Corrected: Who Really Controls Connecticut Cannabis

Who Really Controls Connecticut Cannabis

CT CannaTimes Investigations — November 2025

Connecticut’s cannabis market was supposed to open the door for hundreds of small, locally owned businesses.

Instead, a handful of familiar families and corporations now control more than one-third of all active cannabis licenses statewide. Every figure below comes directly from the Connecticut eLicense Lookup and verified business filings.

Fine Fettle — The Zachs & Pinkal Patel Network

Fine Fettle holds 10 active licenses, equal to about 7½ percent of Connecticut’s cannabis market.

These include multiple equity joint-venture dispensaries and the cultivator FFD 149 LLC in Bloomfield.

The company is backed by Eric Zachs, Benjamin Zachs, and pharmacist Pinkal Patel (MMDR.0000117).

Shangri-La — Kepal & Nevil Patel

Shangri-La operates seven licenses (≈ 5 percent) across retail, manufacturing, and cultivation.

Its stores sit in Norwalk (two sites), Waterbury, and Plainville, with additional processing and grow facilities.

The brand is led by Dr. Kepal Patel (President) and Nevil Patel (CEO) and is completely separate from the Fine Fettle group.

GTI / Green Thumb Industries

National operator GTI controls seven licenses (≈ 5 percent) through its Connecticut subsidiaries — Caring Nature, Connecticut Pharmaceutical Solutions, and Willow Brook Wellness.

GTI’s president Anthony Georgiadis and CEO Benjamin Kovler appear in related filings, linking the state’s retail and wholesale supply chain directly to a Chicago-based conglomerate.

Budr / CT BGP Group

The Budr network, tied to Derrick Gibbs, Carl Tirella, and Anthony Georgiadis, holds three active hybrid retail licenses (≈ 2 percent) in Uncasville, Danbury, and Vernon-Rockville. Budr’s state application lists Georgiadis’s resume, creating a clear personnel link to GTI’s corporate leadership.

Affinity and Partners

Affinity Health & Wellness (New Haven), EJ Ventures 2 (Bridgeport), MCEJV (Portland), and Slap Ash Delivery (Glastonbury) together account for four licenses (≈ 3 percent).

Their recurring names — Rino Ferrarese and Raymond Pantalena — connect hybrid retail, manufacturing, and delivery operations under one umbrella.

Rungta Family / Slap Ash & C-3 Ventures

Brothers Ankur and Vishal Rungta control three licenses (≈ 2 percent) through Slap Ash Retail I & II (Hamden and Canton) and C-3 Ventures (Torrington), forming another small but multi-site network.

Bluepoint / Venu — Nick Tamborrino

Pharmacist Nick Tamborrino owns Bluepoint Apothecary (Branford) and SFC CT LLC / Venu Flower Collective (Middletown), together holding two licenses (≈ 1½ percent).

Both are converted or equity retail sites, making Bluepoint one of the few pharmacist-run independents left.

Feinberg Family / Green Cab

Green Cab Co. and Green Cab 2 (Stamford) represent two delivery licenses (≈ 1½ percent) under the Social Equity Lottery.

Backers include Dani, Matthew, Seth, and Stevi Feinberg.

Jananii and Golden Hanuman

Jananii LLC operates two licenses (≈ 1½ percent) — a retail site in Hamden and a food-and-beverage facility in New Britain.

Golden Hanuman Inc., owned by Shital Patel, Alpa Patel, and Ben Judd, holds one manufacturing license (≈ ¾ percent) in Middletown.

Smaller Operators

Roughly two-thirds of all licenses (≈ 66 percent, 88 total) belong to single-site independents and one-off equity ventures scattered statewide.

The Real Picture

Out of 134 active licenses, these top clusters control 46 of them — about 33 percent of Connecticut’s legal cannabis market. Four of those clusters — Fine Fettle, Shangri-La, GTI, and Budr — alone account for roughly one-fifth of every license in the state. Despite the “equity” label, Connecticut’s system has concentrated ownership into a small network of recurring investors and families.

Official Correction: The Patel Clarification

Earlier reporting conflated every Patel appearing in state records as part of one extended group.

That was incorrect.

Pinkal Patel, a licensed pharmacist, appears only within Fine Fettle’s Equity Joint Venture network alongside the Zachs family. Kepal Patel and Nevil Patel lead Shangri-La, a completely independent retail and manufacturing company with no shared backers or addresses.

The two Patel networks are distinct and unrelated, and this article reflects that verified separation.