Like its name suggests, Punch Edibles & Extracts has rolled with the punches since it launched in California’s medical cannabis market in 2013.

Co-founders Andrew and Samantha O’Donnell, now husband and wife, started dating around the same time Andrew’s San Diego dispensary closed. He nearly left the cannabis industry, but the pair began developing edibles that resonated with local dispensaries and consumers.

Co-founder Samantha O’Donnell

“We stumbled upon making edibles that—long story short—really took off,” said Samantha O’Donnell, CFO. “We gave them to a few dispensaries that were still open that (Andrew) was friendly with in San Diego, and what we thought would be a little side project turned into something that we both had to stop what we were doing and fully commit to developing out Punch. Now almost 10 years later, we are still running the business.”

Since developing its flagship product, the Punch Bar, the company has launched a full portfolio of confectionery edibles, along with extracts, vapes, and prerolls. Punch is now bringing its products eastward, operating in Oklahoma’s medical market and launching in New York’s adult-use market earlier this year.

Product development

From the beginning, Punch Edibles & Extracts aimed to offer as much cannabis as possible in the smallest package. Weighing 22 grams and portioned into 10 mg pieces, the 100 mg THC Punch Bars feature the company’s premium concentrates and are designed for consumers who may want only a little bit of chocolate.

“We kept that really small size,” O’Donnell said. “It works really great for retailers on the shelves because they can carry a lot of different flavors without it taking up so much room, and then also for the customer to be able to have a discreet edible they can portion out or use all at once, whatever their tolerance might be.”

However, in Oklahoma’s medical cannabis market, the bars are available in 225 mg and 1,000 mg doses. 

“With the medical use out there and the higher milligram dosage, it’s been interesting to see what products people want and if it’s more milligram based or more price based,” O’Donnell said. “We’re finding that our 1,000 mg gummies and chocolates are where people want it to be, which is interesting because in California we can only do 100 mg. It’s just so different.”

The original Punch Bars come in a variety of flavors, including:

• Milk Chocolate
• Toffee Milk Chocolate
• Mint Dark Chocolate
• Dark Chocolate Raspberry
• Milk Chocolate Caramel Bits
• S’mores Milk Chocolate  
• Dark Chocolate Almond
• Dark Chocolate Sea Salt

The bars also feature inclusions such as toffee pieces, freeze dried berries, and graham cracker crumbs, but instead of pressing them into the top or the back of the bar, the inclusions are layered into the middle.

“Sometimes you’ll see artisan chocolates with things on the back of the bar, which can look really cool, but for testing and uniformity, it doesn’t really work for the cannabis space, so we put it on the inside,” O’Donnell said.

Punch has also launched Punch Bar Cookie Delight, which features a cookie on the bottom and chocolate on top. Inspired by a similar European offering, the company worked with a neighboring cookie manufacturer to nail down the size, thickness and firmness needed for Punch’s chocolate molds. They’re available in five varieties: 

• White chocolate with a chocolate cookie
• Dark chocolate mint with a chocolate cookie
• Strawberry white chocolate with a chocolate cookie
• Dark chocolate with a vanilla cookie
• Milk chocolate caramel with a vanilla cookie

“They’re super fun—there’s nothing else really like it on the market,” she said. “It’s just a cool way to have a half Punch bar, half cookie collaboration.

Punch has also developed Punch Bar Creams, which are available in Strawberry Cheesecake, Key Lime Pie, and Cookies N’ Cream varieties.

Joining its chocolate bars are a line of malt balls, featuring 10 mg THC per piece. Available in Cookies N’ Cream, Milk Chocolate, Strawberry White Chocolate, Dark Chocolate and Peanut Butter varieties, they’re packed in 10-piece tubes with a total dose of 100 mg THC.

The company offers more than chocolate. Paying homage to traditional fruit snacks—and driven by Andrew’s sweet tooth—Punch’s vegan agar-based fruit snacks feature a softer texture than gelatin-based products. They’re available in five assortments, each featuring three fruit flavors. Each pouch contains 100 mg THC.

Nonetheless, Punch also has traditional gummies in its product portfolio. Available in Blueberry Lemonade, Peach Mango, Kiwi Strawberry, Cherry Limeade, and Tropical Punch flavors, they’re made with gelatin and coated with sugar. In California and New York, each pouch features 100 mg THC, but in Oklahoma, they’re available in 250 mg and 1,000 mg doses.

“There’s just always going to be a market for those,” O’Donnell said. “Gummies are one of the top-selling edibles in the category, so we had to come out with something like that.”

Market expansion

O’Donnell said Punch has always planned to establish footholds on the West Coast, the Midwest and the East Coast.

Punch first moved into Oklahoma, which adopted medical cannabis in 2018, through a licensing deal, but the company eventually assumed its partner’s operations and secured its own license.

“Oklahoma is a very interesting market,” O’Donnell said. “It came out really hot and heavy, there are a ton of dispensaries, the licenses are fairly cheap, and it’s a pretty easy entry. I think a lot of people got really excited about that and the potential to be in cannabis. We’re slowly seeing that market regulate itself and see who the players that are going to be more long lasting are.”

In September, Punch announced plans to expand to New York—a move Punch’s fans have been asking for since the company’s early days.

“Back in (California’s) Prop 215 days, at all the events we used to attend and sell direct to customer, we’d have so many people come in from the East Coast, talk about how much they liked our product, and how much they wished it was there, so we’re just super excited to now be able to sell to that market and those customers,” she said.

While New York’s adult-use market has faced several stumbling blocks, O’Donnell said the company is happy to launch there. She also pointed to the potential for brand activations and other social opportunities.

“I’m excited to see more of the social part of that market and the evolution that it can take,” she said. “We’re just excited to be in a new market, be in the early stage of it, and hopefully as more people start to move to those licensed stores and they keep seeing Punch, it’s going to become a trusted brand that they can know and love.”