High Spirits: The Cannabis Business Podcast
Hosts Ben Larson and AnnaRae Grabstein serve up unfiltered insights, reveal their insiders' perspectives, and illuminate transformative ideas about the cannabis industry for people who want to make sense of it all.
High Spirits: The Cannabis Business Podcast
#058 - The First 30 Days After Launch ๐ w/ Tahir Johnson, CEO of Simply Pure Trenton
๐ฟ ๐๐ก๐ ๐
๐ข๐ซ๐ฌ๐ญ ๐๐ ๐๐๐ฒ๐ฌ: ๐๐๐ฌ๐ฌ๐จ๐ง๐ฌ ๐๐ซ๐จ๐ฆ ๐๐๐ฎ๐ง๐๐ก๐ข๐ง๐ ๐ข๐ง ๐๐๐ฐ ๐๐๐ซ๐ฌ๐๐ฒ'๐ฌ ๐๐๐ง๐ง๐๐๐ข๐ฌ ๐๐๐ซ๐ค๐๐ญ ๐ฟ
Join Ben & AnnaRae on High Spirits as we delve into the whirlwind experience of the first 30 days following the launch of a brand new dispensary in New Jersey. Our guest, Tahir Johnson, CEO of Simply Pure Trenton NJ and President of the Minority Cannabis Business Association, shares his firsthand insights and the roller-coaster ride of opening one of the first Black-owned social-equity cannabis businesses in the state.
๐ ๐๐ฏ๐ผ๐๐ ๐ง๐ต๐ถ๐ ๐๐ฝ๐ถ๐๐ผ๐ฑ๐ฒ: In this episode, we explore the exhilarating first month of operations after years of preparation at Simply Pure Trenton. From regulatory hurdles to customer reactions and operational challenges, Tahir will dissect what it takes to launch and stabilize a new dispensary in an emerging market. Drawing from his extensive background in cannabis advocacy and business, Tahir reflects on the reality of starting a dispensary under New Jersey's adult-use cannabis framework and the personal journey that brought him to this point.
๐ก ๐ช๐ต๐ฎ๐ ๐ฌ๐ผ๐'๐น๐น ๐๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ป:
๐ง ๐๐ฏ๐ช๐ต๐ช๐ข๐ญ ๐๐ฉ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐จ๐ฆ๐ด: Discover the unexpected hurdles and how they were navigated during the critical first month.
๐ก ๐๐ต๐ณ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ๐จ๐ช๐ค ๐๐ฏ๐ด๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ต๐ด: Gain insights into the strategic planning and adaptations required when reality hits post-launch.
๐ฅ ๐๐ฐ๐ค๐ช๐ข๐ญ ๐๐ฒ๐ถ๐ช๐ต๐บ ๐๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ข๐ค๐ต: Understand the significance of launching one of the first Black-owned equity businesses in New Jerseyโs cannabis market.
๐ ๐๐ณ๐ฐ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ช๐ค๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด: Discuss the broader implications for other entrepreneurs in similar markets drawing from Tahir's role as MCBA President.
๐ ๐ ๐ฒ๐ฒ๐ ๐ง๐ฎ๐ต๐ถ๐ฟ ๐๐ผ๐ต๐ป๐๐ผ๐ป: Tahir's journey in the cannabis industry is both personal and professional. With a history marked by advocacy and a personal narrative intertwined with the criminal justice system, his work extends beyond business, aiming to rectify the long-term impacts of the war on drugs. His leadership roles have equipped him with unique insights into the intersections of policy, social equity, and industry dynamics, making him a pivotal figure in shaping the future of cannabis in New Jersey and beyond.
Donโt miss this insightful discussion on what it really takes to launch and run a cannabis dispensary in a complex regulatory landscape. Tune in to High Spirits on Thursday for a session filled with real stories, professional insights, and valuable lessons.
--
High Spirits is brought to you by Vertosa and Wolf Meyer.
Your hosts are Ben Larson and AnnaRae Grabstein.
Follow High Spirits on LinkedIn.
We'd love to hear your thoughts. Who would you like to see on the show? What topics would you like to have us cover?
Visit our website www.highspirits.media and listen to all of our past shows.
THANK YOU to our audience. Your engagement encourages us to keep bringing you these thought-provoking conversations.
Remember to always stay curious, stay informed, and most importantly, keep your spirits high.
Hey everybody, welcome to High Spirits. It's episode 58, I'm Ben Larson and, as always, I'm joined today by Anna Rae Grabstein. It is Thursday, september 5th, 2024, and, oh boy, is Trump pro-cannabis now Annarie.
AnnaRae Grabstein:I think, if Trump thinks that will help him, he probably is.
Ben Larson:Do you think it helps him? Do you think cannabis industry thinks it helps him? I don't know. People have been posting about it on LinkedIn.
