Operating in the Missouri Market with Curio Wellness
Missouri has quietly built one of the country’s more successful adult-use cannabis markets since launching recreational sales in 2023. Since legalization, the state has quickly grown into one of the largest cannabis markets in the Midwest, generating strong sales and supporting an expanding network of cultivators, processors, and dispensaries.
Unlike many states that see medical patient numbers decline after legalization, Missouri has continued to grow its medical program even as adult-use sales expand.
Curio Wellness, a vertically integrated cannabis company founded by the Bronfein family and headquartered in Baltimore, has been steadily expanding its presence in the state. The company first entered the Missouri market through the acquisition of a cultivation facility and broadened its retail footprint last fall with the purchase of four Greenlight Dispensaries locations.
Wendy Bronfein, Chief Brand Officer and co-founder of Curio Wellness, praised the rollout of the Missouri market, noting that while Missouri operates under a limited-license framework, the market still supports a robust number of operators and retail outlets, creating strong statewide distribution. Bronfein also touted the program’s tax structure, noting that taxes collected from the medical cannabis program are directed to a veterans’ fund that has already received tens of millions of dollars.
She added that Missouri has been notable for both clearly reporting revenues and delivering funds to its intended programs—something that does not always happen in other markets. The program’s success is particularly noteworthy, she said, given that Missouri is a traditionally conservative state, challenging assumptions that well-functioning cannabis markets only emerge in more progressive regions.
Like several other states, Missouri allows cannabis businesses to take standard business deductions on their state taxes, partially offsetting the impact of the federal Internal Revenue Code Section 280E, which continues to limit deductions for cannabis companies at the federal level.
Why Missouri?
Curio entered the Missouri market after an opportunity arose to acquire an existing medical cannabis license focused on cultivation and manufacturing. Initially, the team had not pursued Missouri because the state favored locally rooted applicants.
Bronfein noted that the largest operators in Missouri are not the typical national multi-state operators seen in other markets, but rather local businesses with strong community support.
Missouri’s location also offers strategic geographic advantages. With multiple neighboring states lacking their own programs, the state benefits from significant cross-state patient and consumer traffic, particularly in border regions. Similarly, Bronfein observed that even in Maryland, where surrounding states have some form of legal cannabis program, customers often cross state lines in search of better prices and products.
The Curio team also identified an opportunity to fill a white space in the Missouri market with wellness-oriented cannabis products. At the time, many processors were primarily focused on high-THC flower and potency-driven products, leaving relatively little focus on formulations designed around wellness and functional benefits.
Market Bottlenecks
Despite Missouri’s generally strong market performance, operators still face challenges navigating the system. According to Bronfein, one of the most significant bottlenecks is the state’s packaging approval process.
Each product design must undergo a detailed regulatory review before it can be produced, which can take 30 to 60 days. Because companies cannot confidently order packaging materials until designs receive regulatory approval, the process can slow product launches and create additional operational costs.
She also noted that regulatory interpretation can sometimes create confusion for businesses. In addition to formal statutes and regulations, operators may encounter informal guidance that functions like additional rules but does not always go through the same formal regulatory process, making it more complicated to navigate the evolving framework.
Building for the Global Future
Although Good Manufacturing Practice standards are not required in Missouri, Curio Wellness has implemented CGMP-certified processes across its operations in every state where it operates as part of a long-term strategy.
According to Rebecca Bronfein Raphael, Vice President of Business Development at Curio Wellness, the company adopted these standards early on with the expectation that cannabis would eventually fall under federal oversight similar to other consumer packaged goods regulated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
By building its production systems to meet the same manufacturing standards used in the mainstream food and consumer product industries,
Curio Wellness delivers consistent quality, strong audit-ready accountability, and rigorous safety protocols across its operations. Raphael said the framework also helps standardize employee training and day-to-day operational procedures.
As federal and global cannabis regulations continue to evolve toward stricter guidelines, adopting CGMP standards positions the company ahead of the curve, particularly as many cannabis operators have yet to implement similarly rigorous manufacturing systems.
The company is also preparing for the future through its product development strategy. Curio has been investing in tablet-style cannabis products designed to resemble familiar wellness supplements and pharmaceutical formats.
Raphael explained that the team is building products for where the market is heading, rather than where it currently stands. “Ultimately, our dream is to see sleep tablets on the shelves of Target, since they are more likely to sell a tablet than an eighth,” she said.
Curio is also thinking carefully about the types of production methods that will support long-term scalability. Raphael explained that the company has focused much of its extraction infrastructure on CO₂ extraction, a method already widely used in food and pharmaceutical manufacturing and recognized by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
Curio uses this process for its Best Self wellness products because it allows the company to produce consistent formulations at scale.
At the same time, the product innovation team continues to explore emerging technologies, including scalable solventless extraction methods. While solventless products have gained popularity among cannabis connoisseurs, Raphael noted that the technology has not yet reached a level where it can be easily scaled for mass-market production.
Curio is clearly preparing for a future in which cannabis functions as a mainstream consumer packaged good. The company is focused on building systems and product formats that could eventually support large-scale retail distribution and even global markets.
Growing with Tissue Culture
Similar to its operations in Maryland, Curio cultivates its plants using tissue culture, a propagation method used by only a small number of cannabis companies. However, the method is beginning to gain broader adoption.
The technique allows the team to maintain a large and diverse genetic library while using relatively little physical space and ensuring consistent, disease-free starting material.
Curio’s decision to use tissue culture is based on its approach of borrowing proven practices from established industries rather than reinventing processes within the cannabis sector. When launching the company, the team studied how large-scale agricultural producers operate and recognized that tissue culture was already widely used in traditional agriculture.
Bronfein pointed to examples such as commercial berry producers, where companies like Driscoll’s rely on tissue culture to maintain healthy plant genetics and consistent production.
Applying this approach in cannabis has allowed Curio to maintain a secure and expansive genetic portfolio without dedicating large areas of its cultivation facility to mother plants. As a result, the company has been able to convert space that would normally house mother plants into additional production capacity.
According to Raphael, the system also gives Curio the flexibility to introduce a wide range of cultivars to the market, test consumer demand, and gather feedback before determining whether a strain remains in regular production or moves into one of the company’s premium product lines.
Because tissue culture was relatively uncommon in the Missouri market when Curio introduced it, the company worked with state regulators to explain how the system functions and how it should be inspected.
“As a team, we strive to be thought leaders in the space, and this has been a crucial area for that,” said Raphael.
Maintaining Tight Inventory Control
Curio operates on a perpetual harvest schedule, bringing six to eight different strains to market each week in both Maryland and Missouri. By carefully controlling the amount of product released for each strain, the team can better balance supply and demand while helping protect against price compression.
Raphael explained that this strategy also helps preserve product freshness once it leaves the cultivation facility. Rather than flooding the market with large quantities of a single strain, Curio aims to release only the volume the market can reasonably absorb in a given week.
Curio also maintains a strict 21-day inventory rule, meaning stores should not carry more product than they can sell within three weeks. This approach helps ensure customers purchase fresher cannabis rather than products that have been sitting in storage for extended periods.
Just as grocery retailers carefully manage the turnover of perishable items like produce, Curio treats cannabis as a perishable product.
“You wouldn’t buy strawberries sitting on a shelf for eight weeks,” said Bronfein.
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