The underground legacy to legal Piffy Café and hemp store held a grand opening ribbon cutting with Paterson Mayor Andre Sayegh recently.
The café is also a smoke shop with paraphernalia and Delta 8 THC and other “intoxicating hemp” products.
The vibe is heightened by pictures of cannabis flower on the wall.
Grand Opening Ribbon Cutting for Piffy Cafe
“This is Paterson’s first cannabis café and co-working space,” owner Carlos Bruno declared.
He is a Puerto Rican Italian raised nearby in the 4th Ward of Paterson.
“I was literally born 3 blocks away, right down the street there,” Bruno explained. “I’ve been fighting the city to bring cannabis and let cannabis change our city and evolve our city.”
He explained it’s an educational co-working space too.
“Congratulations! You are homegrown. Sort of like cannabis. But we won’t go there,” Sayegh joked. “You have fought long and hard, and I have fought with you. Unfortunately, people on the city council don’t agree.”
He explained he had to veto the Council’s initial ordinance barring cannabis companies in the city.
“It does afford individuals who have been unjustly left out or excluded from opportunities,” Sayegh noted.
“There is an opportunity for entrepreneurial pursuits, social justice for people who have been arrested, which derails your career opportunities,” he explained. “There’s economic benefit to the city of Paterson and those who invest.”
Sayegh argued it would be a boom for the city as well and those who invested in it.
“I understand you have an ambitious expansion plan. I wish you well with that,” he said.
Sayegh joked the green ribbon was appropriate for the ceremony.
New Co-Working Hemp Café in Paterson
Bruno said it’s one of the 1st legal hemp cafés in New Jersey. The logo in the window is a cartoon of him.
Along with a café, it is a CBD Delta 8 THC, THCA hemp store.
He is eager for it to be seen as a place where others can come for help.
“The little guys in our industry don’t have the money for big fancy offices or operations,” Bruno noted.
So, he thought, “Let’s start a café with a collaborative working space where the little guys could come.”
“We’re going to have a lot of beautiful cannabis events here,” Bruno explained.
So, the Piffy Cafe is a more legal version of NJ Weedman’s Joint in Trenton.
He is hoping to franchise the Piffy Café with locations in Atlantic City and Newark soon. Bruno has partners for his operations which has helped make progress.
“Having the right partnerships and people helps a lot,” he said.
Paterson Cannabis Expansion Issues
While Sayegh has consistently been in favor of cannabis, the same cannot be said about the City Council, which has stalled on progress previously made.
“We’re still looking to expand on what we started,” he noted.
Sayegh explained they already have the large MSO GTI Rise dispensary, which is operating in Paterson. Initially, they were medical only. They have since added adult-use recreational cannabis as well.
“We’re looking to attract more people to this emerging industry,” he explained.
“We have to enlighten the city council a little bit more. It’s like a nascent industry but it’s an emerging one as well,” Sayegh added. “Some people are very conservative.”
He was eager to assure the public of its safety and the regulated precautions they wanted to take.
“Children will not be exposed and they’re highly regulated,” Sayegh declared.
“We’re getting there. We’ve already issued 3 licenses,” he said.
Sayegh said that included cultivation and dispensary licenses.
Paterson is looking to change its zoning laws and add more licenses.
Paterson is one of the most post-industrial places in North Jersey. It was founded near the start of the Industrial Revolution. Elsewhere many old factories and warehouses have been knocked down or turned into housing. It is a very diverse place. The city has a large Hispanic population that’s so large there is a Peruvian consulate, in addition to a significant Middle Eastern community.
Bruno is planning to open a dispensary in Paterson as well.
Hispanic Legacy to Legal Global MSO Corporation
He is a leader partner in a Hispanic and legacy to legal Global MSO with vertical operations in Ecuador and Colombia growing, making, selling cannabis at dispensaries, and a café lounge where people can hang out. Bruno could be a leading figure in what the industry looks like in the future. Cookies is another example of something like that.
His company has 5,000 hectares of growing fields, 3 dispensaries, and 1 Piffy café open in Ecuador. They have 2,000 hectares in Colombia. Their operations include manufacturing and dispensaries.
Other White male-owned large corporate MSOs largely indifferent to social justice that produce expensive, moldy, low-quality flower and products and like dominating the industry are the bad example of what the future could look like.
Underground Legacy to Legal Owner
“I’m 23 years in the industry, legacy to legal. I’ve worked from California to Colorado, Oklahoma,” Bruno explained.
“It’s a beautiful thing to be back home to the city that birthed me to bring something to the community of cannabis,” he declared about opening Piffy Cafe.
Bruno is working with the Sky High brand to help them go from underground legacy to legal via the THCA hemp loophole.
He is a serial entrepreneur who owned radio stations before investing in the legal Latin American cannabis market. Bruno also acted as an influencer marketer with the Cookies Harrison dispensary opening. In addition, he said he worked with several companies and has built many cannabis and CBD brands.
Bruno said he owned radio stations before getting into cannabis in Colombia. He explained he has an upcoming cannabis podcast with iHeart Radio coming out soon.
Also, he has been running a family business with his daughter Selina running his CBD manufacturing business.
Changing Delta 8 THC Intoxicating Hemp Rules
Bruno was not worried about New Jersey Delta 8 THC intoxicating hemp legislation.
He believed that it would be regulated as “intoxicating hemp” and licensed by the NJCRC, which would be fine for him.
Bruno noted Paterson already imposed a moratorium on smoke shops and will not allow any more to open.