AnnaRae Grabstein:I've debated for a long time if there's really an amount of cannabis voters that could swing things in either direction. And this has become such a bipartisan issue in many ways because so many Americans support cannabis legalization and ending prohibition that it almost just maybe it's table stakes that you have to be for cannabis, but that it's not going to swing a voter either way. Maybe there's cannabis voters. I've heard you say that you're a cannabis voter.
AnnaRae Grabstein:I'm not sure that I could say that I'm a single issue voter in that way. Are you a cannabis voter?
Ben Larson:I mean I am, but if both candidates are promoting cannabis, cannabis, then it's win-win and I get to look at, look at other other uh voting issues, um yeah but, like, the interesting thing here is that there is a sense of desperation here.
Ben Larson:I think I also. I was talking to our our one of our lobbyists yesterday and she was talking about how how trump came out in support of like ivf, which is kind of another left-leaning concept, and and I'm getting this sense of desperation because if you look at the polling, you know kamala's ahead by what is it? Seven or eight points at this point, like 49 percent um, which could still go anyway because of our beautiful electoral college.
AnnaRae Grabstein:However, in this desperation for kind of garnering more votes, like adopting some of these, these more leftist talking points, all of a sudden we're gonna have two candidates trying to be the better cannabis uh candidate maybe I think where this Trump cannabis statement becomes more interesting is actually on a more local level in Florida, and that is because Florida has Amendment 3 on the ballot to legalize adult use and DeSantis has come out against it and DeSantis has come out against it and now if Trump is supporting it, then you've got this divide within the red state constituency of.
AnnaRae Grabstein:Are the Republicans in Florida going to side with DeSantis or are they going to side with Trump? It seems like over time they have mostly sided with Trump pretty consistently. There has been some whispers, although in the articles it seems that nobody at Trulieve has confirmed, but apparently Kim Rivers, the CEO of Trulieve, did meet directly with former President Trump to talk about cannabis legalization about cannabis legalization and, as many listeners know, Trulieve is the biggest financial backer of Amendment 3 in Florida and probably has the most to win if adult use passes in Florida. So my guess is that Trump is following the money and sees that there over $50 million that has been invested by the cannabis industry to pass legalization in Florida and he pays attention to where the money is and he knows that that is significant and substantive and is going to follow it upstream to try to get more of it for his campaign.
Ben Larson:I just, I just think it has really interesting implications, long-lasting implications potentially, where maybe this is finally what breaks the seal in creating this kind of truly bipartisan support right, because we've always talked about it from a voter base like 70 plus percent of Americans supporting legalization of cannabis. If we're getting this now from the top, you know, maybe we finally get to put the conversation to rest and actually get the votes from the Republican side.
AnnaRae Grabstein:I hear you and I appreciate your optimism always.
Ben Larson:Always the optimist.
AnnaRae Grabstein:My skepticism is just about how ineffective things are with the way that policy change happens and whether or not we have agreement on this being a bipartisan issue. The way that policy has failed to progress through the House and through the Senate to actually do anything I don't see changing very quickly, and we just saw the de-scheduling hearing announced for December. So we know that that we're going to have to do. The next president will be by the time that happens, and so it will be an interesting indicator for what you're saying of if, if both candidates and then ultimately whoever is elected, the new president, both are in support of cannabis and de-scheduling, then is this DEA hearing that's going to happen in December just a checkbox that they need to make, or is this actually a threat to the future?
AnnaRae Grabstein:Scheduling, I hear that you're saying, is it's just a checkbox, they got to get it done. De-scheduling is going to happen because both candidates support cannabis legalization. So scheduling, I hear that you're saying, is it's just a checkbox, they got to get it done. Descheduling is going to happen because both candidates support cannabis legalization.
Ben Larson:So whoever is elected is going to move this forward for us. I like living in that reality but, as history has shown us, not to put too much of our emotions into progress at the federal level and to revert back to our typical defense mechanisms and focus on what's happening at the state level, at the business level. And today we have an exciting show, an operator, a new operator from the state of New Jersey.
AnnaRae Grabstein:Yeah, we have a new operator, but not someone that's new to cannabis.
AnnaRae Grabstein:No no no, I think it's pretty cool to see how people shift and move through roles and opportunities in this space, and how your experience in one area and in this case, advocacy can lead to entrepreneurial endeavors and choosing to step into a new place in leadership. So, yeah, let's queue up the episode for today. Today we're going to have a really special conversation where we get to speak with Tahir Johnson, and he is the founder and CEO of Simply Pure Trenton, which is one of the first Black-owned social equity cannabis businesses in the state of New Jersey. Tahir is also the president of the Minority Cannabis Business Association, where he advocates for diversity and inclusion within the industry, and he's previously held advocacy roles at the Marijuana Policy Project, at the US Cannabis Council and at NCIA, so he's got a long history in standing up for the industry at the organization level, and so Tahir just brings a wealth of knowledge, and we're really excited to have him here to talk about his new role as CEO of a New Jersey operation. Welcome, tahir.
