Christian Mollica is co-founder and chief revenue officer at Jaunty, a New York cannabis brand producing vapes, edibles, tinctures and concentrates.
Mollica said the company is trying to get away from its reliance on distillates and shift toward connoisseur oils, specifically those made from fresh frozen materials. Jaunty is currently doing solventless extraction with live rosin and it's installing a butane machine to launch a live resin product by the end of the first quarter. But since New York is a fairly new recreational market, Mollica said it's still flooded with distillate since it's easiest to produce.
"Distillate probably gets a bad rap with consumers. They're looking for something more connoisseur-focused like resin and rosin. But it takes time to get that kind of quality and quantity available in the market," he said.
Jaunty is currently 100% focused on the New York market and even though it has aspirations to eventually expand to neighboring markets, Mollica said there's plenty of room to win in New York. "Honestly, if you can make it in New York, you can make it anywhere."
From a outsiders' point of view, the New York adult-use market launch has looked rocky. Mollica acknowledged the early delays in the rollout but said, in hindsight, it may have been the perfect pace for Jaunty to scale along with it. Now that the company has been able to significantly expand distribution, its new goal is to become New York's number one vape brand in 2025.
The Cannabis Equipment News (CEN) team recently traveled to MJBizCon 2024 in Las Vegas from December 4 through December 6. At the show, we interviewed leaders from nearly every aspect of the industry. We didn't have time to interview everybody, so if we missed you, please reach out to [email protected]. MJBizCon 2025 is scheduled to be held from December 2, 2025, through December 5, 2025, at the Las Vegas Convention Center.
