your ski instructor to get you weed. You know, it's part and parcel of the ski culture.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The fight to keep a marijuana shop open on main street in Breckenridge, only one pot shop open on main street. Some residents say it tarnishes Breck's family-friendly appeal.
MIKE DEDUCK, OWNER BRECKENRIDGE BRAND: It concerns me. I'm concerned about the people from Oklahoma or Chicago or Florida or Texas that say we're in the going to go there because of this. This could have an impact on everyone's business in this community.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There are definitely people in this town who are trying to sell us as Disneyland, but I'm not even sure if I went through the go Breck advertising, our actual marketing arm. I'm not sure that they are selling Disneyland because go Breck organizes half of our party festivals. So whatever people want to say we are and want to try to sell as our brand, that's not what this town is selling. The direct marketing arm of our town is selling party.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hey, do you guys smoke?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Pain relieving.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: $5.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Would you like one, too?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Absolutely.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're heavily dependent upon our guests and tourists. Why do you flaunt something like that when you realize your customers provide 75 percent of your town revenues? We're not any town USA.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Checking in from Breck, the town is certainly divided over this one.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The media is constantly up here interviewing town council and community members, and so it's like how do you position our community? It's still a family-friendly community.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's disappointing, you know. I was so excited to be on town council and to make a difference.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm proud of you. I think it makes me love you more every day that you stand up to what I see as, you know, hierarchy, the cabal, people who are opposing, you know, what society wants.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What the hell?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Look at him.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: For some reason the town is afraid to let you guys come on Main Street even though it's a town-sponsored event.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The longer we keep this issue out there, we're just going to be fodder for whoever wants to continue to write articles or quite frankly do documentaries.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
[22:42:32] UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I have never sold a stranger I'm in the marijuana industry. There's close family and friends that know. It's not at all that I'm ashamed of what I'm doing. It's just not something that I have my head around yet. It's still pretty new for me, and there's going to be a million questions, and I'm just not ready to answer a million questions.
We're over a million dollars in this at this point. Every day that we're behind, somebody else is ahead. Obviously right now our primary goal is getting the weed grown, getting it out the door. I know how to grow a business. I know how to run a business, and a lot of these people just know how to grow weed. And I haven't heard anyone that's looking at it from the direction that I'm looking at it and looking at it from a wholesale and from a branded product perspective versus from owning a bunch of retail stores.
I want to be the Coors. When do I want to see a return on my money? Yesterday. I mean, somebody's got to pay my rent at some point. Somebody's got to pay my credit card bills. If we aren't bringing in money by the end of the year, there's going to be some serious, serious situations. Time is ticking. Are people going to get (bleep)? Absolutely.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So, Josh, I wanted to have liked a man-to-man rather than all managers pounding own. Not your strongest four weeks.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I've had some personal things going on, too.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK. Well, that's not necessarily my business.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Something's been slowing him down. He is only been living up to his potential two to three days a week out of the five, and we need it from him 5.1 out of five days. We don't want to lose you from the company, but I think -- I think that you've been choosing not to be as good as you could be, and, I mean, do you agree with me so far?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I do.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The one time that Lauren put the wrong packages on there, whatever, and you called Caitlin and spent like an hour talking to Caitlin mostly about how terrible Lauren had made your night, had you spent the hour fixing it, you would have gone up two notches in everyone's chart.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
[22:44:58] UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Instead, you didn't fix the problem and complained and went down two notches. The other bitch problem was Caitlin sent an e-mail to all managers saying we needed to update daily starting whenever day that was she said. When she says something, you got -- she owns this whole thing, too. She's like 80 percent. She will kill all of us. You really have to do it. I think if he would live up to his potential he could be our best employee. Does that sound good?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm with you.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank, man. Let's go back inside.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You're welcome.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Would you like to start off with any appetizers tonight?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, the Calamari actually.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You are welcome.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm going to get some whiskey on the rocks for my drink.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Me, too.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I need something strong.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Me, too.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There was a point in the middle of the day, probably towards the end of the day, where I had 31 new e-mails. I just had 13 new e-mails now. I got it down to four and now we're back up to 13. I think my head might explode.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I can't think anymore. I'm done for the day.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sucks that it's 8:00 at night, and we're a quarter of the way into a drink and dinner and work is still the dominating the conversation. You OK, baby?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I hate seeing you all stressed out like this all the time.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I know.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The third time today you've --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't want to be stressed out like this all the time.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I mean, as soon as -- as soon as possible, I'll take over as much as I can.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Just feel like there's no - like I don't even know how - like we can't even get all of the work done together. I mean, it's like really the only reason I haven't quit sooner is because I feel like I can't like leave you with everything.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But I'm OK.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I mean, I know you're OK, but like I said, I just don't know how you would get everything done that you need to.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We still can't get everything done right now.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No. Maybe it's time to get a little more serious about the fact that you hate the stress and you hate having to be like this all the time, and I hate seeing you like this.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I know.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You know, that right?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Come here, babe. I'm sorry. I know it's terrible. The way out is work super hard, make sure I can run the company and do it without you, and if that's possible, then we should get you out of here as quickly as we can. I love you. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I love you, too.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK?
