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Short Summary
Hosts Tom Ritchie and Wesley Bowles discuss retail trends and market projections, debating whether edible formats will eventually overtake traditional flower. Highlighting new products from Vacay and Lord Jones (Cronos Group), they analyze the biological differences between ingestion and inhalation, focusing on distinct psychoactive onset times. The hosts also critique poorly designed dispensary menus that overwhelm consumers, highlight new High Flyer brand swag, and discuss the new Road House movie.
The guest of the episode is Gavin Delainey, Co-Founder and Head of Cultivation at Next Friday. Gavin details his journey transitioning from legacy “trap house” cultivation into the legal market. He describes co-founding Next Friday with his business partner Sam and establishing their indoor facility under Noble Growth Corp in Drayton Valley, Alberta. Gavin explains the origin of the brand name “Next Friday”—a direct homage to their licensing process with Health Canada, where they checked for approval status every Friday.
Finally, Gavin explains the cultivation systems that ensure Next Friday’s product quality. He highlights the design of their state-of-the-art facility and their in-house tissue culture lab, which they use to clean genetics and maintain disease-free starting material. Gavin emphasizes their strict policy of only packaging flower cultivated in-house to protect brand loyalty, and discusses their multi-strain Chameleon Connoisseur Pack. He also shares thoughts on excise tax compression, the role of brand reps like Alex in Ontario, and his passion for vintage BMW E30 cars.
Tom Ritchie Says: Hey, what’s up, everyone? Check out what’s coming up this week on Legacies: “I literally only did the whole fucking time was look at this fucking guy!”
Tom Ritchie Says: Welcome to another episode of Legacies. I’m your host, Tom Ritchie. Joining me, as usual, Mr. Wesley “The Wizard” Bowles.
Tom Ritchie Says: Wes, after yesterday and everything we went through over the weekend, you are truly the wizard! You reconfigured the network at the studio, hardwired this, Wi-Fi that, changed configuration settings I’ll never know what to touch again.
Wes Bowles Says: Yeah, we’re all set up! New space for me, a new space for you. We should be all hardwired now—no more technical issues. Considering we do this all remote, with our guests remote and us remote from each other, we’re taking this into the future like Star Trek!
Tom Ritchie Says: Fingers crossed, smooth sailing from now on. Excited to be back!
Tom Ritchie Says: We got you moved pretty seamlessly over Good Friday. You and I slugged it out, although I think we did more walking than slugging.
Wes Bowles Says: Moving apartment to apartment with elevators—no stairs, which was nice. I think this is move number 25 or 26 for me! The next time I move, it’s movers or nothing else if there are stairs involved. I cannot stand moving.
Tom Ritchie Says: I would never put you through a move at my house. You’ve seen the amount of shit I have—I’m an absolute packrat! If you need a random 12-inch two-by-four or a specific bolt, my garage has it. When we move, I’m hiring movers and we’ll just sit back, smoke a blunt, drink a beer, and watch.
Wes Bowles Says: There’s only so much pizza and beer is worth—definitely not worth a broken back!
Tom Ritchie Says: Prepping Easter Sunday dinner had my back screaming. But I’m loving your new background with the TV. I’ve got to get one up here!
Wes Bowles Says: Tech is my thing—I’m a gadget fiend! If the house ever went up in flames, the one thing I’d have to save is either that TV or the computer running all this shit.
Tom Ritchie Says: Have you seen the new Road House movie with Jake Gyllenhaal and Conor McGregor?
Wes Bowles Says: I’m an old Patrick Swayze Road House fan. The original is a classic: “I heard you have balls big enough to come in a dump truck, but so far you ain’t shown me shit!” And my favorite part was Jeff Healey.
