Marijuana testing lab opens on Galena square,
ContiCorp Labs hosts Grand Opening
Chris and Kendra Conti cut the ribbon on ContiCorp Labs, a marijuana testing facility on the Galena square.
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Chris Conti explains how some of the equipment at ContiCorp Labs works as guests tour the new testing facility.
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July 29, 2021
Kadee Brosseau DeCourley
One of only four licensed, operating marijuana testing labs in Missouri is now open in Stone County.
ContiCorp Labs hosted a grand opening of the family-owned business on the Galena square last Thursday. After a ceremonial ribbon cutting with the Table Rock Lake Chamber of Commerce, attendees were invited to tour the facility and learn more about the medical marijuana industry.
“So, the growers grow the [marijuana], and there is a track and trace system called METRC. METRC tags and marks your plant, and that tag goes through with it to the point where it’s sold in a dispensary. Before it can be released to be shipped to a dispensary, it has to pass testing. That’s where we come in,” CEO Chris Conti explained to guests during the open house event.
Owners Chris and his wife, Kendra Conti, are no strangers to the Ozarks. Chris was raised in Stone County, and he and Kendra are both involved in the Conti family business Dynatek Labs, a medical testing lab also located on the Galena square.
“I was a 13-year senior at Reeds Spring. Then, I went to Kansas, where I met my lovely wife Kendra at KU,” Chris Conti said. “I helped mom and dad out over at Dynatek. We are an engineering firm that tests medical products.”
Conti said opening another testing lab seemed like a natural fit for him and Kendra, who is also a chemist and biologist.
“When it came time for starting new chemistry labs in the state, it seemed kind of our thing. So, we went for it and got it,” Conti said.
Currently, there are 60 approved marijuana growers in Missouri, but only 23 of them have actually been permitted to operate.
Meanwhile, two dispensaries were approved in Branson West, and one was approved in Branson. Conti said getting to this point as an operational testing lab was not an easy feat. While the state awarded ten licenses, only four testing labs have been able to get up and running.
“In various municipalities throughout the state, they have been trying to use planning and zoning laws or various individual ordinances to keep marijuana-based businesses out of their area. The city [Galena] and the county [Stone County] were very supportive and helpful in trying to make us successful. We are proud of Galena and happy to be doing business here,” Conti said.
ContiCorp is located on the west side of the square in a building that locals remember being both an auto parts store and a pool hall years ago. However, it was vacant in recent years. The Conti’s have owned it since 2008.
“The original structure was not great. So, we ripped it all down and then built it all-new,” Conti said.
The facility’s exterior and interior are heavily secured with systems that can be accessed remotely by the state. Each door has sensors and cameras that recognize faces and license plates. Everything inside and outside the building is recorded at all times.
ContiCorp has three main labs equipped with equipment like extremely accurate scales, high-powered grinders, and freezers. A machine called a “liquid chromatography-mass spectrometer” tests for eight different pesticides.
“That costs significantly more than my house,” Conti laughed to guests on the tour.
The labs are also designed to be easily cleaned.
“The labs are plastic. The walls are plastic. The floors are epoxy, and the ceilings are plastic. So, you can hose it down,” Conti explained.
ContiCorp tests marijuana for 62 pesticides and five metals to ensure it is approved to be sold in a dispensary. Their current machines allow them to test 90 to 100 samples per day. In addition to marijuana, the lab tests manufactured products like gummies, brownies, and vape products.
“There are also manufactured products, which from a testing and chemistry standpoint is the tough part. So, testing marijuana on its own for 62 pesticides is hard but testing a gummy for the same pesticides on the same machines is very difficult,” Conti said.
After performing testing on marijuana and other products, ContiCorp pays Stone County to dispose of the samples safely.
“Why not keep it local?” Conti said.
ContiCorp will compete with the other testing facilities in the state for business. Conti said their labs are equipped and ready to meet the growing market.
“We are the only [testing facility] below I-70. So, we have to do a lot more transportation than anyone else does,” Conti said. “Capacity and expansion are designed into the business model.”
ContiCorp currently employs five chemists. The owners plan to hire more people in the future and eventually employ about eight to ten people.
“We empower our employees to drive innovation through continual process improvement and to build the future of this industry from right here in the beautiful Ozark Plateau,” Kendra Conti said. “We look forward to providing our services for all facets of the industry and peace of mind to the cultivators, dispensaries, and patients in the State of Missouri.”
