Chris Burggraeve, the former chief marketing officer for Anheuser-Busch InBev, has made two investments in the burgeoning cannabis industry, a market that he likens to the craft brewer niche.
Since leaving the corporate marketing world about five years ago, Burggraeve has co-founded Toast, which makes pre-rolled joints, and joined the advisory board of GreenRush Group, a startup that says it aims to be the Amazon of weed, Advertising Age reports.
Burggraeve told AdAge that the cannabis industry is one of the fastest-growing categories globally. "Why? Because people want it," he told the publication. "When consumers want something you ignore it at your peril."
Marijuana could shake up the large brewing companies in the same way that craft brewers have in recent decades, Burggraeve told AdAge. "The same way that craft beer started and, for the longest time, was ignored and then exploded, there's no reason why the same thing wouldn't happen in this space," he said.
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Constellation Brands Inc. already has made a move into the industry, announcing last month its investment in Canopy Growth Corp., which sells medicinal marijuana products.
Burggraeve stepped down from his position at A-B InBev in 2012, saying at the time that he wanted to explore his own entrepreneurial potential.