Wes Bowles Says: Young guns who don’t know who Jeff Healey is, go educate yourself on real guitar mastery! I was lucky enough to see him play at his club in downtown Toronto before he passed away—I had a fake ID and snuck in. The new movie on Amazon Prime is pure action. Post Malone is in the opening fight scene, but Conor McGregor basically just walks around with his octagon chest flare saying, “Look at this fucking guy!” the entire movie!
Tom Ritchie Says: If you’re expecting an Oscar film, you’ll shake your head. But for mind-numbing kick-ass action, it’s great fun. Conor McGregor is huge in it, and he just struts with that iconic walk the entire time. No Sam Elliott character, but check it out!
Tom Ritchie Says: It’s almost t-shirt season! Head over to thehighflyer.ca and check out licensed cannabis brand swag from Victoria Cannabis Company, Smoker Farms, Royal Harvest, and more coming every week. Suns out, guns out!
Tom Ritchie Says: Motif Labs asked a loaded question this morning: “Do you think edibles will ever outpace or become more popular than flower?” I personally don’t think it’s ever going to happen.
Wes Bowles Says: I think I’m of the opposite mindset. Eventually, I think it will. Coming from someone who isn’t traditionally a flower person, alternative formats like edibles and beverages offer dosage predictability—knowing exactly where you’ll be 40 minutes in. And there’s immense room for product innovation that will attract new consumers.
Tom Ritchie Says: If you compare it to alcohol, bottled spirits and beer still dwarf pre-mixed canned coolers. And when a 10mg drink costs $5 to $8, whereas you can get 40 to 50mg of THC in concentrates or flower for $15, the dollar-per-milligram math keeps flower dominant. Plus, 11-Hydroxy-THC from edibles provides a completely different pharmacological experience.
Tom Ritchie Says: Wes, you moved to Burlington and had some strong feedback about the local dispensary experience.
Wes Bowles Says: I cannot stand walking into a dispensary and seeing the menu on a white dry-erase board or in paper binders! I get that stock rotates, but for consumers trying to find products, you can’t read a binder with tiny alphabetical text. There wouldn’t be that much work involved to hang a TV and display digital menus hooked up to the POS. Dispensaries that don’t do that are failing to serve the brands they stock.
Tom Ritchie Says: It’s all about brand recognition. When you see brand logos, you make a connection. If dispensaries need help setting up digital TV menus, hit us up at High Flyer!
Wes Bowles Says: It’s hard to make a choice just based on words on a whiteboard. And if you ask the budtender, half the time they just push whatever shirt they pulled clean out of the laundry that morning, or whatever promo item is sitting by the till to get you out the door.
Tom Ritchie Says: Speaking of edibles, I tried Vacay’s Salted Caramel Pecan Cluster—it’s like a turtle, absolutely delicious!
Wes Bowles Says: Vacay does a really nice peanut butter cup that looks just like a Reese’s. Their chocolate is properly tempered, so it never melts or separates inside the package. I’d love to get my hands on Big Pete’s cookies under Alex Revich’s Loose Brands portfolio.
Tom Ritchie Says: Have you seen Lord Jones by Cronos Group? Look at this website—it is gorgeous, clean, and premium.
Tom Ritchie Says: They have these Salted Caramel and Drizzle Berry chocolate bites that look just like Maltesers! Do you like Maltesers or Whoppers better?
Wes Bowles Says: Maltesers, quick decision! I’m English—my dad would kick me out of the house if I said Whoppers! [laughs]
Tom Ritchie Says: Shout out to JJ Prentiss at Cronos—we want to try those! And that connects to our High Flyer Approved badge: we never slap a badge on a product unless two or three of us have personally tried it and loved it. We don’t do negative reviews; if it’s not up to standard, it simply doesn’t make our platform.
Wes Bowles Says: Quick question: would you consider yourself easily triggered?
Tom Ritchie Says: That’s a loaded fucking question! I’ve worked on this a long time.
