About four years after starting BlueKudu, Andrew Schrot is about to make a major change to the business model of his Denver chocolate edibles company – and he’s spending about $2.5 million to do so.
Last summer, BlueKudu bought a 20,000 square-foot warehouse in northeastern Denver for $975,000, and is now investing $1.5 million to renovate the site, according to BusinessDen.com. When complete, the facility will include a commercial kitchen and a greenhouse where the company can grow its own cannabis.
Why not just keep buying oils from other producers?
“We want to get to the point where we’re completely vertically integrated,” Schrot told BusinessDen.com. “We feel that will give us a lot more quality control as far as being able to stand behind the whole process.”
The company plans to move into the space by fall.
BlueKudu currently produces 3,000 chocolates a day from a 1,500-square-foot kitchen. The company has 15 employees and plans to hire five more by the end of the year, according to BusinessDen.com
Schrot estimates BlueKudu is on the shelves at 75% of the state’s dispensaries.
