Harborside Health Center
Oakland, California, United States: Medical Cannabis Dispensary
URL: www.harborsidehealthcenter.com
Founded: 2006
Employees: 130+ full-time employees
Company Stage: Growth
Investor Relations Contact:
Ted Rebholz, Chief Financial Officer
[email protected]
MANAGEMENT TEAM
Steve DeAngelo, Cofounder and Executive Director
Andrew DeAngelo, Cofounder and Director of Operations
Ted Rebholz, Chief Financial Officer
COMPANY OVERVIEW
Harborside Health Center is the nation’s largest non-profit medical cannabis dispensary. Its two centers are located in San Jose and Oakland, California. The Oakland medicinal cannabis collective offers its 94,000 registered patients free holistic health services (such as acupuncture, Reiki, and yoga), lab tested medicine, and education.
Harborside provides its customers 100% lab-tested products, both through its own product development pipeline and from third-party vendors. The company’s product portfolio includes sun-grown and lamp-grown flower strains, dozens of concentrates, edibles, tinctures, topicals, and a wide selection of seeds and clones.
COMPANY PROFILE
Revenue Driver: A wide variety of products, including flowers, tinctures, edibles, and topicals.
Competitors: There are no direct competitors, but external restraints come in the form of a need for increased consumer education.
Competitive Advantage: Harborside offers both a reputable brand and a unique patient experience that is recognized globally. Specifically, the company is well-known for its variety of 100%-tested medical cannabis products, offered in a safe, welcoming in-store environment, with respectful and knowledgeable staff.
Business Model: Harborside Health Center is building success from its customer experience-focused business model. From seamless purchasing and delivery services to health and wellness, the company offers comprehensive wellness resources to its members. It has seen growth due to loyal members, and its brand has gained popularity due to increasing word-of-mouth.
Depending on the regulatory environment, vendor selection and specific opportunities in a given jurisdiction, Harborside may vertically integrate. All business decisions must support its mission of consistently offering high-quality products to its customers.
Funding: Harborside Health Center’s success with patients enables it to generate surplus operating cash to reinvest in its offering, thereby further strengthening the brand, its training program, and its management talent in order to bolster its success. While Harborside’s existing stores are self-sufficient, it is seeking funding for its various growth projects.
Sales/Marketing Strategy: Because most jurisdictions have limits on traditional marketing strategies, Harborside relies on word-of-mouth. According to the company’s CFO, Ted Rebholz, “Patients and customers will tell their friends, and that is the most powerful type of marketing. Harborside has a Net Promoter Score of 87, which speaks volumes about the intensity of loyalty and advocacy from our patients and customers.”
Customers: Harborside’s dispensaries cater to a wide breadth of the population, comprising almost 200,000 unique patients, and a good number of its members are over 55 years old.
Target Market: The target market includes patients looking for quality products and services, spanning all ages and demographics. This also includes anyone looking for wellness resources and products.
Products: Edibles, flower strains, concrete and solvents, tinctures, accessories, topicals, and clones. Services are also offered at the Oakland collective.
Customer Problem: Patients who may otherwise worry about operational practices or inconsistent products/services find true value in Harborside’s compelling variety of “100%-tested Clean Green” medical cannabis products, which are offered in a safe, welcoming in-store environment, by extremely knowledgeable staff.
Management:
Steve DeAngelo, Co-founder and Executive Director, graduated Summa Cum Laude from the University of Maryland. In October 2006 he was issued his medical cannabis dispensary license by the City of Oakland and subsequently founded Harborside Health Center with his brother. Steve is a well-known advocate for the value of medicinal cannabis and the industry as a whole, spreading his message and educating through media and in-person events.
Andrew DeAngelo, Co-founder and Director of Operations, was previously the Vice President of Ecolution Inc., a hemp retail company. Andrew co-founded the company with his brother and manages day-to-day operations at the company’s wellness center in Oakland. He is a dedicated advocate of wellness and ensures best practices in the company’s retail operations.
Ted Rebholz, Chief Financial Officer, holds a BA from Columbia University, an MA from Johns Hopkins, and an MBA from Wharton. Ted brings vertical industry experience to his role at Harborside. He worked in the food and technology industries prior to his role at Harborside, with experience at WhipTail Technologies, purchased by Cisco, and Beyond Meat (Kleiner Perkins, General Mills).
ADDITIONAL POINTS OF INTEREST
Branding is especially valuable when it comes to Harborside Health Center.
The business was featured on the Discovery Channel’s Weed Wars, and it is gaining notoriety nationwide.
Harborside is trusted and relied on by a growing base of patients and consumers.