Tahir Johnson:Hello, hello, thank you for having me how are you today.
Ben Larson:Doing great man. It's great to have you. We have found someone that has a longer alphabet soup than us.
Tahir Johnson:I know it definitely sounds crazy. I've had the opportunity to touch a lot of the different organizations since I've been in the industry, so it really has been. One of my favorite parts has been that I've gotten to share the journey and interact with so many people from there to here, hopefully kind of leaving some of the breadcrumbs and blueprints for other people to be able to follow. So thank you, thank you for having me.
Ben Larson:Yeah, and we're excited to dive into the topic. Today we're going to be talking about the 30 days after your launch, a much anticipated launch. We'll let you kind of tell a little bit of the background there, but so interesting to know just like the diversity of your background and how it influences and prepares you for the launch of your business, and then, as we'll get to discuss, some of the unforeseen aspects of launching a business. So yeah, just really quick and diving in, would love to hear a little bit of your background. You know everywhere, from kind of your wealth planning to you know, the advocacy work that you've done in different organizations and how it's kind of led you to wanting to launch a business and get to the operating side after doing that for so long.
Tahir Johnson:Yeah, sure thing. And you know it has been a long journey to get here and you know, again, I wouldn't change a thing. Right, like love, like. Although it took me five years from the time I first set out to get a license to now actually being open, I think everything that I got to experience along the way helped me be a lot more prepared and put me in a better position than I would have been when I was first starting out. So 2018 was the beginning of my journey in legal cannabis. I actually was.
Tahir Johnson:I was still so prior to cannabis, I was a financial advisor, managing and working in wealth management, dealing with high, different, high net worth clients, helping them plan for everything from retirement to, you know, education and you know, saving and investing all those different things, and I was looking at the cannabis industry. I first got like exposed to the cannabis industry because my dad had fibromyalgia back in 2018. And he got all these different medications and everything, one of them being this thing called Pregnizone and it had all these different side effects. And I remember when I was in college, I was one of those stoner college kids. I had done a research paper about medical cannabis and you know, still like early days, new, like in California, but it wasn't really, like you know, on the East Coast. You know you have all these different medical cannabis programs now but it wasn't as prevalent back then. So I remember saying to my dad like Dad, I think you can, I think you should try some medical cannabis, you know, to help you with this. And he's like son, I've been smoking, you know, weed since the 60s, you know, you know, and he was kind of hesitant but I, you know, you know, I kind of pushed him a little bit more and encouraged him. And my dad I'll say, like the impact stigma, cannabis prohibition he was really hesitant to get his medical card because in his mind he thought that it was just a trap for the government to try to bust you down. So I was like, dad, you know what you get, your medical card, I'll get mine with you.
Tahir Johnson:And as I started, it kind of led me on a journey to start researching medical cannabis again. And in Maryland the medical cannabis program was was pretty new, it had just launched. And so at that time I heard and read about my friend, hope Wiseman, who is the youngest black woman at the time, the youngest black woman to own a dispensary in the United States, and she also had a background in finance as well dispensary in the United States, and she also had a background in finance as well. So seeing her hear her talk about that transition from finance and how she did it, it encouraged me because I was like, wow, I see somebody like me that was able to do this.
Tahir Johnson:Rewind all the way back to when I was working at Morgan Stanley in 2013,. I saw the IPO of GW Pharma happen, because Morgan Stanley was the company that did it, and so I remember looking at it back then, like, wait a second, I'm like cannabis and seeing it be legal, I'm like seeing it come out in this type of way. It was the first idea that I had. I was like where the industry could be something different, right, like you know. And so at that time I wasn't ready to, like you know, jump into cannabis. But that's when I first started looking at it, seeing all the reports like, oh you know, talking about where the industry was going to make these billions of dollars, and I started thinking about it because me and my I had been arrested for cannabis. I'm the oldest of three brothers. Both of them have been arrested for cannabis. Almost all my friends that I know like growing up in my community had experienced the same thing.
Tahir Johnson:So this idea that now it was going to be something legal and I was also watching from the outside, looking in, and I was hearing, like some of these narratives where it's like, oh, cannabis is a business now and these all these people that have been a part of it could like, shouldn't and couldn't like be a part of it now that it was like this legal industry, Right, and you know, even back then there were barriers where people that had cannabis charges sometimes couldn't even get involved, and so I started, as I started looking and learning about the concept of social equity. It just became something that was so important to me because I felt like not only, not only did I want to be a part of the industry, but I wanted to be able to use my background like in finance, where I was doing financial literacy, like business acumen to try to be able to help other people to get into the industry, especially because, from the beginning, I learned that access to capital was one of the biggest barriers and challenges to the industry and, having worked in finance, I felt, you know, very comfortable and fluent having these conversations. So, to get in, I actually started working part-time as a bud tender at a dispensary. So I remember, like I they hired me like towards the end of 2018 and I actually started working there in January 2019. And you know, I was I was working at the bank by that time. I was working for SunTrust Investments, and so I will be working for the bank Monday through Friday and Saturday and Sunday.
