Q&A: Green Roads’ co-founder on growing with the CBD category

Laura Baldwin Fuentes, CEO and co-founder of Green Roads, emphasized that retailers do their homework as they search for the best supplier partners in the CBD category. The Deerfield Beach, Fla.-based company aggressively is introducing items into the category. She talked with Drug Store News about the high-flying category and what it could mean for the retail community over the near term. 

Drug Store News: Tell us about Green Roads.
Laura Baldwin Fuentes: Green Roads began when I started making simple CBD oils and topicals for my friends and family. Now, our goods are sold in over 10,000 retail locations, and we have more than 50 SKUs with new products on the way. I am so proud of how far we’ve come, and I think all of our customers and partners are going to be excited about some of our coming innovations.

The company has been named the No. 1 privately held CBD company in the United State, which is a big honor for us. Our product line won “Best CBD Product” at the Cannabis Business Awards in 2018, and our co-founder Arby Barroso won “Advocate of the Year.” 

Drug Store News: What about the company’s products and strategy makes them unique?
LBF: Our product line of oils, topicals, gummies and beverages is entirely proprietary. Beyond that, we’re unique because of our rigorous commitment to self-regulation in an evolving industry. I brought 25 years of experience as a licensed compound pharmacist to my work here at Green Roads. We test our ingredients before we formulate products. We send our finished goods to third-party labs for another round of testing, and we make the resulting lab sheet available to customers via QR codes on each product.

Drug Store News: The CBD category continues to emerge, but there are a lot of questions out there. What do you suggest retailers do at this point?
LBF: I suggest retailers do their research and find partners they can trust. The FDA is still studying this compound. Perception of CBD is evolving in the eyes of the FDA, the media and the public. Aim for consistency and compliance in all things CBD.

Drug Store News: What are you doing to ease the concerns?
LBF: Consistency and compliance have always been central to the Green Roads brand. We supply all of our retail partners with as much educational material as we can, but ultimately the CBD industry is evolving very quickly, and I encourage anybody involved to stay on top of things the best they can.

Drug Store News: Where are you going to be a year from now?
LBF: We firmly believe CBD is the wellness story of our generation. We believe that in a year from now, research and public knowledge will have advanced considerably. Florida may be leading the way with a recent addition in its laws for CBD retailers. This bill simply required brands hold to standards that, as a pharmacist, I believe are 100% necessary. We’re going to see a positive shift in the overall perception of CBD, and more high-quality products on the market.

Drug Store News: How does someone choose a CBD product?
LBF: We offer oils, gummies, capsules and beverages because we want each person to be able to find a CBD delivery system that fits their lifestyle. Testing different products is a great way to find the best one for you. For example, on-the-go people tend to love our gummies. Active people might love the topicals, and so on.