State board approves Zenbarn as Waterbury’s first legal weed retailer

Oct. 29, 2022  |  By Amelia Canney  |  Community News Service 

Zenbarn Ventures owners Noah Fishman and Marlena Tucker-Fishman grow hemp for their Zenbarn Farms line of CBD products that now will expand to offer cannabis at their retail store on Vermont Route 100 in Waterbury. Courtesy photo

The Vermont Cannabis Control Board this week approved Zenbarn Ventures Inc. as Waterbury’s first legal weed retailer. 

The local CBD seller was one of five businesses to receive a retail license at the board’s Oct. 26 meeting where it granted a total of 10 new cannabis business permits that also included manufacturers and cultivators. The other retailers approved are located in Burlington, Essex, Morrisville and Derby.

As of Oct. 1, Vermont’s legal cannabis market is underway under the regulation of the newly created Cannabis Control Board that is overseeing the licensing for entrepreneurs seeking to grow, process and sell legal cannabis products. Currently, Zenbarn is the only business in Waterbury to receive a license and it’s one of 17 retailers in Vermont approved to sell cannabis. 

A list the state board reviewed at its meeting on Wednesday showed three applications for licenses in Waterbury as “in the queue” described as those approved, being recommended for approval that day, or close to approval. 

Two are listed in Waterbury Center and one just as Waterbury. Zenbarn’s retail shop that sells CBD products is located on Vermont Route 100 less than a half mile from the company’s restaurant and nightclub on Guptil Road. Another applicant is the owners of Good Fire, a retail business with a store under construction on Vermont Route 100 near Cold Hollow Cider Mill with plans to open by the end of the year. 

The cannabis board reviewed the list and map of 49 retail applicants in the queue for approval at locations throughout the state. 

Most of the communities listed have just one retailer listed with Burlington having the greatest concentration of nine, something board Chair James Pepper called “concerning” during the discussion. “We don’t have any intention of closing the retail application window,” he said. “If this were [the Vermont Department of] Liquor and Lottery, they would not grant nine liquor store licenses to one town even if it was Burlington.” 

Pepper asked that the map of retail locations be kept up to date on the board’s website for potential applicants to use for planning.  “Anyone who’s thinking about getting a retail license should really consider what the population base is, what the customer base is, and how they intend to kind of compete with – if you're thinking about Burlington – nine other locations that are in a very small radius.”

For Zenbarn, the licensing process has been ongoing since early this summer, when the pre-qualification paperwork had to be filed. Even after being approved, the process is not over – each product it sells will need to individually be approved as well, as will the packaging. 

Zenbarn began selling CBD-infused food at its restaurant in 2018; it hosts 420 parties regularly. Co-Owner Marlena Tucker-Fishman said  Zenbarn launched its CBD brand named Zenbarn Farms in 2020 with the intention of providing cannabis products once they legally could. They’ve depended on the support of the community through the COVID-19 pandemic, she said, and they anticipate that same support with their new products.

“We’ve been doing cannabis within our business for nearly six years now,” Tucker-Fishman said. “Cannabis is nothing new to the Waterbury community. I think lots of people are really excited that we’re taking it to the next level – or the next branch, if you will.”

CBD products for therapeutic uses have been legal in Vermont for some time. Zenbarn’s products to date come from hemp which is a type of cannabis plant as is marijuana. Both plants contain CBD which is non-intoxicating. The key difference is that hemp has a concentration of 0.3% or less of tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC – the psychoactive chemical that gets people high. The Cannabis Control Board’s work is licensing businesses to grow, manufacture and sell products that contain THC. Customers must be 21 or older to purchase cannabis.

Zenbarn’s application was given priority status in the approval process under the board’s social equity provision that prioritizes Black and Hispanic applicants and those from communities that have historically been disproportionately impacted by cannabis prohibition.

Two weeks ago, Zenbarn Farms temporarily closed its retail store in anticipation of launching its new legal weed product line once it received state approval. It now plans to reopen with cannabis products on the shelves next weekend. An event at the Zenbarn restaurant and nightclub on Guptil Road on Nov. 5 will celebrate the next stage for the business, Tucker-Fishman said.

Acclaimed Native American hip-hop artist Supaman is scheduled to perform. “We couldn’t imagine a more proper way to birth our newest adventure and set it on the right path,” Zenbarn Farms wrote on Facebook. Tickets and information are online at Zenbarnvt.com.