Tahir Johnson:I had my job as a bud tender. I was going in and I really fell in love with it. Uh, like having the opportunity to hear, like all these different stories about how cannabis was changing people's lives, just the freedom and the opportunity of being able to work in the legal industry, something that you had, uh, been arrested for before and like, just really like see and learn. It was just so exciting to me. So when for one but it's also, you know, difficult to work seven days a week, not have any time off, all those things. But long story short, when it came time to pick one, well, I was actually more so forced to choose, because when you're a licensed financial advisor, you have to report any of your outside business activities to the employer, and I was. I was pretty confident that if I said I was working in cannabis would it be federally illegal. I was going to. That was going to be the end of the road for me. So I made a tough choice, that you know. I really wanted to be in the industry.
Ben Larson:And I left the six figure job for the $15 an hour job, and that was. I want to pause on that just for a second because, like you deserve credit for that and that's like a trait of a founder is, like you know, just setting aside the ego and just going after what you know you truly love and and making the jump, so to speak, from from a wealth advisor to to a bud tender. Yeah, it's not something that you hear very often nah, and I'll tell you, man it was.
Tahir Johnson:It was definitely tough, um, you know it, it didn't take long to to go through the savings and all that stuff that I had, but I was thankful that I was in a position to be able to do it when I did and really just be able to chase my dreams and the other. The other part of that story was that at this time, like they were getting ready to release more licenses in Maryland and I wanted to, I was working on applying for one. So this whole time when I, when I would be at like in my time off, I was working on my business plan, pitch deck, like all of those things doing a lot of networking, going to events, and I'll say that I did not. Well, I knew cannabis was hard and that the licenses were scarce, but I was. I was so confident that I was going to get one. I didn't realize how just how scarce they were, because in Maryland, when I applied for the license, they were giving out four cultivation licenses and 10 processing licenses and I got really close. The team I was with we had ranked 15 for process and 18 for cultivation, so close, but not close enough. We also applied for licenses in New Jersey at that time in 2019 as well, but that was the same round that didn't get decided up until much. You know from all the delays that they had actually just ended up deciding that a little bit before we got our recreational licenses. But again, both of those times I was unsuccessful getting the license.
Tahir Johnson:So it was kind of back to the drawing board of figuring out what I do, and I knew that I had much bigger dreams than being a bud tender, uh, but one of the things I'll say was really a blessing was being positioned in Washington DC. Um, so you know, having gone to Howard university, I stayed and lived in the area all that whole time, so working in finance it was in that area and you know I was. It was, ironically, when I was last at SunTrust I was the financial advisor on Capitol Hill. So, like I was dealing with, I've always been very interested in politics but I never really knew much about it and I got into the advocacy and lobbying and all those things completely by mistake. I got invited by my friend, shanita Penny, who was the president of MCBA the Minority Candidates Business Association at the time, to attend their lobby day and you know, I kind of my biggest point of reference was House of Cards, right, so that's all I do.
Tahir Johnson:So I showed up looking at, we showed up, I'm looking at the list of all the different members of Congress and I'm like, hey, if one of my boys is the chief of staff for this congressman, should I hit him up? And people were like, well, you just got people like that and but it was just. You know, I've always been a network or a relationship person, right, and so most people that if I've known you my whole life, I mean people that from my entire life I'm still friends with, close with you know. So I had just reached, I reached out to my, we went to the office and I and just because there were so many different industry folks there are people from all the different advocacy organizations, so I think they got to see people, got to see me in action and what I was capable of, kind of live in action. So I went to the.
Tahir Johnson:I remember going to Congressman Swalwell's office and I asked for my friend Michael and they were like I asked him, was he here? And they were like no, he's not here. And I was like, okay, tell him. Tahira Johnson came by and I guess he heard me from the back and came out and he's like yo, what's up?
Ben Larson:And so that's how lobbying works, folks.
AnnaRae Grabstein:I want to jump in for a minute because I think that there's like this incredible journey that I want to highlight that you're on right now. So fast forward from this journey to get you here. You just opened the store, all of this stuff that were these challenges that you experienced along the way, manifested in a lot of hard work and, in 30 days ago, getting to open Simply Pure Trenton.
Ben Larson:Yes.
AnnaRae Grabstein:And what I want to know is when did you know that it was time to open your doors? What was the moment that the hard work come to this point and you were like this is my opening day. I'm putting it on the calendar.
