Minnesota hemp businesses feeling burned by Lucky Leaf cannabis expo organizers

Minnesota hemp business owners say they are feeling burned by organizers of last week’s two-day Lucky Leaf cannabis expo at the Minneapolis Convention Center, the largest cannabis industry convention in the state since marijuana was legalized for recreational use last year.

Five local exhibitors told the Star Tribune that they expected to make some money at the event to offset the cost of purchasing a booth after receiving assurances from Lucky Leaf partner Chad Sloan that they would be allowed to offer samples and sell their hemp-derived THC and CBD products.

But when they arrived for the start of the convention Friday morning, they were prevented from doing so by Lucky Leaf and Convention Center staff, along with an inspector from the state Office of Medical Cannabis, citing the venue’s policy banning the sale or sampling of THC products.

The episode highlights the potential pitfalls for entrepreneurs eager for brand exposure in a nascent industry rife with ancillary operators keen to profit from them.

Sloan blamed the confusion on the failure of exhibitors to closely read a guide before the show that was provided by Texas-based Lucky Leaf, which has staged more than 20 expos across the country and bills itself as “a must-attend event for cannabis professionals and job seekers.”

He pointed to a provision on page four of a nine-page checklist linked in an email to exhibitors that states: “Items which contain any amount of marijuana or other psychoactive substances (including but not limited to Delta 8) [THC] and Kratom may not be sampled or otherwise distributed onsite.”

Hemp-derived CBD may be sampled, according to the document, in compliance with federal and state laws, as well as the policies of the local venue, as long as the appropriate permits are secured.

“When someone asks me, ‘Can I sample? Can I sell?’ I say, ‘Yes, you can,’” Sloan said in an interview. “But when I send you the guideline, I’m expecting you to read it. And that’s what I’m referring to. And I think that it may be on me, it may be on them.”

However, the clarity of the language in Lucky Leaf’s checklist was often undermined by Sloan’s unqualified and contradictory statements in numerous private communications that local business owners shared with the Star Tribune.

Calandra Revering, a Twin Cities criminal defense attorney and owner of the THC beverage brand Slay, said she was told repeatedly by Lucky Leaf employees — including Sloan — that she would be permitted to sell her products at the expo. She said she paid Lucky Leaf nearly $2,500 for a booth, tables and electrical service.

“In my first conversation with Chad, the first thing I asked was could we provide samples and could we sell,” Revering told the Star Tribune in an email. “He said yes. Otherwise, there’s no reason for me to be there.”

When Revering asked Sloan specifically about the language in Lucky Leaf’s checklist, saying she previously had been assured by a Lucky Leaf employee over the phone that she would be allowed to sell Slay beverages, Sloan insisted that she would be able to hand out samples, according to an email exchange from March.

“[W]e just have to put it in there as a protection of the company,” Sloan wrote, referring to the wording in the checklist.

Jamie Croyle of the Minnesota Women’s Cannabis Collective, a consortium of businesses owned by women, said the group paid Lucky Leaf $7,500 to become a sponsor of the expo, which included a large booth at the entrance of the exhibition hall. Croyle shared a text exchange with Sloan dated April 24 — just two days before the event started — in which Sloan told Croyle “you are all set” to offer samples and sell hemp-derived products.

Before purchasing a booth in January, Thomas Thorpe, CEO of Granny’s — a manufacturer of a popular line of THC-infused snacks — asked Sloan to confirm that he would be allowed to sell his products at Lucky Leaf.

“You can sell products,” Sloan affirmed, according to an email thread Thorpe provided to the Star Tribune. Thorpe then asked Sloan if he could also offer samples of pretzels containing 1 milligram of THC apiece.

“That should be fine,” Sloan replied.

Thorpe said Lucky Leaf offered little support to help exhibitors prepare for the expo once he handed over more than $2,000. As Thorpe was reviewing his past communications with Lucky Leaf, he noticed that he paid an additional $499 to include his products in a swag bag for attendees. He said Lucky Leaf never followed up and his products were not included.

But Thorpe described the dozens of promotional emails he received for the conference in the weeks after he paid as “aggressive” and “annoying.” He estimated that roughly 1% of the emails he received from Lucky Leaf were relevant to his event preparations, and said he intends to seek a refund for the swag bag fee.

There was never any possibility that exhibitors would be allowed to offer samples or sell THC or CBD products at the event, according to Kevin Kurtt, spokesman for the Minneapolis Convention Center (MCC). That’s because the contract Lucky Leaf signed with the facility in May 2023 required Lucky Leaf to comply with MCC’s policy prohibiting the sale or sampling of THC and CBD products at the event, Kurtt said.

“All consumable food products or ingested products sold or distributed at the MCC must be provided by the MCC’s in-house caterer,” Kurtt said in a statement. “Due to a lack of clear licensing and legal liability insurance similar to alcohol sales, Kelber Catering and the MCC do not permit the sale of consumable THC gummies or like consumable THC products.”

Kurtt said the venue’s ban also applies to nonintoxicating CBD products because they may contain trace amounts of THC.

Asked why he told so many exhibitors they would be permitted to offer samples or sell their hemp-derived THC and CBD products when Lucky Leaf was contractually prohibited from allowing them to do so, Sloan declined to offer an explanation and restated that the language in Lucky Leaf’s checklist is clear. He said Lucky Leaf would work with exhibitors to find an acceptable solution but did not elaborate.

“The appropriate action will be handled with the vendors,” Sloan said.

One local business owner, Bridgette Pinder of Grounded Gardens in St. Paul, said she packed up her company’s booth and left Friday morning after being informed that she would not be allowed to sell her products at the show. She said Lucky Leaf refunded the entire $700 fee for the booth after she protested that Sloan had told her in an email days earlier that she would “100%” be allowed to sell.

Diane Afrooz, who co-owns THC beverage maker Kite Soda with her husband, Andrew, said they received a partial refund from Lucky Leaf on Wednesday, as did Revering and the Minnesota Women’s Cannabis Collective.

Pinder said that without onsite sales, the event offered little value for businesses like hers.

“We’re a very small company so even $700, for us, is a lot of money,” Pinder said, noting that she incurred many additional expenses as she prepared for the show, beyond the price of the booth. “You don’t get a lot of people that come to your store because of these shows, so you want to try to get that money back there.”