The popular cannabis brand Jeeter has officially launched in the Empire State.
Though Jeeter as a brand started officially in 2017, the real story starts around 2004 when two sets of twin brothers met while in college in Florida.
“We all met at FSU. Lukasz [Tracz], who’s one of the co-CEOs, and myself were both waiters at Olive Garden. We became best friends, and then he told me he had a twin brother and I said, ‘Get out of here, I have a twin.’ They both lived in Miami, so we connected them and they became best friends,” said David Solano, Chief Sales Officer of Jeeter.
Solano told amNewYork that the group always had a passion for cannabis. In 2016, the team moved out to California to form Jeeter, named after what they used to call “joints” in college to evade suspicion from their professors.
“We knew we wanted to be in cannabis, but we weren’t sure if we wanted to be flower or if we wanted to buy and sell; we had no idea what to do,” said Solano.
Solano said that in an effort to figure out what they wanted to do with their business, the team went to a dispensary and bought a bunch of different products to try out. However, in their search, they all agreed on one thing: the joints were not good.
“They were barely lighting up. It was a white tube with a sticker on it. It just wasn’t a good product,” said Solano. “[We thought] this is a huge opportunity. We love joints, we know we can create a really cool brand.”
There were two elements that the team really wanted to focus on: ensuring that the product was good, and that the packaging reflected how good the product was.
“We came at a time when there weren’t a lot of brands doing cool things and really caring about what the packaging looks like. There were a lot of people rolling things up as quick as they could, putting a label on a white tube, sending it to a dispensary and just trying to make a profit,” said Solano. “We came in here with the ideology of [connecting] with the consumer. Let’s create a product when the second you see it, you get excited.”
Jeeter’s flagship product, the Baby Jeeter (a pocket-sized pre-roll), took a lot of planning and research. After a lot of trial and error, they found the right blend of flower and presentation to create the product.
“It took us a while, just like anything in life. We weren’t born joint experts. It took a little bit of trial and error for us to find our groove,” said Solano. “When we released the Baby Jeeter in California, everybody wanted one. It was the talk of the street; all the girls thought it was so cute, and the guys thought, ‘This thing is so small but it gets me so high.’ It’s what catapulted Jeeter to the top.”
Jeeter has since expanded and offers a variety of pre-rolls (dubbed the #1 preroll on the market), concentrates, flower and vapes. Their online store also contains Jeeter’s fashion line, which has various shirts, jackets, hats, bottoms and accessories.
Jeeter officially launched in New York at the beginning of September with products joining 51 stores across the state, many of which are in New York City. The brand held special pop-ups in-store to help introduce the brand to New Yorkers and held events for the public to get further acquainted with their new communities.
For Solano and the rest of the Jeeter team, it was important to take the time to get to know the New York stores they were joining.
“We’re very fortunate to have become a very big and known brand, but Jeeter is still very much family-owned, still run by the same six best friends,” said Solano. “We’re still here, elbow to elbow with our employees, shaking hands with all the stores and meeting everybody.”
Solano hopes that Jeeter can continue to embed itself into New York’s ever-growing cannabis community.
“We’re also very impressed with what New York has already has done on its own. We’re not trying to come here and take over or anything like that,” said Solano. “We just want to come here and add to an already amazing cannabis community and we hope that New York receives us with the same love that we have for them.”
For more information or to find a Jeeter retailer, visit jeeter.com.