Tahir Johnson:Oh, my gosh man, I'll tell you I was. I was chasing that opening day so hard so I actually opened the first possible day that I could. Uh, you know we had, uh, I dealt with so many delays in construction, uh, from the permitting process early on, so once I got my permits, them actually approving my final certificate of occupancy. So as a result of that, I actually opened months later, or actually a year or two later, but then from the actual got down to the line months later. So you know, as I got closer, I developed my team and I knew, you know, I was confident that we were ready to open, like I had been working and preparing on this for two years.
Ben Larson:You were waiting. You were just like we. We went through that in Berkeley too, I you know it's. It's kind of good to hear that it's not just Berkeley, because it took us two years to get through our project and get all the licensing done.
Tahir Johnson:Yeah, and it's you know, a lot of people uh talk about how hard the municipal, I mean, how hard the state, like, how hard it is to do the application and stuff, but for me, uh, it was more so that municipal process, you know, where you have to get approval for so many things. And I'll say also I don't think it's said enough like how, how big that real estate development aspect is of cannabis. Uh, because, again, I had never, uh, although I had this business experience, I had never done any real estate development stuff, so I had to deal with contractors, uh, architects, engineers, like all these different things to get it open, and that was, I think that probably was the part that was the biggest learning curve of the entire thing, for sure.
AnnaRae Grabstein:Well got open, and this is what I want to talk about. I think that there are so many entrepreneurs that are entering the cannabis space every day, and, especially as states are creating laws and regulations that are putting caps on the amount of stores that one owner can have, what we're seeing is this more diverse ecosystem of lots of small businesses. It's a lot of people that are entering the space for a long time, but they're out there also competing with groups that might have 200 stores collective between all the states that they're in. So in many ways, it's like this is a David and Goliath kind of situation, and I would love to hear how the first 30 days went and like what were some of the things that were wonderful, surprises and successes and what were some of the unexpected challenges that you encountered during that.
Tahir Johnson:Oh man, you know this is this is amazing to talk about, because this is this actually gives me an opportunity to reflect on it, because I don't think this is a conversation that I've had, you know. So I'll say it's definitely harder than it looks on TV. Right, all of my friends who own dispensaries or cannabis businesses. I got to really give them their flowers because just to even make it to you you think it's easy, but when you hear people that are, that have been in business, if you made it in business, you hear that businesses, small businesses, often fail in the first five years or whatever. I've heard statistics so long, but cannabis isn't any different. I think there's always been this narrative that people are saying like, oh, cannabis is an opportunity for generational wealth and maybe people may think that everybody in the industry is making all this money, but the reality is it's very expensive to get into and it's tough, and for me I would say I'm thankful. So my company, simply Pure and I'm also I licensed the brand Simply Pure from my good friend and mentor, wanda James, and being able to lean on her for experience you know she's been open 15 years now the first black owned legal dispensary in the country. And so when I am going through it and I can call her and it's like something like why do I, can't do it, it's going, it's going to shit. Today, you know, she can kind of talk me off and, uh, you know, say, hey, we've all been there before and having that support, so it's uh, it's super helpful. But one thing I'll say is uh, you know, the environment is to your point in, uh, how it changed with licensing and uh, uh, the environment changes so fast.
Tahir Johnson:Right, when I got my license initially, there were 12 dispensaries open in the state and they were only the like the large MSOs. So I got to spend time in like some of those, some of those stores, like kind of shadowing in the early days and I was seeing like a thousand customers a day like come into the stores, right, so in those early days of legalization, like they were making, uh, you know, all this money. And by the time I got open, uh, I think there's somewhere around like 150, uh, dispensaries open in the state now. Um, so there's a lot more competition.
Tahir Johnson:Uh, where people were dry, you know, you might be the one dispensary in the area. Now In my county alone there's eight, so and a good number of those are right within a 10 minute drive of where my store is located. So you really have to earn your customer a lot more. And I'll definitely say the fact that I'm kind of like the local hometown hero, like a person that's actually from here, versus the other dispensaries that are here are, you know, mostly like the, like MSOs or you know other, you know other folks that are kind of like operating in the area. So not only do I have customers and people that come in just because they're like general cannabis, but every day I'm seeing somebody you know whether it's a relative or somebody I went to elementary school with or you know coming into the store and then people kind of sharing, sharing the sharing the news, and that's been super helpful.
Ben Larson:Also it's awesome that you have Wanda helpful um, also it's awesome that you have wanda, wanda, james in your corner, like total, total mention in the industry. Yeah, I, I'm, as you're talking about winning these customers and and the decision to to license the, the brand simply pure versus uh, versus starting your own brand. Yeah, do you think that is has uh helped in in kind of the customer acquisition and has it kind of fulfilled what you wanted it to fulfill when you made the decision to license?
