The owners of Bachman's Floral Gift & Garden Centers are ready to branch out into a new business -- medical marijuana.

The state of Minnesota begins accepting applications Friday from entrepreneurs interested in becoming one of the state's two new medical cannabis manufacturers. Among those interested are members of the family that runs the Twin Cities-based chain of florists shops.

"There are several family members that are interested," said company spokeswoman Karen Bachman, who declined to identify which family members might be submitting an application. The application process runs through Oct. 3 and interested entrepreneurs have until mid-September to notify the state that they plan to submit an application.

Individual Bachmans might be interested in getting into the medical marijuana business, but Bachman's the company is not.

"Bachman's, the company itself, is not including this in our core mission of delivering beautiful products at a real value," Bachman said.

The state's first two marijuana manufacturers will have until July 1, 2015 to get their operations up and running. That means setting up a grow operation, opening distribution centers around the state -- four per manufacturer -- hiring staff, setting up security and figuring out a business plan that will keep the operation afloat in what could be a lean couple of months or years in the beginning.

Medical marijuana has been a profitable venture in many states, but the Minnesota Legislature tightly limited the industry to just two manufacturers and eight distribution centers across the entire state. The Legislature also tightly limited the types of medical conditions that were eligible for the drug and limited its sale only to non-smokable forms.

Other restrictions, like a provision banning employees under age 21 from working at a cannabis facility, would make it hard for companies like Bachman's, which employes a number of college-age workers during the summer, to get into the business directly. But the state's selection criteria will be slanted heavily toward applicants with deep pockets, detailed business plans and a solid grounding in agriculture and finance.

Despite the limitations, and despite the $20,000 nonrefundable fee just to apply, more than 200 people showed up for an informational Health Department meeting about medical marijuana manufacturing last month.

The state is expected to begin accepting applications Friday afternoon.