Fat Panda vape chain secures new partnership in $18M deal

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 12/03/2025 (252 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

When Jordan Vedoya and two partners opened the first Fat Panda vape shop in 2013, it was a pretty novel thing in Winnipeg.

Twelve years later, the company has grown into a chain of 33 stores from Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., to Martensville, Sask., and it manufactures close to 40 per cent of the products it sells.

Earlier this month, Vedoya took on new a partner in the form of CEA Industries, an indoor cultivation company based in Colorado. Vedoya’s original two partners exited the company in the $18-million deal, but he is continuing on as an owner of the business.

“I am not going anywhere,” he said. “This has grown to be part of me. I want to continue to see it thrive.”

Despite public concerns about the health safety of vaping, Vedoya said he is in the business to help people.

After all, he said, vaping was “invented” as a nicotine alternative to cigarette smoking. “I still believe it is providing the people who are looking for help with the tools they need in order to transition to a healthier alternative than cigarettes.”

Sean Mansouri, an official from CEA, a publicly traded company, said the firm could not talk about the deal until it has closed, which is scheduled to happen before the end of the first half of 2025.

“This has grown to be part of me. I want to continue to see it thrive.”–Jordan Vedoya

“We can’t talk about the go-forward strategies, why it makes sense and what the plans are for growth and expansion into new markets,” Mansouri said. “It would not be appropriate if it’s not provided to the broader audience.”

Vedoya could also not talk about what the plans are, but made it clear he would like to see Fat Panda expand.

“We’re hoping our new partners will help us navigate our way through things like financing, that will aid in accelerating what we have been doing and, hopefully, bring us to next level and allow us to help more people,” he said.

However, Vedoya added he’s not sure if or where that will happen.

“If we can be viable in other geographic locations, then absolutely we will expand,” he said. “If our new partners help us with financing to improve what we’ve been doing that will be a win, too.

“Any type of expansion or improvement, we are in for it.”

While Fat Panda may control a much as 50 per of the Manitoba vape market, Vedoya is under no illusions about why that may be.

“It was a confluence of many things,” he said. “We got in at the right time. We’ve always made sure we did our best to provide people with what they needed.

“The other vape stores are virtually the same. The way to differentiate yourself is customer service. We make sure we are very attentive to the clients.”

Vedoya was still taking classes towards his business degree when Fat Panda started. More than a decade later, the company now employs about 200 people — all the while maneuvering its way through a grey market to a business that is now totally regulated, complete with excise taxes.

“In some ways, we are more heavily regulated than cannabis stores.” said Vedoya.

For instance, just like all cannabis stores in Manitoba, Fat Panda’s shops must have opaque coverings on the windows and doors to prevent minors from viewing its products. (Alberta and B.C. have removed that requirement, following robbery issues; Ontario is considering a similar move.)

Four Fat Panda stores also sell cannabis products. Just like cannabis, it is illegal to sell vape products to minors and no advertising is allowed where children are permitted access.

martin.cash@freepress.mb.ca