Tahir Johnson:Yeah, absolutely, you know, I'll say it, the partnership with Simply Pure. I think it accomplishes a number of goals, right, like one for me, uh, to be able to show, like the unity and that is black business people we can work together. Um, that, uh, you know that we can have that partnership for me, putting the ego aside again, uh, you know, already being prominent in the industry, rather than start my own brand, I wanted to really be able to add and add something to to. I'm always trying to, you know, add and make things. You know, just add my little, I guess, make things better, right, so if I could show that collaboration and, with Wanda and us, be successful. It sets this blueprint that other folks can collaborate and do things together, because I think it's that it's cooperative economics, which is a principle that you know. That's important to me to be able to even be able to help enhance the legacy of the first black owned brand in the country and have a part in that. I love to do it. But also, it's a known, it's in terms of people that are in the industry. It's a, it's a, well, it's a household, you know, I want to say it's a household name where people all over the country know, but if you're in cannabis, in the industry, you know Wanda because she's a titan of the industry.
Tahir Johnson:Also, the brand Right, like the brand, already existed. I didn't have to build, like, the core values, I didn't have to build the mission and the vision because it was already there. And why I have to create my own, when what you, you know, what she stands for, what this brand stands for, is really what I stand for and it resonates. So, just for her to have had the trust to allow me to, you know, be a part of it and her baby and you know, help build this Simply Pure 2.0, like she calls it, it's an honor for me and, like you said, it's what you want to say, um, and, like you said, it's what you want to say.
AnnaRae Grabstein:Yeah, I was going to say so when you take. You take this existing mission and core values and now you're translating it into this new place and this new work and I've I've helped a lot of.
AnnaRae Grabstein:I've opened retail stores myself and I've helped people open retail stores and one of the things I think that influences the the the success of the store the most is product mix and how that fits with the customers that are going to come through your door once you get them there, because we all know it's all about getting those customers to come back to. It's not just the first time, it's about getting them. I think they say that basically, if you get a customer into your doors three times, they're your customer.
AnnaRae Grabstein:So I'm sure you're thinking, okay, it's good, I got that customer in, but how do I get them back? And I know that New Jersey is a really competitive market. I've been following it really closely in terms of how much Canopy has been built out in New Jersey and if that's enough Canopy for the amount of retail demand and all the stores that are open, the amount of retail demand and all the stores that are open. I'd love to hear how you took the mission and the brand that existed and then chose what products you want to carry in your store for the customers that you were predicting and if it was the right amount, if it was the right products in these 30 days. Did you realize, like holy crap, someone's asking me for a product over and over and I didn't put that on the shelf for what that?
AnnaRae Grabstein:was like for you, just about the products.
Tahir Johnson:Sure, sure. So first I'll say my old financial advisor had. I'm pretty conservative, so one of the things that I didn't do to start out was make this huge, large order, cause I didn't want to have more product than I could sell through without knowing what our traffic would be like. Cause I didn't want to have more product than I could sell through without knowing what our traffic would be like. So I did use a lot of data and information different things like BDS analytics headset to kind of determine what were some of the top selling brands and top selling products within the market and I use that to help to predict our product mix, even everything down from you know what percentage flour, pre-rolls, vapes or concentrates, accessories we would have on shelves, and then breaking it down to the next level and filling in the product categories that we would have in each of those, so that was how it was Top products that were already selling in the market.
Tahir Johnson:So that was consistent that were already selling in the market, so that it was consistent, sure. And then I'll say, but it wasn't just a data and statistics approach. I'll say that was part of it, but the other part of it was really wanting to work with. It started with wanting to work with and support Black-owned brands, because that's really one of the things that's important, and there aren't many, but I can say that I have all of them on our shelves. We have my friend Martha, her company Buttercakes, the first Black-owned edibles maker. My friend David, prolific Grow House he's the first Black-owned cultivator. My friends Brendan and Stan with Mudd Brothers they have the first Black-owned concentrate brand in New Jersey. And my friend Precious just launched the first black woman-owned pre-roll brand and so they're all on the shelf. So, being able to highlight them, really leaning into the black-owned business story, the locally business story, we have them showcased right in the middle of our retail sales floor, in the most prominent areas, so that people can see those.
Tahir Johnson:Some of the other things that we did I think are unique or that you know again, we also carry a lot of local craft brands, not just the. Of course we have the larger MSO products, but we have a great variety and one of the largest varieties I've seen of some of the craft brands, because we want to make sure that we're highlighting those and building this ecosystem of up and coming. You know New Jersey businesses and, quite frankly, they have some of the best products right, so it's great for us to get to grow together Like people are doing exclusive drops at our store. We've had a couple people premiere their products here and that helps, and some of the things that I did to differentiate us like out of the gate was again using some of my relationships and uh like I every week. Uh like the.
Tahir Johnson:For the first three weeks I had a like a, a celebrity here, so I um. I opened up my grand opening with jim jones, uh, from dip set. Um, I had styles P from the Locks here my second weekend and then Havoc from Mobb Deep out my third weekend, and what that did was because so many people are fans of these artists. I had so many people come in here because they wanted for the meet and greet or to meet the artists, and so it got our name out. Although I worked in finance, I was a marketing major in college, so I was always thinking of different strategies, how can I bring people in. So doing those events was definitely helpful.
