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On Monday, January 5, leading cannabis edibles company Wyld announced the acquisition of\u00a0Gr\u00f6n, a women-led brand focused on creating delicious, handcrafted, cannabis-infused edibles. The deal brings together two of the most recognized and respected names in edibles\u2014both from Oregon\u2014combining Gr\u00f6n\u2019s premium, innovation-driven portfolio with Wyld\u2019s extensive distribution reach across North America. According to the companies, the partnership is designed to accelerate growth while preserving what makes each brand beloved by consumers\u2014a shared commitment to quality, creativity and authenticity.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis acquisition is about scaling a brand that\u2019s already winning,\u201d stated\u00a0Aaron Morris, founder and CEO of\u00a0Wyld in Monday\u2019s press release<\/a>. \u201cGr\u00f6n has built exceptional products and a deeply trusted brand. Our goal is to support its continued growth by pairing Gr\u00f6n\u2019s creativity and innovation with Wyld\u2019s infrastructure, reach and operational strength\u2014without compromising what makes Gr\u00f6n special.\u201d<\/p>\n Gr\u00f6n<\/a> Founder and CEO Christine Apple is equally excited about the company\u2019s future. When deliberating on how to grow the brand so that it can carry on for generations, Apple asked herself, \u201cWhat is the brand\u2019s best opportunity for success to continue to grow and grow rapidly?\u201d She concluded that \u201cWyld<\/a> has the platform to be able to do that, and they\u2019re the only company, I think, in this entire space, that can do it better than I can. And I mean that.\u201d<\/p>\n Beyond Apple\u2019s belief in the power of the Wyld brand and infrastructure to expand, Apple, perhaps more importantly, is in line with Morris\u2019 vision. \u201cI couldn\u2019t imagine someone that I could trust more to carry this brand forward,\u201d she candidly shared in a conversation with Cannabis Now\u2019s own founder and CEO, Eugenio Garcia, on Tuesday. \u201cWe share a lot of common values, and he\u2019s really committed to keeping the brand as it is.\u201d<\/p>\n Join us as Apple takes us down memory lane, back to her Oregon kitchen when only medical cannabis was legal, and weed was far less socially acceptable. Apple shares insight on how she\u2019s found success by staying lean, efficient, privately funded and \u201claser focused\u201d as well as her unwavering passion for Gr\u00f6n\u2014\u201cher baby,\u201d so to speak\u2014and all that the brand represents. It\u2019s certainly been a labor of love over the past decade, and now she\u2019s finally ready to let Gr\u00f6n leave the nest and soar to new heights as the legacy carries on. \u00a0<\/p>\n Eugenio Garcia: To kick things off, can you share Gr\u00f6n\u2019s origin story?<\/strong><\/p>\n Christine Apple: <\/strong>So, I am a recovering architect. I joke about that. I graduated from architecture school at the University of Texas in \u201899 and moved up to Oregon and started working at an architecture firm, and did that for about 16 years, 14 years\u2014something like that.<\/p>\n On a whim, I started making chocolate edibles in my home kitchen, just dinking around. What started as a side project kind of grew into a monster in all the best ways. I actually had a day job as an architect, and I would make chocolates at night and back then it was medical days, but [cannabis] wasn\u2019t legal, or \u201cadult-use.\u201d From the social side, it was frowned upon, so I was kind of living a double life.<\/p>\n At some point\u2014I think 2014 in Oregon\u2014they passed adult-use, and I took a gamble and cashed in my stock options and left my architecture firm and bought chocolate machines and said, \u201cI\u2019m going to give this a go.\u201d We\u2019ve really not taken any outside capital until this past year, which has been probably one of the defining factors of our success, because the industry is so volatile. We\u2019re very lean. We run a really efficient machine. And yeah, it\u2019s been the journey of my life, that\u2019s for sure.<\/p>\n EG:<\/strong> Wow,<\/strong> good for you. What is the current footprint of the brand?<\/strong><\/p>\n CA:<\/strong> We are in nine states right now\u2014Oregon, Arizona, Nevada, Ohio, Missouri, Illinois, Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey. We\u2019re currently in the process of relaunching Nevada and Canada. I think our penetration across the markets that we\u2019re in is well over 75% on average; most states we\u2019re closer to 90%. We\u2019re the number one edible up in Canada as well. Gr\u00f6n is on a on a tremendous growth trajectory. The time was right to be able to leverage the distribution channels and the real platform that Wyld is able to offer to continue to grow the brand.<\/p>\n EG: What does the name Gr\u00f6n mean? Does it have any significance?<\/strong><\/p>\n CA:<\/strong> It does. So I studied abroad in Scandinavia during college [for architecture], and it means \u201cgreen\u201d in Swedish. It\u2019s simply the word \u201cgreen.