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Tokyo Smoke

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Tokyo Smoke
Company typeSubsidiary
IndustryCannabis
Founded2015; 9 years ago (2015)
FounderLorne and Alan Gertner
Headquarters
Toronto
,
Canada
ProductsCannabis, lifestyle products, Third wave coffee
ParentOEG Inc.

Tokyo Smoke is a Canadian lifestyle brand owned by OEG Inc. that focuses on the legal recreational cannabis industry. The company was co-founded by father and son Lorne and Alan Gertner in 2015.[1]

History

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Tokyo Smoke was co-founded by Lorne and Alan Gertner in 2015. Lorne Gertner had founded Canada’s first legal medical marijuana grower, Cannasat Therapeutics, in 2004.[2] The brand’s first location, Tokyo Smoke Found, opened in April 2015 in Toronto’s West Queen West neighbourhood. In early 2017, the company acquired another cannabis company, Van der Pop, based in Seattle and is targeted towards women.[3]

At the 2017 Canadian Cannabis awards, Tokyo Smoke won the award for "Brand of the Year."[4]

On December 21, 2017, the company announced that it would merge with DOJA Cannabis and form a new company called Hiku Brands Company Ltd.[5] On July 10, 2018, Canopy Growth acquired Hiku brands and absorbed its portfolio of brands.[6]

On August 14, 2019, Acreage announced its intention to open cannabis stores under the Tokyo Smoke brand in the United States.[7]

In November 2021, Tokyo Smoke and UberEats struck a deal for users to be able to order cannabis for pick-up through the app.[8][9]

OEG Inc. acquired the Tokyo Smoke brand in 2022.[10]

Retail Stores

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Tokyo Smoke currently operates 7 cannabis dispensaries in Manitoba,[11] 6 dispensaries in Alberta, and 27 in Ontario.[12] The company no longer operates its 3 coffee shops: 2 in Toronto, and 1 in Calgary.[13] These coffee shops did not sell cannabis, instead, they sold coffee, cafe food, and cannabis accessories. In September 2018, Tokyo Smoke announced that they have received approval to build up to 10 cannabis stores in Manitoba.[14] In Ontario, where licensed producers are restricted from owning more than 9.9 per cent of a cannabis store, Canopy Growth has entered into branding agreements with retail license owners to open stores under the Tokyo Smoke name.[15]

Alan Gertner

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Alan Gertner
Born1984 (age 39–40)
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
EducationMBA
Alma materUniversity of Western Ontario Ivey Business School
OccupationEntrepreneur
Known forTokyo Smoke

Alan Gertner (born 1984) is a Canadian co-founder and CEO of Tokyo Smoke. Gertner, who also co-founded Hiku, a Canadian company, is a former Google executive[16] known for his work in the Canadian cannabis industry.[17][18][19] Gertner was born in Toronto, Ontario and raised in the Forest Hill neighbourhood by his parents. His father Lorne Gertner is a lifelong entrepreneur who managed a women's apparel manufacturer Mister Leonard. Alan received a degree in management and business administration from the University of Western Ontario Ivey Business School.

From 2009 to 2014, Gertner held several executive positions at Google's Mountain View, California and Google Asia Singapore offices. During this tenure, he was a founding member of Google's first Global Business Strategy team in Mountain View, California.[20] In 2015, the company sent him to Ghana to help build an infrastructure for high-speed Internet. During this project, and while on his way to a "voodoo" ceremony in rural Ghana, Gertner had a life-changing conversation with a tour guide who told him: "You either work on something you love, or work because it supports the people you love."[17][21] This encounter was a defining moment in his career that made him quit his job at Google,[22] take a break and later start Tokyo Smoke in partnership with his father.[16][23] Gertner now lives in Toronto and is mainly involved in the cannabis industry.[24]

Gertner, a former Google employee, is currently involved in Tokyo Smoke, a retail operation and brand[25][26] he co-founded in 2015 with his father Lorne Gertner.[27] Gertner (the father) is considered the Godfather of Canadian cannabis[28] and is also the CEO of Hill and Gertner Capital Corp., a Toronto-based merchant bank. Tokyo Smoke has a downtown Toronto coffee shop and store that sells pot paraphernalia and accessories.[29][30] He is one of the handful entrepreneurs and investors who left lucrative corporate jobs in technology and finance to focus on startups in the marijuana industry.[31][32][33] Gertner has expanded the Tokyo Smoke brand locally and internationally with eight stores.[18][34][21][35]

Gertner raised $10 million in capital[36][37][31] and led the company's merger with Cannabis Company Limited known as DOJA Cannabis in December 2017. The combined company known as Hiku Brands Company Ltd. is headed by Gertner and houses the cannabis brands of DOJA, Tokyo Smoke, and Van der Pop.[38][39]