Wes Bowles Says: Last night, a little stoned after an edible, I was scrolling through ASMR food Reels. It’s midnight and I’m starving. A video comes up showing someone delicately decorating toast with butter and jam—it looks gorgeous. And then right at the end, they drag the knife across the bread and completely destroy it! These creators do this on purpose! I’ve never been so triggered.
Tom Ritchie Says: With my mild OCD, that would drive me nuts! First of all, you’re showing me food when I haven’t eaten breakfast, and then you swipe it! [laughs]
Tom Ritchie Says: Have you ever considered medical cannabis? You probably should—chances are your insurance benefits cover it. High Flyer Media has partnered with leading medical cannabis provider Mendo Medical! Register using code FLY WITH US to get 15% off your first order. Personally curated by Jay Schwartz, Mendo ensures every product meets elite standards. Register today with code FLY WITH US.
Tom Ritchie Says: Welcome back, everyone! We are joined by Gavin Delainey of Next Friday. Gavin, how are you doing, man?
Gavin Delainey Says: Doing really good! Glad to be here on Legacies.
Tom Ritchie Says: Sam is off in Guadalajara exploring tequila, but you just wrapped up the ninth season of Downtown Defrost in Edmonton!
Gavin Delainey Says: It was exhausting but a massive success! We started the festival back in 2015. It takes a small army and months of planning, but it’s amazing to bring electronic music and community together.
Tom Ritchie Says: Next Friday has such a distinct street, hustle, 90s aesthetic. You had the retro CRT TV tower at Cannexpo. We want to unpack the story of Next Friday.
Tom Ritchie Says: How did you and Sam first link up?
Gavin Delainey Says: We met around 2015/2016 at the second Downtown Defrost afterparty. I was DJing, and I booked Sam’s Edmonton nightclub, The Church of John, for our afterparty. At that time, the ACMPR had just launched, and I had started a little basement grow.
Gavin Delainey Says: Mutual friends told us we had to meet. On the walk over to the club, I bumped into Sam and said, “Yo, I heard you move packs.” He looked at me and said, “I heard you grow fire!” Two weeks later we met up, and within three weeks we were building a grow room together in the basement of a rental property—the “Purple Palace,” which is the exact room I’m sitting in right now! Sam moved in, and our friendship was forged over cannabis and business.
Tom Ritchie Says: You were one of the earliest ACMPR license holders in Canada, right?
Gavin Delainey Says: Yeah, I drove to Calgary with my dad, got his medical license, and became his Designated Grower (DG). My license number was in the 960s—one of the first thousand issued in Canada. We expanded from the basement to an acreage outside Edmonton called “The Farm.”
Gavin Delainey Says: Around that time, our close friend Lane went down to California to trim for a legendary crew in Trinity County. He transitioned into the lab, learned hydrocarbon extraction, and called me: “Dude, diamonds are blowing up down here!” Sam and I pooled money to build hydrocarbon extraction equipment in Edmonton, launched Astro Gardens, and became one of the first to bring authentic THC diamonds and live resin to the Canadian market. In our first year, we placed top three at the Okanagan Cannabis Cup!
Tom Ritchie Says: How did that lead into the legal facility and Noble Growth?
Gavin Delainey Says: We partnered with large legacy growers in BC to secure fresh-frozen biomass for live resin. When Health Canada closed the second-site amendment loophole, we needed investment partners to build a licensed producer facility. We flew potential investors to BC to see our scale.
Gavin Delainey Says: One of those investors—our current CEO, Scott Osgood—had a 38,000 sq ft custom heavy-duty truck facility in Treat Valley, Alberta. He told us, “Come check out my shop.” It was spotless, brand new, and close to home. That became the home of Noble Growth and Next Friday.
Tom Ritchie Says: Next Friday is renowned for tissue culture and micro-propagation. How did you build such a massive clean genetic library?
Gavin Delainey Says: In the legacy days, you could sell 100 pounds of Kush or Red Congolese and nobody complained. But we saw the writing on the wall: commercial LPs were bringing dirty cuts into facilities, battling spider mites, powdery mildew, and Hop Latent Viroid.
