Consumers eyeing craft products from home, says industry leader Davide Zaffino
ROSE LifeScience Cofounder Davide Zaffino recently sat down to discuss the motivation behind the ROSE’s craft-cannabis collective DLYS, which recently launched across Québec. A Montreal entrepreneur and long-time leader at ROSE, Zaffino examined the brand initiative’s ongoing aims to unite the province’s regional micro-producers, share local resources and help bring local cannabis to the market.
The primary inspiration for DLYS, says Zaffino, was Québecers pride in “quality products which are made here,” something that continues to be a driving force behind the collective and the ROSELifeScience mission.
“What some of these micro-producers can do is amazing,” said Zaffino. “It’s important that Québecers have access to their products in a responsible way. At ROSE, it’s part of our mission to make that happen here at home first and foremost. So far, it’s been a very positive response.”
Zaffino has been helping position ROSE to elevate the cannabis industry in Québec since starting the private company in 2016 with fellow co-founders Brian Stevenson and François Limoges.
“Distribution. Logistics. Marketing. Managing regulations. These are core elements to our business, in addition to producing top-quality cannabis,” said Stevenson, who is also the company’s chief operating officer. “Davide is a huge influence for other craft producers in the province by leading these services we offer. At the end of the day, ROSE is here to get remarkable Québec products on the shelf.”
As a native of Montréal, Zaffino knows how much local products are so important to consumers. As a cannabis industry leader in Montréal, he says there’s no reason why responsible, quality cannabis products should be any different.
“ROSE is focused on keeping our products and consumers local first,” said Zaffino. “We make sure our expertise in the regulated market can facilitate that in every way possible. By helping producers, we can help Québec’s communities and businesses too.”
Since its provincial launch in January of 2021, DLYS has been working on a handful of products from Québec micro-producers. The first two available in Québec are: AMOS by mindiCANNA out of Abitibi, and Terrebone by Hydrocanna (named after its hometown along the north shore of Montréal). Zaffino confirms there are at least two more products in the works, one by Les Culture Angers out of Abitibi-Témiscamingue and another from Lahoja, in Beauce.
“We’re sure this is just the beginning,” says Zaffino.