Ben Larson:But can we talk a little bit about the details of some of those events? Just because I don't, of those people that you mentioned, I don't believe any of them actually are associated with a cannabis brand.
Tahir Johnson:No.
Ben Larson:So how was that structured and did it provide the pop that you were looking for?
Tahir Johnson:It did. So I'll say hip hop and cannabis have always been so closely intertwined and one of the things that I did try to do was choose people that were like authentic to the cannabis community. Um, like jim jones, he actually previously had did have a cannabis brand, uh, that he was doing, or out of oregon, but it doesn't, uh, it doesn't exist, he doesn't have it anymore, uh. And then styles p, you know, I think he's known for having like one of everybody's favorite cannabis songs, right, like I get hot. It's like. You know. Imagine every stoner in the world wants to come and meet him and hear. He's known for having like one of everybody's favorite cannabis songs. Right, like I get high, high, high. It was like you know. Imagine every stoner in the world wants to come and meet him and hear that song, you know. And then Mobb Deep, of course, is one of the like original, like OG, like hip hop folks, and those those days definitely had a pop.
Ben Larson:They, each of them, was our, were our top three days that we've had, uh, you know, so far, um each of those days, I had almost 200 customers, um you know, coming in for the meet and greet off of it. The consumers that came in were they buying the products that you had been merchandising to be sold the, the local craft, you know, black owned businesses? Did you, did you see good sell through of those products or or did they gravitate towards the, the mso kind of mainstay brands?
Tahir Johnson:great, great question. And so when we did the like our grand opening, I did a? Uh, my partner, like I mentioned, prolific grow house, he premiered his uh, he dropped his strain, kobe? Um, when we did our grand opening and it sold out, uh, in the first day um the other, when we did our event with styles p? Um, my friend Buttercake, she premiered her chocolate chip cookies at the store and they sold out, maybe not that day but like the next day afterwards or something like that.
Tahir Johnson:So what I've learned is, you know for one, people really trust their people, trust their bud tenders, what they recommend they'll get.
Tahir Johnson:I think the other thing is that this idea of supporting the small craft and local businesses and Black-owned businesses, it definitely resonates with our audience. Again, some of my other, even outside of the Black-owned brands, some of my other, like my other favorite brands here in New Jersey, are small, local brands, like I love one of our brands we have called garden greens. They grow some fire, uh, clay. Nine Hamilton farms, bango, like these are all small, family, family owned businesses, right, and so it's expanding that ecosystem, uh, you know, and again, we partner with all of them and do like uh promos in the store. But one of the other things people love is we have a bud bar, uh, here where people can go and actually sniff and uh like, look at it under a magnifying glass and uh, there's not many dispensaries in new jersey that have that. So people get in the showcase because all of our uh everything's pre-packaged so you can't look at it, so it's you know. So it gives people just a better connection and experience where they're more likely to buy the products.
Ben Larson:Definitely so. You do have the prepackaged rules, but you've created like a mechanism by which they can. They can still smell it.
Tahir Johnson:OK, that's it. That's it. Cannabis smokers want to know what they're smoking, right.
Ben Larson:Totally yeah, I missed. I missed the deli days to know what they're smoking right Totally.
AnnaRae Grabstein:Yeah, I missed the deli days and so you've only been open for a month, and in that time have there been times when you wish that there was something that you had gotten done ahead of launch, that you were planning to do after launch?
AnnaRae Grabstein:that was really challenging and I and I say that like I've I've helped dispensaries with their whole launch list and we look at it and we say, wow, there's 700 items on here and all these different trainings that we want to create for bud tenders. But some we're going to get done by the day we launch and some are just going to be things that we get done as we operate and we're going to add to the list. Keep checking them off, but then all of a sudden something happens and you're like, oh crap, I should have done that a month ago.
Tahir Johnson:Yeah, well, I've definitely learned. There were some things that we learned along the way and had to implement. One of them, thinking of different marketing things. For example, I heard a lot of my customers saying they couldn't tell that we were a cannabis dispensary. I heard a lot of my customers saying they couldn't tell that we were a cannabis dispensary, but I'm on a busy street where like 30,000 cars ride by a day.
