Breez is now expanding the reach of its best-selling cannabis tablets, mints, tinctures, and more with the opening of a manufacturing facility in Hazel Crest, Illinois.
Breez’s new Midwest operation is made possible through its partnership with Chicago-based Contract Canna This partnership will expand access to Breez products and also create jobs in the Prairie State; “Cannabis is bringing back American manufacturing and with it local jobs,” says Breez CEO Austin Hice, “manufacturing is cool again.”
Breez is a family business that launched nearly a decade ago in California’s medical cannabis market. From the kitchen table of its husband-and-wife founders Anna Walters and Austin Hice, the brand has grown to become one of the world’s bestselling cannabis brands. Breez boasts over 100 million cannabis experiences delivered to date through its precisely-dosed products. The company is known for discreet and user-friendly products with a variety of targeted benefits from relief to rest, creativity to relaxation. Their novel digital “Cannabis 101” guide helps consumers understand how to best experience what cannabis has to offer. This Illinois partnership will expand access to Breez products for consumers previously limited to the brand’s hemp-based nationwide offerings. Now, Illinois customers will be able to enjoy the full range of Breez’s product lines including its signature blends of different cannabinoids including THC, CBD and CBN.
In a climate where most cannabis companies, even heavily venture-funded multistate operators are failing, Breez is bucking the trend by remaining profitable and sustaining organic growth in difficult economic years. Contract Canna CEO Ben Dreyfuss notes, “We’re careful which product lines we bring on.” Dreyfuss’ Contract Canna is also a family business competing against mega-funded investment vehicles and multistate operators known as “MSOs”. “We need hit products to compete. Here in Illinois, Breez already holds a strong reputation as a great operation with world-class products.”
As one of the few proven businesses in the legal cannabis industry, Breez is emerging as a trusted household name. “Cannabis just went through something like the big dot-com boom and bust. Now that the dust is settling, the real winners in cannabis are going to become more clear. California’s market proved that big marketing budgets won’t overcome mediocre products. Great manufacturers and farms are going to lead – I’d call that the American way” says Hice.
