Even then, you still risk getting your profile deleted. It's like that with herb, too. Some of that self-promotion has to happen in cannabis, because the ability to market is based mostly on Instagram. Some people are graceful about it, but other people always say they have the best. There are a lot of egos that come with these worlds, too, especially with the pop-up culture going around in food. COVID really made that happen, and the food people are seeing price changes like cannabis people have. The similarities are more evident now than ever. The margins and always having to worry about price changes. It's hard for me to avoid doing that.Īre there a lot of similarities between the food and cannabis trades? Maybe even become friends with the place. My grandfather taught me that if you like a place, you support it and go there often. But it really is all from just visiting places. I'm a cannabis person in my heart, so this never really seemed like work.
I met a ton of people that way, and was gathering business cards, putting them into a spreadsheet and reaching out to people.
There were plenty of consumption events and cannabis cups, but the Indo Expo was one of the first to treat this is as a real business. We were always traveling or working on going to new cities, and that involved a lot of talking with other businesses. Then Indo Expo was here, Portland and some other places. Most of that is just always being willing to talk to people, and having to travel for cannabis in my last job. Stephen Woolf: I was the marketing director and worked with the Indo Expo. Westword: How did you gain all of these connections in art, cannabis and food? "It's about finding the best hash and strains and figuring out what goes best with it." "It's not about finding the highest bidder for me when I'm looking for people or companies to work with," he says. Keeping his events small, private and for those in the know, Woolf is a rare success story in a murky space as cannabis-friendly events struggle to find legitimacy in Colorado. Members of the Wu-Tang Clan and the Pharcyde experienced Groovy Gravy last year, while nationally known chefs like Dave Hadley and Emily Oyer have handled the cooking, and Death & Co has served up cannabis cocktails. Founder Stephen Woolf teams up with fan favorites like 710 Labs, Lazercat and Dialed In to create unique events mixing popular cannabis products and local food and drink. Finding a good cannabis event in Denver takes work, but finding something groovy takes patience, too.Īs an organizer of exclusive cannabis parties, exhibitions, dinners and pop-ups, Groovy Gravy partners with talented chefs, artists and cannabis brands to lead guests through a journey of the best Denver has to offer.