Gavin Delainey Says: A year and a half before getting licensed, we built a tissue culture lab in a wooden shack in BC. We hired UBC virology graduates, took every elite cut we owned, and cleaned them in test tubes. When our Health Canada license arrived, we transported certified clean tissue culture plantlets into the facility. Every cultivar in our building has only ever existed in test tubes or inside our clean rooms—we have never had spider mites or powdery mildew in our facility!
Tom Ritchie Says: How do you decide when to rotate a cultivar out of production?
Gavin Delainey Says: In the early legal days, we launched Blueberry Fuego at 22% THC because the bag appeal, nose, and smooth smoke were undeniable, and it became our flagship. But as price compression and the “THC percentage race” intensified, we had to balance exotic terpene profiles with commercial viability.
Gavin Delainey Says: We still run long 12-week flowering cultivars like Mutant Tire Fire and Kitchen Sink (GMO crosses) because they test over 30% THC with heavy yields that keep the lights on. I bridge the gap between our Master Growers and sales on the road, retiring strains when consumer demand dips and keeping staples that perform consistently.
Tom Ritchie Says: How important is it that you and Sam stay directly involved in branding and creative direction?
Gavin Delainey Says: We always tell people: “What you see and hear is Sam; what you smell is me!” Sam is the creative director behind our visual aesthetic, merchandise, and street style. Everything in a Next Friday jar is 100% cultivated in-house by our team—we never buy cheap bulk flower from third parties to white-label.
Gavin Delainey Says: Companies burning through public money by dumping cheap flower below cost will not survive. Staying true to our craft cultivation standards is what builds real, lasting consumer loyalty.
Wes Bowles Says: A lot of your success comes from the people you surround yourself with. Tom and I met Alex at Cannexpo—she held court! She could have three conversations going at once. Having someone like that rep your brand takes it to the next level.
Gavin Delainey Says: Alex is incredible! Our Business Development Manager, Jesse, brought her on board, and she has flourished. We refuse to use outsourced third-party sales rep agencies that push seven different brands at once. Having passionate reps like Alex who truly embody the brand makes all the difference with budtenders and store owners.
Tom Ritchie Says: I saw the red BMW E30 convertible in your brand imagery. Is that Sam’s ride?
Gavin Delainey Says: That’s Sam’s baby! He’s a hardcore BMW E30 enthusiast and has built two of them. I’ve got a green one, and we’re both huge car heads.
Tom Ritchie Says: I love that! I’ve got a 1990 Nissan 300ZX twin turbo—every time you start it, it costs money, but classic car culture and cannabis go hand in hand.
Tom Ritchie Says: Will Next Friday ever enter the edibles category?
Gavin Delainey Says: We like to stay in our lane: elite flower and high-end solventless extractions. Capping legal edibles at 10mg pushes high-tolerance medical consumers to the black market. Distillate gummies lack the entourage effect of full-spectrum cannabinoids.
Gavin Delainey Says: We’re developing in-house live rosin vape carts using three distinct types of single-source rosin made from our own harvest. We’ll never outsource white-label gummies just to check a box.
Tom Ritchie Says: What are your thoughts on competition from the illicit market while paying heavy federal excise taxes?
Gavin Delainey Says: The illicit market forces us to do better. You can’t sit around waiting for the government to fix excise taxes. The unregulated market pushes us to cultivate pristine, clean flower that burns clean white ash, passes strict microbial testing, and delivers unmatched flavor. Real competition keeps our standards high.
Tom Ritchie Says: You may have changed my perspective on things, because you’re right: when competition is on your heels, it forces you to up your game.
Tom Ritchie Says: Where did the name Next Friday come from?
