Hippo Packaging was founded about four years ago by industry veteran Kary Radestock. Radestock spent almost 20 years with R.R. Donnelley (beginning with Kelmscott Communications, which was acquired by Consolidated Graphics in 2005, which in turn was acquired by R.R. Donnelley in 2013). While at R.R. Donnelley, she became aware of the growing demand for specialty packaging in the cannabis market. “My die-cutting supplier told me that makers of cannabis products were the only ones really spending money on packaging,” she explains. “I didn’t think too much about it until I had five different people walk into the plant looking for packaging for cannabis vaping cartridges. Who walks into a packaging plant looking to order? That got my attention, and I tried to get R.R. Donnelley on board with a special project to investigate the market.”

Radestock wrote a business plan for the project, but in the end, R.R. Donnelley declined the opportunity since so much of the cannabis business was conducted in cash in those days, and the company’s banking processes simply were not set up to deal with cash businesses. “So two months shy of my 20th anniversary, I resigned from R.R. Donnelley, on February 28, 2016, and launched my new business on March 1st. It started as a sole proprietorship, and we have grown really fast. Today we are a virtual company with 20 team members and one of the fastest growing print packaging agencies in the business.”

About 50% of Hippo Packaging’s business is related to the cannabis industry, and the other 50% CBD and hemp. Radestock notes that it has not always been easy with a variety of different regulations in place in California, other states, and the Federal government. “But it’s also been a really incredible experience,” she adds.