Emunio Logistics is officially NJ’s first legal cannabis Wholesaler and Distributor in the market. They have been serving operators since the end of March.
The NJ Cannabis Regulatory Commission (NJCRC) confirmed it with Heady NJ. A few other wholesalers and distributors have also gotten into the market recently.
Wholesaling is when a company sells products to another company. The 2nd company then often sells those products retail to the customers at a store. Distribution is how they get there. So, one license makes sense with the other.
The truck should not indicate what is contained inside.
More people would rather open a dispensary or farm/grow site.
One operator joked to Heady NJ about an early product run to a dispensary and how awkward being pulled over for a speeding ticket would have been.
“Once the industry grows up… there’s more need for our services,” Chairman & CEO Scott Berman explained. “It’s a big market, you don’t expect to have 100 percent of the market.”
“The delivery service is good, but the wholesale service is much better,” he noted.
“We’re finding success with people who thought they could do it themselves and found it to be too much,” Berman explained.
“There’s a lot of trim for sale in New Jersey. These growers … have hundreds of pounds of trim,” he said.
Cultivators can’t use their massive amount of cannabis flower that naturally falls off to make pre-rolls as a manufacturer. This is why many wanted and have both licenses.
“We have the ability to store people’s things,” Berman explained.
For example, companies in South Jersey want to sell to North Jersey stores so they are storing it and then later delivering it to dispensaries.
“It’s an exciting time,” he said.
They’re based in Garfield in Bergen County.
Making White Labeling and Production Deals
Berman noted that New Jersey’s cannabis market has been dominating by large corporate Mult-State Operators (MSOs.)
“Little by little, independents are taking market share,” he added.
Berman has been working with people with white label and production deals. In a production deal, a company from elsewhere brings seeds, baby clone plants, ingredients, and recipes for the licensed company to make their product under their label.
Those with production deals don’t like the association of white labeling where the cheapest brand at the supermarket is often the company’s brand or a celebrity’s face on a product.
Berman explained they’re eager to help brands launch by connecting them with a manufacturer in a 3-way deal and they distribute and wholesale it.
“We want to help people make money,” he declared.
“Competition helps us,” Berman noted.
He told Heady NJ he has heard many people say “We have to buy from MSOs. We wouldn’t have enough stuff from others. Others don’t have volume.”
“Our customers are sick of the MSO stuff. It’s not great. They’re open to an alternative,” Berman noted.
“When we come in there with a new brand… they love it,” he explained. “A brand sold out in a couple days.”
“It’s just getting started here. That’s how we can be helpful to them to get them on shelves,” Berman added.
Emunio Logistics Ownership Background
Emunio means to strengthen, secure, and fortify in Latin.
Berman has been in cannabis for some time. He got into the legal weed industry in 2014 as co-founder of Cannabis Rep Network, which was merged into Calyx Distribution, which provided sales and distribution for cannabis brands in California. He is a long-term resident of Philadelphia.
Berman co-founded a data-driven digital ad agency called Audience Partners and sold it. In 2017, he became a Principal and investment committee member of the Panther Group. It’s a cannabis focused venture capital fund.
Access to capital or the lack of ability to get money is a significant issue in the cannabis industry. It’s the thing that stops the dreams of most of the NJ conditional cannabis license applicant entrepreneurs.
Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer Jim White built and sold a cybersecurity solutions provider, led national sales teams to success, and worked for several security manufacturers. White is also the CEO of Cannapire, which does cannabis business consulting nationwide.
Noted cannabis attorney and lobbyist Fruqan Mouzon is on their board too.
Emunio Logistics got its license in October 2024 from the NJCRC as a legal annual distributor and wholesaler.
Other Wholesalers and Distributors have been opening in Jersey too. For example, Talaria Transportation also got into Wholesaling/Distribution in Jersey along with others.
It has taken some time to get here. The NJCRC only started allowing them to apply after dispensaries, growers, and manufacturers were established, since they needed to take the time to prepare regulations.
