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Local Business The Riversider | February/March 2022
Claybourne Co.
WORDS: AARON SCHMIDT PHOTOS: ZACH CORDNER
Owners Brent Barnes, Nick Ortega, and Jonathan Griffith
Located just on the outskirts of Riverside in Perris, Claybourne Co. is a top-tier premium cannabis brand owned and operated by three childhood friends who grew up together in Riverside. Launched around five years ago, owners Nick Ortega (CEO, Co-Founder), Jonathan Griffith (VP of Marketing, Co-Founder), and Brent Barnes (VP of Breeding and Cultivation, Co-Founder), has established their own miniempire in the IE that’s catapulted the Claybourne brand into one of California’s premiere businesses in the cannabis industry. Jonathan: At first, we were going to make an Apple store with weed. We didn’t know what the hell we were doing. Nick: And then I hit up Brent. “I know you’re like a plant geek and you’re always talking about plants, but do you think you can grow weed, man? ” He told me “no” at least two dozen times, and then eventually he was all, “Yeah, I guess I can try. I’m interested in it.”
When did Claybourne Co. begin as a company? Nick: Claybourne Co. started back in 2017—that’s when we had this idea. We all knew people in the IE that operated in the traditional market, and I ended up getting extremely interested in the cannabis industry, so we kind of started dabbling with them. I remember when I invited Jonathan over to my house one night and showed him some articles about dispensaries in the Bay Area, and I was like, “Hey, dude. Do you think you could design something like this?” The Riversider Magazine
Brent : In my world, it was k ind of a normal conversation. Cannabis was being legalized, and I’d been working in plants my entire career. I’m a plant geneticist and I have my graduate and undergraduate degree from UC Riverside. Basically, I’m a plant breeder by education and trade—that’s what I worked in prior, and that’s what we do here at Claybourne. A lot of what created the brand and the marketing and every thing allows us to also have genetics that people don’t have. That’s one of our claims to fame. Nick: Technically, we started the company back in 2017. My kid was born in June of 2017 and I had these guys over at my house in July of 2017 to present them the Claybourne business plan idea in my living room. My wife still has the picture of us—she always sends
it to me every year on the anniversary of when we were in the living room pitching the idea to Jonathan and Brent (and a few other friends who ended up not getting involved). But we officially started selling products in 2018—Bare Dispensary in Palm Springs was the first place where someone actually bought Claybourne weed, which is cool.
So you guys are childhood friends—where did you grow up in Riverside? Jonathan: I grew up in Wood Streets—skating at RCC and downtown. I met Nick in high school. We went to Poly High, and Brent was over at King High. Nick: I grew up on the outskirts of Wood Streets over by Sierra Middle School and Ramona High School. I’d skate across town to go skate with these guys. What does the name Claybourne mean? How did you guys come up with it? Nick: Actually, when we were putting our business plan together was around the same time my first son was born. Jonathan and I had a childhood friend whose middle name was “Claybourne.” I was going to name my son Claybourne, but my wife didn’t like that name. At that time we were starting this company, we were like, “Let’s just name the company Claybourne.” Jonathan came up with a