Gavin Delainey Says: When we were building our facility and waiting on Health Canada licensing, licenses were only issued on Fridays. Every Wednesday, we’d log into the CTLS portal to check if security clearances had cleared. If they were still pending, we had to tell our investors and family: “Not this week… next Friday!” When naming the brand, it was an authentic homage to the grueling licensing process that industry insiders instantly understood.
Tom Ritchie Says: Tell us about the Chameleon Connoisseur Pack—I’ve been chasing that thing forever!
Wes Bowles Says: I hear about it every fucking week! Every week Tom is like: “Where the fuck is it?”
Gavin Delainey Says: It’s a 7-strain variety pack of half-gram pre-rolls showcasing our current cultivars. Every single joint is hand-assembled, hand-weighed, and hand-finished—no automated centrifugal knock-boxes!
Gavin Delainey Says: Putting seven distinct strains into one compliant SKU is a QA and packaging nightmare because all Certificate of Analysis (COA) expiration dates must align perfectly. In Alberta, if one strain expires in three months, the whole pack expires. But giving consumers a curated tasting flight of 100% in-house craft flower is worth the extra effort.
Tom Ritchie Says: Outside of your own lineup, which Canadian licensed producer do you respect most?
Gavin Delainey Says: Lot 420 in Quebec! Steph and the team helped us navigate our entry into the SQDC Quebec market. In a cutthroat industry, having two top-tier craft brands collaborate and support each other is rare. Their Gelato 33 and Off-Menu drops are exceptional.
Tom Ritchie Says: What does the future look like for Next Friday?
Gavin Delainey Says: Global export! We achieved our Control Union certification in December and have established supply agreements in Germany, Australia, Israel, and Portugal. With Germany legalizing adult use, Canadian craft facilities built to strict pharmaceutical-grade standards have a massive opportunity to supply clean flower worldwide.
Tom Ritchie Says: We have a tradition where you ask an anonymous question for our next guest without knowing who they are. What’s your question?
Gavin Delainey Says: In an industry facing intense market compression, financial hurdles, and competitors cutting corners to produce the cheapest product possible, what keeps you motivated every day, and what gives you faith that staying true to quality is worth it?
Wes Bowles Says: What model phone is the best burner phone? Are you a Nokia 3310 kind of guy, or what’s the best burner phone?
Gavin Delainey Says: A cheap Huawei! I lost one in a field at our facility in the dead of winter, ran it over with a tractor, and found it in the spring. Plugged it in, the screen was cracked, but it fired right up with a 5-day battery life! [laughs]
Tom Ritchie Says: Gavin, thank you so much for joining us! Keep crushing it with Next Friday. Subscribe to our curated digital flyer at thehighflyer.ca, and tune in next week on YouTube, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts. Peace!
Wes Bowles Says: It was finally nice to have Gavin on. Love the backstory, and we’ve got to get Sam on from his E30 next time. See everyone next week on Legacies!
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Co-Founder / Head of Cultivation
Gavin Delainey co-founded Next Friday and leads cultivation, bringing legacy growing experience into a licensed operation focused on tissue culture genetics and brand identity influenced by music and street culture.
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Micro-Cultivator & Processor
<div class="brandpage"> <!-- MODULE 0 — breadcrumb --> <nav class="bp-crumbs" aria-label="Breadcrumb"> <a href="/">Home</a><span>›</span><a href="/brands/">Brands</a><span>›</span>Next Friday ...
Learn More About Partner ↗Co-founder Gavin Delainey explains that the name was inspired by the stressful licensing process with Health Canada. Because licensing decisions were typically released on Fridays, the team would tell themselves "next Friday" each week they were deferred.
The brand operates an in-house tissue culture laboratory at its Drayton Valley, Alberta facility, allowing them to clean and store genetics in a sterile environment to prevent viral pathogens and disease.
No, Next Friday maintains a strict policy of only selling and packaging flower that they cultivate themselves, refusing to source cheaper third-party flower to ensure product quality and brand trust.