\u201d The funny thing about this is, there was no business plan, there was no intent to start a business\u2014I just started making chocolate. Then I had to come up with a name. It was an hour-long exercise coming up with things that were meaningful to me and looking at cool words. I was researching chocolate companies, and if you think of all the interesting chocolate brands, a lot of them have words that are hard to pronounce. From this side of the world, sustainability is important, and it\u2019s green for the plant. Gr\u00f6n is kind of a cool word that\u2019s a little difficult to say and the umlauts make it fun, although difficult to type.<\/p>\n EG: I love that. And although you\u2019ve expanded from chocolates, Gr\u00f6n soley offers edibles, right?<\/strong><\/p>\n CA: <\/strong>Yes, we\u2019ve stayed laser focused. And I think again, that\u2019s another real strong point to the company and our success and profitability\u2014staying really laser focused and building the brand. I can look back on it now and say it takes a long time to mature a brand to a place where it\u2019s really a brand\u2014a brand isn\u2019t a brand if you don\u2019t recognize it and people aren\u2019t following it and really understanding it and believing in it, and it takes years to generate that kind of trust.<\/p>\n EG: Moving into Gr\u00f6n\u2019s next chapter, how did you and Wyld\u2019s CEO Aaron Morris come to meet?<\/strong><\/p>\n CA<\/strong>: So both Gr\u00f6n and Wyld grew up during the Oregon medical days, so my founder\u2019s story is not very different from his. It was the same timeline. He and I have lived in Portland for the entire duration of these companies\u2019 existence, and we had never met in person until about six months ago. Seth Yakatan<\/a>, a dear friend, actually introduced Aaron and Draper Bender, president of Gr\u00f6n. They went for coffee, and Draper came back to me and said, \u201cI have an idea. What do you think about this?\u201d I said, \u201cNo way. You\u2019re out of your mind.\u201d And then I slept on it. And, you know, the reality is, both these companies\u2014everyone in this industry\u2014is trying to figure out what to do next.<\/p>\n For years, we\u2019ve been expanding into new markets, and that\u2019s a great strategy until you run out of new markets to open, and then you\u2019ve got to figure out how to grow. And this industry is just really stifled by the federal legislation. Wyld has gone to all the states, and they dominate in all the states, but they need to figure out how to continue to grow, too. We have conquered all of the new states, but we kind of passed over those older legacy states that are more saturated like California, Colorado, Washington and Michigan. It\u2019s time for us to figure out how to enter those markets. The reality is: Wyld is the largest player in all those markets.<\/p>\n There are so many similarities with what these companies are it just, it really makes sense with the synergies between the two companies, both being Oregon-based, and we share a lot of common values, and he\u2019s really committed to keeping the brand as it is. I couldn\u2019t think of someone that could be better positioned to carry it forward.<\/p>\n EG: It\u2019s January 2026 and we have the pending completion of Trump\u2019s executive order to reschedule cannabis that he announced at the end of last year. How has that announcement changed your 2026 plans or affected your business?<\/strong><\/p>\n CA:<\/strong> It hasn\u2019t affected us at all to be honest, you know, we\u2019re a private company. There\u2019s been news and talk for years and years and we kind of just blur out the noise and keep moving forward. For us right now, it\u2019s strictly business as usual, delivering excellence and bringing products to the people who want them. That\u2019s what we do.<\/p>\n EG: With Gr\u00f6n, we\u2019ll go back to your slogan, \u201cthe best-tasting edible on the planet.\u201d Where does that come from? Is it in the ingredients? Is it the process? How do you live up to that?<\/strong><\/p>\n CA:<\/strong> Well, from the very beginning, when I started making chocolate at home, one of the reasons that the product took off was because it actually tasted good. And edibles are traditionally not very good. They taste like weed. And you\u2019ll never make something taste better by adding cannabis to it. It\u2019s my opinion, and there may be some people that disagree with that, but I think the majority of people agree.<\/p>\n There are three pillars to any product success: It has to taste good, look good and feel good. And you have to hit all three pillars. Every product that we make, that we put on market, has to. So, we\u2019ve spent a lot of time with flavor and terpene profiles and adding different levels of acidity, which counters the cannabis flavor. It\u2019s been a really fun journey.