Keef Cola, Kiva Confections Form Expansion Partnership

Colorado-based CanCore Concepts, owner of the popular edibles brand Keef Cola, and California-based Kiva Confections, maker of cannabis-infused chocolates, have struck a new type of licensing deal that will give each company access to the other’s home market.

Under the agreement, both companies will not only distribute but also manufacture each others’ products on their home turf.

That means Keef sodas and other edibles will be sold in the roughly 850 California medical marijuana dispensaries where Kiva chocolates are available, CanCore Chief Operating Officer Scot Knutson said in an interview.

Kiva edibles, meanwhile, will be sold in the roughly 400 Colorado storefronts in Keef’s network.

“I’d like to see the end of summer, maybe fall, for the full launch of Kiva out here,” Knutson said.

Knutson said access to the Kiva network will help CanCore become a national brand.

“We want to be a nationally branded product across the board,” he said.

To that end, the company has also secured licensing deals in Arizona, with dispensary operator Arizona Grass Roots, and in Oregon, with cannabis cultivator Urban Farms. CanCore also is in negotiations with potential partners in Nevada and Washington state, according to Knutson.