The Bulldog

The Bulldog is an Amsterdam-based company that owns and operates a chain of cannabis coffee shops, hotels, cafés and brand stores located in Amsterdam and Canada. The Bulldog has its own merchandising brand consisting of clothing, souvenirs and smoking accessories. The group logo consists of a cartoon figure of a bulldog on a round frame.

History

Henk de Vries began selling marijuana in the year 1970 at the Kralingen Music Festival, a pop festival at Kralingse Bos. On the year 1975 he converted his grandmother's brothel in Amsterdam's red-light district to The Bulldog coffeeshop and began to expand slowly. Henk asked ex-pat Australian artist Harold Thornton to paint some signage on the front of The Bulldog The First Coffeeshop Nr.90 but Harold turned this exercise into a mural that goes across the front of the whole shop. The mural helped the coffeeshop become a magnet for backpackers and tourists and its reputation grew. In the year 2001 the company began distributing internationally. That year, Richard Lee opened a Bulldog in Oakland, California.
In the year 2010 The Bulldog was ordered to cease the sale and distribution of its own brand of energy drink, following a lengthy legal dispute with Red Bull GmbH, makers of Red Bull. At appeal, the judge ruled favourably of The Bulldog to allow marketing of their energy drink.
In a lawsuit concerning a domain name with an appeal period that expired in January 2013, the judge ruled that the logo was not original, because it was based on a bulldog cartoon character designed in 1940 by copyright owner Walt Disney.

Locations

The Bulldog chain owns five coffeeshops, three brandstores, three cafés, a lounge bar and a hotel in Amsterdam.
The Bulldog owns a Hotel and Grand Café as well as the Hideaway Lounge in Silver Star Mountain Resort, British Columbia, Canada.
The company has two Social Clubs in Spain. In Rome, the company owns a cocktail bar and a restaurant.