Cannabis will become a more mainstream part of the food-and-beverage industry, according to Michael Dubin, president of Michael Dubin & Associates, a Santa Monica, Calif.–based provider of real estate services to the restaurant industry nationwide.
“When it was legalized in California on a recreational level, we knew that things were going to change, and things have changed,” said Dubin.
Indeed, state laws have changed dramatically over the past few years, opening the door for more cannabis-driven food-and-beverage opportunities.
Dubin cited the questions still to be worked out for cannabis cafés: “Where is it going in the food industry? Is it going to be just in edibles? Is it going to be in baked goods? Is it going to be on restaurant menus? Is it going to be in beverages? What’s the direction it is heading, and who is going to be the consumer, and, also, who is going to be the investor? Who is putting up the money to make this happen?”
The typical restaurateur is not thinking about cannabis just yet, according to Dubin, but it is coming in the next five years to more mainstream restaurant menus, he says. “As state and national laws continue to change, you are definitely going to see CBD-infused beverages [cannabidiol/CBD is the medically used element in cannabis], you are going to see CBD-infused food, and, depending upon their popularity, it is going to definitely change the way a lot of restaurants think.”
There’s a cannabis restaurant in California
Original Cannabis Cafe, the first cannabis restaurant in the U.S., opened Oct. 1 in the Los Angeles area
Read moreConsumers seem to be in favor of the trend. According to a Pew Research Center study, 66 percent of Americans support the legalization of marijuana as of 2019, compared with 12 percent in 1970.
By Ben Johnson
Contributor, Commerce + Communities Today
