Jack Cochran, the owner of Green Coach Delivery, poses with Patrik Jonsson, CEO of Higher Collective, and Ryan Green and Andrew Johnson, managers at Fine Fettle in Manchester.
When Jack Cochran made his first round of cannabis deliveries on Friday, an elderly customer cried when he brought the package. Due to their physical condition, the customer couldn't drive themselves to a dispensary.
"They were so happy that they didn't have to get someone to drive them to the store," he said.
Cochran is the owner of Green Coach Delivery, Connecticut's first licensed cannabis delivery service. He and the company's drivers made their first stops on Friday with orders from Fine Fettle in Manchester, using unmarked vehicles.
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Ryan Green, the general manager of Fine Fettle in Manchester, said partnering with Green Coach will give the dispensary a wider reach.
"It's going really well," he said. "I think people love having that [delivery] option. Customers that might not have the easiest way to come and get their stuff, we can bring it to them."
The Green Coach Delivery website opened for online orders on May 25. Customers select a product from the retail location and choose their desired delivery time between 10 a.m. and 7:30 p.m.
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The minimum per order is $75. Orders over $150 get free delivery and those under have a $10 fee, Cochran said. All the ordering and payments are done online.
Jack Cochran is the owner of Green Coach Delivery, CT’s first cannabis delivery service.
To keep his employees safe on the road, Cochran partnered with former Connecticut state police officer, Sidney Luther, for safety training, he said. The company conducts safety calls with the driver every half-hour during their trip and the cars have alarms, a lock box and a GPS tracking system, he said.
"If the car has stopped for a certain amount of time, we know it right away," Cochran said. "Safety is first."
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Cochran started Green Coach following a career in Connecticut high school sports. He coached football across the state, including Bloomfield and New Britain, and won eight state championships. His career includes several controversial moments, including when he was suspended in New London after being accused of throwing a punch at another coach after a weightlifting competition, although the charges were dismissed.
The vast network he built as a coach and teacher has helped him recruit drivers for Green Coach, he said.
Curaleaf, the nation's largest cannabis retailer, sponsored 10 social equity applicants, including Green Coach and eight retail locations called "The Higher Collective." Connecticut lawmakers designed "social equity" programs to create opportunities in the cannabis industry for those who were disproportionately harmed by its prohibition.
As a social equity business owner, Cochran wants to use his business to give back. He plans to hire half of his employees from areas disproportionately impacted by the war on drugs and is partnering with Community Level Up, a nonprofit that serves the inner city youth of New London. Cochran said the partnership involves a financial literacy workshop and mentorship program, where Green Coach employees do community service and activities with the kids.
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"I'm at the age now where I can help not only a lot of my friends, but also a lot of students that I had in class, players that I coached and even their children," he said.
The company currently has 11 drivers and the goal is to have 25 total, he said. Cochran has spent the last six months planning a recuiting process involving a background check, phone interview and a face-to-face meeting. The drivers will recieve a personnel pass that includes a background check and credential badge to work in the cannabis industry.
Cochran plans to launch deliveries in Fine Fettle's Stamford, Newington and Willimantic locations as well in Curaleaf's locations in Hartford and Stamford and Still River Wellness in Torrington. He will also partner with "The Higher Collective" locations when they open.
Customers wait in line outside the Fine Fettle marijuana dispensary in Willimantic, Conn., Tuesday, Jan. 10.
The company is currently delivering to Manchester, East Hartford, Glastonbury, South Windsor and Vernon. Cochran plans to add towns to the delivery route every week or two, and eventually cover the whole state.
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On that first trip on Friday, the group of customers included a couple busy mothers and a man with a 10-hour daily work shift.
"I think medical patients are really going to enjoy this service, as well as the people who work at home or stay-at-home parents," he said.
Staff writer Emily DiSalvo contributed reporting.
Abby Weiss is a Fairfield County native and features reporter for CT Insider. She graduated with a B.S. in journalism at the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University in May 2022. She writes about entertainment and interesting people in Connecticut, such as a Danbury pilot who helped inspire the Amazon Prime movie “On a Wing and a Prayer,” a Yale psychologist helping displaced Ukrainian families and a Connecticut filmmaker who was chosen for an all-civilian SpaceX trip to the moon. She also speaks with experts uncovering Connecticut’s history, including information about the state’s suffragettes of color and New Haven’s LGBTQ community.
Abby is passionate about reporting on the environment, and in the past year, she’s reported on Connecticut’s unusually warm winter and the impacts of the 2022 summer drought. She’s also written about Connecticut’s child marriage ban and rent prices’ impact on Gen Z.
She has written climate stories for InsideClimate News and Callaway Climate Insights, and interned for The New York Post.
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CT's first cannabis delivery service makes first stops on Friday – CT Insider
