It sounds a little like a ghost kitchen for cannabis.
Opening this month, HiJolly Manufacturing, the latest project from Botanica dispensary owner Bryan Hill, will offer 8,000 square feet of production kitchen space to aspiring start-ups that want to make and sell their own cannabis-infused products without the enormous financial investment of buying a license and building a kitchen.
The concept sounds similar to the commissary-style restaurant kitchens that emerged during the pandemic, where several online brands could produce their food and drink items in one large workshare space without the expense (and, at the time, dangerous human interaction) of individual storefronts or dining rooms. Think ghost kitchens for the Leafly weed delivery crowd.
But Hill, who got into Arizona’s medical marijuana business early, opening his first dispensary in Tucson in August 2013, says it’s not quite the same thing.
“We’re slightly different from the commissary-style kitchen in that it’s all our own internal staff,” Hill said. “So we’re not necessarily sharing space with people. But the benefit of this facility is that brands don’t have to make a huge investment up front and don’t have to hire their own staff to get their product going. We’re pooling our