ContiCorp Labs has been open since June 2021.
Kadee Brosseau DeCourley
One of only four licensed, operating marijuana testing labs in Missouri is now open in Stone County.
ContiCorp Labs hosted a grand opening of the family-owned business on the Galena square last Thursday. After a ceremonial ribbon cutting with the Table Rock Lake Chamber of Commerce, attendees were invited to tour the facility and learn more about the medical marijuana industry.
“So, the growers grow the [marijuana], and there is a track and trace system called METRC. METRC tags and marks your plant, and that tag goes through with it to the point where it’s sold in a dispensary. Before it can be released to be shipped to a dispensary, it has to pass testing. That’s where we come in,” CEO Chris Conti explained to guests during the open house event.
Owners Chris and his wife, Kendra Conti, are no strangers to the Ozarks. Chris was raised in Stone County, and he and Kendra are both involved in the Conti family business Dynatek Labs, a medical testing lab also located on the Galena square.
“I was a 13-year senior at Reeds Spring. Then, I went to Kansas, where I met my lovely wife Kendra at KU,” Chris Conti said. “I helped mom and dad out over at Dynatek. We are an engineering firm that tests medical products.”
Conti said opening another testing lab seemed like a natural fit for him and Kendra, who is also a chemist and biologist.
“When it came time for starting new chemistry labs in the state, it seemed kind of our thing. So, we went for it and got it,” Conti said.
Currently, there are 60 approved marijuana growers in Missouri, but only 23 of them have actually been permitted to operate.
Meanwhile, two dispensaries were approved in Branson West, and one was approved in Branson. Conti said getting to this point as an operational testing lab was not an easy feat. While the state awarded ten licenses, only four testing labs have been able to get up and running.
“In various municipalities throughout the state, they have been trying to use planning and zoning laws or various individual ordinances to keep marijuana-based businesses out of their area. The city [Galena] and the county [Stone County] were very supportive and helpful in trying to make us successful. We are proud of Galena and happy to be doing business here,” Conti said.
ContiCorp is located on the west side of the square in a building that locals remember being both an auto parts store and a pool hall years ago. However, it was vacant in recent years. The Conti’s have owned it since 2008.
“The original structure was not great. So, we ripped it all down and then built it all-new,” Conti said.
The facility’s exterior and interior are heavily secured with systems that can be accessed remotely by the state. Each door has sensors and cameras that recognize faces and license plates. Everything inside and outside the building is recorded at all times.
ContiCorp has three main labs equipped with equipment like extremely accurate scales, high-powered grinders, and freezers. A machine called a “liquid chromatography-mass spectrometer” tests for eight different pesticides.
“That costs significantly more than my house,” Conti laughed to guests on the tour.
The labs are also designed to be easily cleaned.
“The labs are plastic. The walls are plastic. The floors are epoxy, and the ceilings are plastic. So, you can hose it down,” Conti explained.
ContiCorp tests marijuana for 62 pesticides and five metals to ensure it is approved to be sold in a dispensary. Their current machines allow them to test 90 to 100 samples per day. In addition to marijuana, the lab tests manufactured products like gummies, brownies, and vape products.
“There are also manufactured products, which from a testing and chemistry standpoint is the tough part. So, testing marijuana on its own for 62 pesticides is hard but testing a gummy for the same pesticides on the same machines is very difficult,” Conti said.
After performing testing on marijuana and other products, ContiCorp pays Stone County to dispose of the samples safely.
“Why not keep it local?” Conti said.
ContiCorp will compete with the other testing facilities in the state for business. Conti said their labs are equipped and ready to meet the growing market.
“We are the only [testing facility] below I-70. So, we have to do a lot more transportation than anyone else does,” Conti said. “Capacity and expansion are designed into the business model.”
ContiCorp currently employs five chemists. The owners plan to hire more people in the future and eventually employ about eight to ten people.
“We empower our employees to drive innovation through continual process improvement and to build the future of this industry from right here in the beautiful Ozark Plateau,” Kendra Conti said. “We look forward to providing our services for all facets of the industry and peace of mind to the cultivators, dispensaries, and patients in the State of Missouri.”
ContiCorp Labs has been open since June 2021.
Guests were invited into ContiCorp Labs to see the facility and learn more about the medical marijuana industry.