Dom Small
37
Co-Owner
Goodiez Brands: ART Cannabis & Rescue Cannabis Co.
Vincent Packard
37
Co-Owner
Goodiez Brands: ART Cannabis & Rescue Cannabis Co.
Dom Small was dancing inside a burger restaurant near his Seattle home when he delivered the news to his business partner, Vincent Packard, shouting, “We are donating $1,000 to animal shelters today!”
“It felt like all of our hard work, our literal sweat and tears over the years, was finally making an impact,” Packard says. “One thousand dollars isn’t much, but it was the first time we both really felt our calling.”
Small and Packard are the co-owners of Goodiez Brands, a cannabis company that includes the ART Cannabis and Rescue Cannabis Co., brands — both of which are passion projects for the co-owners. With ART Cannabis, Packard and Small wanted to showcase local artists that were typically shunned by higher profile galleries. The duo decided to feature art by local artists on the packaging of their products and let the store shelves of Washington’s cannabis retail stores become their galleries.
In the case of Rescue Cannabis Co., a cannabis brand that donates funds and supplies to animal shelters, Small’s mother was the source of inspiration.
“We needed a brand to represent our sungrown cannabis products, another avenue for promoting and donating to a cause that we all care about,” Small says. “Mom said ‘Animals!’”
To date Rescue Cannabis Co. has donated more than $18,000 and more than 500 pounds of supplies to animal shelters across Washington.
Goodiez was formed by a chance meeting in 2016. At the time, Small was managing a cannabis production company and Packard was running a cannabis transportation business, Black Tie Couriers.
“One of the (Black Tie) vans needed a jump just a few miles away from the facility and Dom headed out to help,” Packard says. “On the ride back to the farm we began talking about the current state of our industry and some ideas on how we could help improve it.”
Although their first chance meeting was memorable, it didn’t bear any fruit. But the second chance meeting, at a Seattle restaurant two years later, reignited the conversation, and the two launched Goodiez Brands in 2020.
“We were committed to using all of the experience we’d gathered, both good and terrible, to build a business model that not only made money but made the world a better place,” Small says. “Bold, yet completely up our alley.”
Q&A
How did you two end up founding Goodiez?
Having worked at almost every level of the supply chain we realized there were needs in service between the farm (processor) and store (retailer) that weren’t yet solved for. While Washington is home to some of the most innovative cannabis farmers, these farmers would then have to put on their marketing and sales cap and go door to door in what will prove to be the most competitive cannabis market in the world. We decided in 2018 that we would be the answer to this need. Focusing on cannabis branding, packaging, marketing, and sales we would help to bring high-quality farms and products to the retail spotlight. It was in 2020 that we pivoted to who and what we are today.
When did you meet and at what point did it become a serious endeavor?
We met in 2016 in Airway Heights just outside of Spokane. Dom was managing Blue Roots Cannabis and Vince was running a delivery company by the name of Black Tie Couriers, a third-party marijuana transporter licensee. One of the vans needed a jump just a few miles away from the facility and Dom headed out to help. On the ride back to the farm we began talking about the current state of our industry and some ideas on how we could help improve it.
Fast forward two years we met up at Derby Restaurant in Sodo, Seattle. Dom was Marketing Director for an indoor Seattle tier-3, but Vince had been working on a business plan after Black Tie Couriers shut down in 2017 due to the competitive state of the license type. This is when Goodiez was created. Initially as a business-to-business catalog, then we added an online marketplace, tossed in some nationwide CBD sales… then in 2020, we stopped. We went back to the drawing board. We were committed to using all of the experience we’d gathered, both good and terrible, to build a business model that not only made money but made the world a better place. Bold, yet completely up our alley.
What were the driving forces that led to founding Rescue Cannabis and Art Cannabis?
For Vince who came from a live-entertainment and community-fund raising background that started in 2004 before cannabis and in conjunction with the COVID-19 realities of 2020, ARTists needed more places to share their work and get showcased. Vince was actively asking store owners in and out of cannabis how a local artist could be showcased and the answers were always the same, ‘there weren’t any.’
For Dom it was an art gallery on 2nd Ave in downtown Seattle: He got to chat with the gallery curator. After a while asked her “What if anything, would you change about the local art industry?” She leaned in and almost whispered, “It frustrates me that almost all of the artists selling art in this gallery come from privilege. The privilege of having money for art lessons and materials, and the privilege of time to practice. While many others, some of my favorite local artists are working two jobs, they’re parents, and there just aren’t enough resources for these diamonds in the rough.”
The thought was “We’ve been designing cannabis packaging for years now, how can we combine local art in a way that promotes artists, that has never been done before?” To eliminate confusion we named it ART Cannabis.
The idea for Rescue Cannabis Co. as a cause and brand theme was Dom’s Mother’s. We need a brand to represent our sun-grown cannabis products, another avenue for promoting and donating to a cause that we all care about. Mom said “Animals!” Dom and Vince spoke about it and realized it was the perfect cause to make centric to our popular Sungrown line now, Rescue Cannabis Co. for adoptable pet rescues local to Washington State.
Why were these two issues important and how were the brands received?
We are both artists, cannabis, and pet lovers. There isn’t much more to it.
Cannabis with nature, family, travel, art, and animals. Building a life around these values and promoting them is how we can look back with excitement and pride. The vibes have been received the community ever-growing.
As a bud-tender in King County, Dom served a wonderful elderly lady in a motorized wheelchair regularly. She would purchase her normal 3-tins of Rescue joints and one infused. One day I said “I see you like these Rescue joints.” she replied, “I love them!” Holding back a big stupid smile Dom told her “I created this brand.” He won’t forget her response. She grabbed his hand and excitedly said, “I’m on a fixed income and you make my medicine affordable. I can bring my Rescue Cannabis tin out to the courtyard where I live and I’m the most popular girl at the home. I can afford to share it with my friends and we love it. Wait until I tell them that you donate to animal shelters!”
It’s stories like these that we find our inspiration in. We are part of the cannabis community and we want for everyone to benefit from this awesome plant.
What has been the biggest milestone for your partnership thus far?
We keep track of everything, sales, margins, unit costs, trends, and mistakes. For example, every 12 seconds someone smokes a Rescue joint.
For both of us, the biggest milestone came back in August 2023. Dom was calculating how much our monthly donation was going to be to WA-Pet Adoption non-profits. He called Vince and told him, “We are donating $1000 to animal shelters today!” Dom was dancing from the Burger shop down Madison by his apartment, broad daylight, rush hour. It felt like all of our hard work, our literal sweat and tears over the years was finally making an impact. $1000 isn’t much, but it was the first time we both really felt our calling. Since then we’ve donated over $18k and 500+ lbs of pet supplies to local animal shelters and growing.
What is on the horizon for your business?
More Art and Rescue of course! It’s all built around promoting and giving back to the community through the sales of commodity goods. Maybe it’s micro-brew, maybe it’s coffee, maybe it’s wine… there is no limit to how we can use these daily goods to promote and give-back to the things that we care about the most.
Cannabis Breeding has become a focus at the ART Cannabis farm and we will have our first-ever strain to share with Washington for this summer, Himbo – bred by Vince Packard. Our passion for unique experiences, sweeping cannabis highs, flavonoids along with terpenes, and the pursuit of innovation to delight stoners everywhere. All of this together is our charge.
We hope for many opportunities to lift the cannabis community and connect them with philanthropic causes through the important work we all do, together.