<\/p>\n EG: A lot of conversations I\u2019ve had in 2025 with industry leaders have been surrounding this big question of \u201cHow do we survive? How do we thrive?\u201d It\u2019s been a bit of a challenging four years for a lot of companies and leaders, and one of the answers to that was, \u201cIt\u2019s time to team up.\u201d It\u2019s time to create alliances and think of business more in that vein rather than people playing in their own silo. And so, with your decision to team up with Wyld, what were some of the biggest decision-making factors behind that?<\/strong><\/p>\n CA:<\/strong> Everything that I\u2019ve done with this brand from the time it started has been intentional, and it\u2019s to put the brand first so that it can carry on for generations. I look at where it\u2019s at now, and I said, \u201cWhat is the brand\u2019s best opportunity for success to continue to grow and grow rapidly?\u201d Wyld has the platform to be able to do that, and they\u2019re the only company, I think, in this entire space, that can do it better than I can. And I mean that. I believe Aaron can do this better than I can, and he will accelerate the brand\u2019s growth.<\/p>\n I am Gr\u00f6n\u2019s biggest fan, and I will be her cheerleader until I die, and I want to see this brand carry on as a legacy brand in this cannabis space. This industry is still really young, and there\u2019s a lot of volatility, and most brands won\u2019t make it. You saw it with the tech world. Who\u2019s left? Google? I want Gr\u00f6n to be a lasting brand. And selfishly, that is what\u2019s critically important to me: setting her up for long term success. And I believe that this does that. So I\u2019m really pleased that we were able to pull this together.<\/p>\n Remarkably Gr\u00f6n and Wyld, don\u2019t eat each other\u2019s market share on shelves. When we go to markets together, we actually grow the category, so we\u2019re bringing consumers in. We see it in all the all the markets that we\u2019re in, it\u2019s remarkable. Combined, the two companies are close to 30% of the market.<\/p>\n EG: You\u2019ve spoken of Gr\u00f6n as a \u201cshe,\u201d giving her an identity. How did you come up with that?<\/strong><\/p>\n CA: <\/strong>Well, probably because I reflect a lot of birthing and raising this company as if I\u2019m raising a child. This has been 11 years of my life\u2014fully committing this brand to a point where it can stand on its own and has the stability and an identity of her own. And, she is<\/em> female. She\u2019s fun, and, I mean the brand has a has a personality. It helps us connect with consumers. There\u2019s not a lot of females in this industry, and Gr\u00f6n is one of \u2018em.<\/p>\n EG:<\/strong> What\u2019s one of the most important things in creating a brand identity and differentiating yourself?<\/strong><\/p>\n CA:<\/strong> What\u2019s so important is finding something that is relatable to people. People follow brands that they love and trust. It\u2019s a commitment to clean, honest, transparent communication, and that comes through your marketing and the relationships you have with consumers and retailers. I think part of our reputation in the industry has come from that\u2014making sure that we\u2019re being honest, that we\u2019re delivering excellence every single time, that we take care of people and that we take care of our products and that we\u2019re being good stewards of the planet. All of those things come through, and people like it. People want to buy things they like and believe in.<\/p>\n\n The post Q&A: Christine Apple on Gr\u00f6n\u2019s Next Chapter With Wyld<\/a> appeared first on Cannabis Now<\/a>.<\/p>\n
On Monday, January 5, leading cannabis edibles company Wyld announced the acquisition of\u00a0Gr\u00f6n, a women-led brand focused on creating delicious, handcrafted, cannabis-infused edibles. The deal brings together two of the most recognized and respected names in edibles\u2014both from Oregon\u2014combining Gr\u00f6n\u2019s premium, innovation-driven portfolio with Wyld\u2019s extensive distribution reach across NorthContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":561,"featured_media":85089,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[19673,50,19674,1628,7875,18693,185,86,14611],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85088"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/561"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=85088"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85088\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":85090,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85088\/revisions\/85090"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/85089"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=85088"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=85088"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=85088"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/a>
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\nRead More: Q&A: Christine Apple on Gr\u00f6n\u2019s Next Chapter With Wyld<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"