New York Magazine has a cover story on Willie Nelson in the November 2nd Edition discussing his concerns about corporate interests taking over the industry. The in-depth article sheds light into his own “Willie’s Reserve” that is designed to help small growers and contrasts it to some other business models, such as Diego Pellicer’s “Starbucks” approach and the Privateer Holdings licensing model with Marley Natural. It also discusses some of the initial conversations between Nelson and the CEO of Willie’s Reserve, Andrew Davison, as well as his strategy of working with independent growers rather than owning the supply chain:
Davison has no interest in acquiring those local companies and prefers for them to be small owners operating privately. To maintain consistency, he will establish standards for potency, environmental impact, and organic growing methods, and in exchange for adherence to these guidelines, Willie’s Reserve will provide the growers with access to a network of internal support systems, including advice on how to organize and operate a small business.
Read Will Hylton’s “Willie Nelson’s Crusade to Stop Big Pot”: http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2015/10/willie-nelson-crusade-stop-big-pot.html