I mean that? I'm not going to put this company in front of us because this company's got to burn to the ground.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, right.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
[22:52:11] UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Why do I have so much stuff? Who has a bag at Coors like this? What the hell is any of this? I am selling as much as I can. I am moving from a three-bedroom house to a tiny studio in town. So, a, I need to get rid of things and I'm definitely a pack rat, and, b, I need the money.
My money is all tied up in the grow facility. We should have harvested by Halloween is what we were expecting. We're two weeks from Halloween and we haven't even submitted our licensing paperwork. So the planning out of how much money I had to get me through to this point is gone, so we need some plants in the warehouse.
I'm aware that I got in late. It's certainly scary to think that it could be too late, but, like I said, I can't focus on any of that, and I have faith in my -- in the people that are growing the weed. I have faith in the marketing team. I have faith in myself and faith in my business acumen. We're going to make it. To all the people looking at this saying I need to run in marijuana, it's so easy, so much money to be had. I would say you're probably a little late on that.
Money is not a given in this industry anymore. You have to know what you're doing. You have to have a plan. You have to be getting somewhere. It's a pain in the ass to move. So I'm posting all of the things that I have for sale, but it means that everyone in town right now is seeing that I'm selling everything off. It's a very public thing that I'm just now realizing is as public as it is. It's so far so wonderful with the marijuana industry.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The reward for all the risk that we're taking in my opinion is the flexibility to do what I want to do with the rest of my life. Caitlin's plan is to dip out of the business much sooner than I would. It's her intention to leave the company just as soon as -- just as soon as possible. Are we content the way it is right now, that we're as busy as we are? No, we're not content with that. That's got to go. There's no way to raise a family. There's no way to relax. The uncertainty of the banks, the uncertainty of the next president. The uncertainty of all the landlords and all the councils we will least industry, we'll leave the business if this is what it's going to look like forever.
[22:55:08] UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's not good for the industry. It's not good for me if BCC gets kicked off Main Street, if marijuana gets kicked off of Main Street, it's going to look like a step backwards. I'm going to fight for the industry. I'm going to fight for the industry which, yes, involves fighting for BCC.
My plan today is to try to get in touch with Brian, talk with him about the need to really step up given some of what I know with what the opposition is doing. The more industry support we can get behind this, the better. This is bigger than Breckenridge right now.
He is a smart businessman, but I'm not sure that he thinks it as far through as I do. I certainly would prefer that we work together than we work separately. There's power in numbers on that one.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is Brian.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Brian does not know I have a grow. I don't think I'm going to tell him right now. I don't know that it's relevant to this conversation.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hello.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hey, Brian, it's Katherine.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hey, Katherine, how you doing?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I just wanted to talk to you a little bit about the main street fight and kind of figure out what you were thinking, where you wanted to go with it, kind of what your plan was right no now.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Registered voters, get people to register to vote is really our own planned move at this point in time. I have heard that the opposition is probably going to put up a big fight and I think we'll be more responsive than anything.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: But I would expect that the opposition is going to go negatively pretty quickly. I know that they have hired a campaign consultant to come in and run this for them. I know they are throwing money behind it. I don't have a lot of faith that it's going to pass unless we stand up and do something.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think -- I think that the key to winning it on your side, on the main street side, is really making this a pot versus anti-pot argument because we know that this town is supportive of pot. We know that this town is progressive. And we need to get that argument out there versus letting the conservative people say let's take it slow.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think that if that's their strength, then we can counter it.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So I guess my other question, Brian, really, is what happens if you lose? Have you thought this through? If it fails at Breckenridge and worst case scenario you go out of business or you can't support yourself on airport road, do you close shop and just focus on crest butte? Does that support you?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It does fine. It does about half of what Breckenridge does. We'd have to lay off all of those people in Breckenridge. It would absolutely terrible. Laying off half a dozen, dozen people just in Breckenridge alone.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So what would be your next step?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My next step is to wholesale, to work on the infused product and concentration on that side of the market and focus a little bit less on the retail brand because I think in the future weed stores will kind of mellow down like liquor stores have and just become a liquor store and you really are after the brands that are inside of the store, you know, whether it's Coors from Colorado or a craft beer from Colorado or whiskey from Tennessee, you're looking for the product inside and you're willing to go to any liquor store.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Sure, I agree with you entirely. See you, Brian.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, God, and it got more complicated.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How so?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, if Brian wants to move into wholesale and I want to move into wholesale, then we personally are direct competitors. I think it helps that he doesn't truly know who I am.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What's the next step?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't know.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You going to call your airport guys?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: In this exact moment I'm going to stop and take a pause. I'm not going to do anything rash. I'm in the going to say things that I don't know how those conversations are going to go because then I'm going to end up in the situation that I was just in.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Some people glance at you in a little bit of a mean way.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You're going to lose this campaign.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't think so.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're here to answer any questions or concerns that anyone may have on marijuana on Main Street.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're picking the wrong battle.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Police have seized 420 pounds of pot.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We've become the black market for at least 40 other states that we can identify.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So how dangerous is this proses?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The room fills up with gas. Corner of the building explodes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's going tonight longest, most stressful day probably yet.
