How It Started: Microdosed Edibles with Andrea Lupear, Founder of Minerva

As part of our “How It Started” interview series, we had the pleasure of chatting with Andrea Lupear, Founder of Minerva, a company with a mission to provide playfully sophisticated, microdosed, vegan cannabis edibles that both taste good and benefit health and overall wellbeing.
Thanks for joining us! What was it about cannabis that first piqued your interest, and when did that happen?

I was always a fan of cannabis, but when I took my first visit to a dispensary in San Francisco, I was blown away. That first visit, the budtender handed me a leather-bound menu and asked me what kind of high I was looking for. It was every dream of what legalization had sounded like to me in 1992. I was so stoked. Perfect pre-rolls, gorgeous packaging. I loved everything about it.

How did Minerva come to life? What’s its origin story?

When the pandemic threw everything into disarray, I took all of the money I had saved to open a restaurant in San Francisco, and put it towards starting an edibles brand. Both my husband and I worked in industries that were ravaged by Covid shut-downs. Prior to having a business on Fisherman’s Wharf, I had been a pastry chef for many years. I had wanted to get back into the kitchen, and because of Covid, I pivoted into creating microdosed edibles, specifically because that is how I like to get high. I don’t like eating 10mg at a time, so I was buying treats and then cutting them into 4 or even 8 pieces. It sucked to deal with. So I created my own edibles that were micro-dosed and restaurant quality. A brand was born.

What is it about your company that makes it stand out?

Minerva is a woman-owned craft cannabis edibles company. When I say “craft cannabis edibles” I mean that I am in a commercial kitchen, making these edibles by hand. We are not using machines to make these confections. These are restaurant or patisserie quality confections that are packaged for retail sale. I think that is fairly uncommon in the cannabis space.

What does your typical day look like and what do you enjoy most about your work?

Typically, my husband and co-founder, Christian Zea, and I get into the kitchen about 9:30, do mise en place for our batches, inventory checks, and then begin cooking and molding the pâte de fruit. We can do between 7-14 batches in a typical 12 hour day in the kitchen. Luckily for me, Christian does most of the dishes and I do most of the cooking. I most enjoy looking at thousands and thousands of candies at the end of the day, knowing that I have produced a quality cannabis product that can bring happiness to whoever purchases it.

What has been the highlight of your cannabis career to date?

We are newcomers to the cannabis industry, so frankly, my career has been fairly short. Thus far, my highlight has been getting to work with some wonderful people who have guided us through our cannabis adventure.

Can you give us one cannabis trend that excites you?

I believe that there is a burgeoning craft edibles space opening up in the retail industry. I think that CA in particular has matured so that there is a desire in the cannabis consumer for more than just the cheapest, highest dosage edibles available. I think that there is going to be an influx of consumers ready and willing to seek out high quality, delicious edibles.

Is there a product or service you hope someone creates to serve the cannabis community?

I certainly hope that the decriminalization of cannabis on the federal level occurs and the SAFE Banking Act passes so that banking for cannabis touching companies can be done in a more reasonable and accessible manner in the near future. It seems unreasonable to expect companies to pay taxes federally, but then treat them like criminals when they go to open a bank account. It creates an unsafe and unfair burden on legitimate businesses.

What is the biggest change you want to see in the sector?

A simplification of rules and regulations surrounding the cannabis space, as well as sane taxation rates that do not continue to drive consumers to the black market. I understand the need for regulations, but when compared to the alcohol industry, the rules for cannabis are arbitrarily onerous and burdensome, especially for new-to-market brands that do not have deep corporate pockets. It feels unnecessarily stringent, especially given the relative safety of cannabis usage when compared to alcohol. Hopefully, as we move away from the stigma of cannabis usage, we will see some fundamental changes in regulations.

Any advice you would give to someone looking to enter the cannabis industry?

I would say that they should do their market research, learn everything they can about the difficulties in obtaining a license, and then toughen up, because there are going to be some hard lessons learned before they even get a license. Also, surround yourself with people who you trust.

What’s next for you? What should we be on the lookout for?

We are hoping to launch our first four SKUs on 4/20. We are already in the first phases of formulations of our next micro-dosed products. I would love to have at least four more SKUs in the marketplace by the end of this quarter.