References

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  1. ^ Lang, Cady (2016-06-13). "Justin Trudeau Makes a Surprising Case for Legalizing Marijuana". Time. Retrieved 2017-12-24.
  2. ^ Dias, David (2008-10-07). "Just don't call it pot". Retrieved 2017-12-24.
  3. ^ "Tokyo Smoke acquires Van der Pop, Seattle's preeminent female-focused cannabis lifestyle brand". MarketWired. 2017-02-08. Retrieved 2017-12-24.
  4. ^ "Canadian Cannabis Awards 2017 Winners - Canadian Cannabis Awards". Canadian Cannabis Awards. Retrieved 2017-12-24.
  5. ^ "DOJA Cannabis and Tokyo Smoke Merge to Become Hiku Brands". New Cannabis Ventures. 2017-12-21. Retrieved 2017-12-24.
  6. ^ Corporation, Canopy Growth. "Canopy Growth to Acquire Hiku Brands to Strengthen Retail and Brand Portfolio". www.newswire.ca. Retrieved 2019-09-08.
  7. ^ Owram, Kristine (2019-08-14). "Acreage aims to bring Canopy's Tweed pot stores to California - Article". BNN. Retrieved 2019-08-15.
  8. ^ Lorinc, Jacob (2021-11-22). "Weed on the menu: Uber Eats partners with Tokyo Smoke to offer cannabis products for pickup in Ontario". The Toronto Star. ISSN 0319-0781. Retrieved 2022-04-04.
  9. ^ "Uber Eats partners with Tokyo Smoke for cannabis delivery". Globetrender. 2022-03-03. Retrieved 2022-04-04.
  10. ^ "OEG Retail Cannabis to Acquire Retail Stores, Tokyo Smoke Brand from Canopy Growth in Cross-Country Expansion" (Press release). 27 September 2022.
  11. ^ "Buying Cannabis in Manitoba". Liquor, Gaming and Cannabis Authority of Manitoba. Retrieved 2019-01-29.
  12. ^ "Store Locator– Tokyo Smoke". ca.tokyosmoke.com. Retrieved 2019-07-20.
  13. ^ "Store Locator– Tokyo Smoke". ca.tokyosmoke.com. Retrieved 2019-01-29.
  14. ^ Ltd, Hiku Brands Company. "Tokyo Smoke cannabis retail stores are Coming to Manitoba". www.newswire.ca. Retrieved 2019-01-30.
  15. ^ "Canopy Growth lands a cannabis store in Toronto opening under its Tokyo Smoke brand name". Ottawa Citizen. 2019-03-19. Retrieved 2019-09-08.
  16. ^ a b "These 10 influencers used to work at Bose, Apple, GoPro, Google and Aveda. Now they work in weed". The Cannabist. August 15, 2016.
  17. ^ a b "Smoke, pray, love". Toronto Sun. November 13, 2016.
  18. ^ a b "Cannabis entrepreneur banking on private stores in Alberta". Calgary Herald. October 31, 2017.
  19. ^ "Joint ventures take off with legal cannabis, but risks remain". Irish Independent. December 8, 2017.
  20. ^ "Alan Gertner, Industry Head – Travel, Google Southeast Asia". Travel Trends. 16 June 2014.
  21. ^ a b "Why Alan Gertner Left A Great Job At Google To Start Tokyo Smoke In Toronto". Civilized. May 30, 2016.
  22. ^ ""Why I quit my dream job at Google to launch a marijuana business"". The Globe and Mail. February 22, 2016.
  23. ^ "The 'Muji of Marijuana' Opens Its Doors in Toronto". Condé Nast Traveler. August 6, 2017.
  24. ^ "The Influentials 2017: Best buds". Toronto Life. 21 November 2017.
  25. ^ "Canada Could Be To Cannabis What France Is To Wine". The Huffington Post Canada. June 9, 2016.
  26. ^ "The Green Rush & Tokyo Smoke". Memphis News. June 27, 2017.
  27. ^ Lang, Cady (2016-06-13). "Justin Trudeau Makes a Surprising Case for Legalizing Marijuana". Time. Retrieved 2017-12-24.
  28. ^ "The 'godfather of Canadian cannabis' on the pot industry's future". Maclean's. April 13, 2017.
  29. ^ "Marijuana investor Lorne Gertner on the future of Canada's pot business". Canadian Business. April 18, 2017.
  30. ^ "Purveyors of pot work to shake off the 'Reefer Madness' stigma, rebrand cannabis". 14 March 2016.
  31. ^ a b "High tech, high finance and high times for U.S. pot industry". Reuters. 6 December 2017.
  32. ^ "The problem with reaching your career goal". Toronto Star. June 1, 2017.
  33. ^ "Marijuana industry busily working to shed illicit past and go legal". CBC News. March 14, 2016.
  34. ^ "Tokyo Smoke to Bring Coffee, Clothing and Cannabis Brand to the USA". New Cannabis Venture. January 16, 2016.
  35. ^ "Cannabis cafes a possibility in the future: Alberta justice minister". Metro News Toronto. October 4, 2017. Archived from the original on March 12, 2018. Retrieved March 12, 2018.
  36. ^ "US businesses added a solid 190,000 jobs in November" (PDF). Kuwait Times. December 7, 2017.
  37. ^ "Aphria Strengthens Leadership Position in Recreational Cannabis with $10 Million Investment in Tokyo Smoke-DOJA Combination". Aphria. December 21, 2017.
  38. ^ "DOJA Cannabis and Tokyo Smoke Merge to Become Hiku Brands". The Nugget News. December 21, 2017.[permanent dead link]
  39. ^ "DOJA Buys Tokyo Smoke With Added Boost From Aphria". Green Market Report. December 21, 2017.
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