Tahir Johnson:I had a lot of signage that says simply pure. But if you don't know what simply pure is, you know that doesn't mean anything to you. So now I've got a big 30 foot long banner on the front of my building that says cannabis dispensary right Like. So it's like small things like that that can help simplify it and make it easier just for customers to you know. Know what you're, what you're trying to uh accomplish in the message that you're trying to get across. That was super helpful. Um, you know, I think uh, not necessarily you know, cause every, everything else that we kind of learned along the way were, like technology, different things, but I'll say, yeah, so I think it's like you know, one day you did something. There's always something that doesn't work the way you think it is Right, like even just learn how to use the technology and how you do your deals and promos and all those different things and how you do your deals and promos and all those different things. But I think the biggest thing that I learned is, like, as an entrepreneur, how important it is to like manage the business and the balance sheet and those different things. And it's so simple, like one of my mentors broke it down to me, it's like more revenue, less expenses, but it's really being, it is really taking a look at it, finding you know what are the necessities, right? I think that I found out there were a lot of things different bells and whistles that I had, maybe that I didn't need, right, even more so than things that I that I like that I had, that I that I was missing things, because I think, having been around the industry, like I saw all these different gadgets and technologies and platforms, it was like, oh, I need all of them, but then, as it turns out, some of them, some of them, you don't.
Tahir Johnson:I think the other lesson that I learned is like the importance of scaling, like to build for the company that you are today and where you are now versus where you think you're going to be like five years from now, because it's hard to sustain that business, that five years from now business, if you don't have the revenue and the team to make it happen, and it puts a strain on you achieving your goals right now.
Tahir Johnson:And I say that, for example, I also want a cultivation license, I want a delivery license, and I was spending time working on trying to advance those.
Tahir Johnson:But what I've learned is that, at least for me, I need to get this dispensary uh, focus, focus, focus right on all, on all cylinders, be like full efficiency, before I take my eye off of this ball and go on to the next thing. So I've decided to kind of to trim those ambitions back, at least for now, and focus on getting the dispensary up and running. And you know, that was kind of one of the one of the biggest things that I've, that I've made and I've had to make adjustments in my like goals and team and things like that. Accordingly, and sometimes some of those decisions are tough when you change course from where you were going to be. Uh, I say also, it's important to be conserved. Again going back to being conservative, because I think you'll look at these pro formas and these numbers and say, hey, I'm going to do this and then you look at the reality and you it is is not.
Tahir Johnson:Uh, it's not. You know the. The numbers on the spreadsheet are not your uh, not your actual numbers, uh. So how do you pivot from?
Ben Larson:that, I think, is one of the one of the biggest things so, going back to, I want to double click on what you were talking about, the bells and the whistles and the tech stack a little bit, just because those, those can be big expenses. I know, I know what we pay for hubspot and our, our erp and all that. Uh, what did you kind of find out to be absolutely necessary in core? And then, what are some of the things that maybe could wait a little while, didn't have to be implemented right away? And you know and this varies for all sorts of different businesses in the supply chain, like I know I've I've talked to a lot of companies in space that had the kind of interface with like metric for for seed to sale, tracking and like yeah, oh, I'm just going to actually do this manually, I don't need this $10,000 a month software, um, so yeah, what, what were some of those things for you? Software so, yeah, what were some of those things for you?
Tahir Johnson:Yeah, so that is a good question. So one for example, I've learned, at least for me, for marketing. Now again, I spent a lot of different money on like, from SEO to advertisements and programmatic ads and all these different things, and I think what I've found is a lot of what, uh, uh, I've done mailers, I've pretty much done all the different things that that you could do when you open up, and I think what I've found has been the most successful of bringing people into the store Like, honestly, has been like that. Uh, it's been like the word of mouth, uh, like somebody like referring, saying they came here and had a great experience. I think us really driving people to do Google reviews and things like that has really helped.
Tahir Johnson:You know the other things where, for example, when somebody, when I've been told I'm going to have the greatest SEO and everybody in the world is going to, you know you're going to be the first result At least.
Tahir Johnson:I know it's been a short amount of time, but I can't necessarily say that I can see the proven results of that. And then even like the ads, because I always ask customers like oh, how did you find out about us, how did you hear about us and I haven't. I haven't heard one person say I've seen, I got to pop up on my phone or something, but I've spent a lot of money that said that every person was, you know, in a certain radius, was going to have them. So it's like some of those things I've decided to cut back and focus more on, like being out in the community Right, like going to events, passing out your card, shaking hands them hard, uh like all those things, at least from what I'm seeing, are uh paying a lot more dividends. But also different things like the weed maps and the leaf lease, like where people are uh looking for cannabis. Those are, like you know, just kind of more basic stuff.
Tahir Johnson:That's yeah all mainstays right, yeah, that stuff has been more helpful and yeah, you know it is. We're trying all all different types of things. One of the things that I'll say that I found is that the events and doing different things whether even when it's not the bigger ones, things that bring people into the space, that is super helpful as well. Space, that is super helpful as well. And for me also, leaning into the social justice and advocacy and kind of continuing that my background, has been super helpful. Some of the things we've done have been expungement clinics where we've been doing free expungements. We've done voter registration drives and I've had days where I had 20 people sitting in the lobby to get expungements but then after they're finished, those people sitting in the lobby to get expungements, but then after they're finished, those people go in and make a purchase, right. So I've seen my dad's a jazz singer and my mom owned a dancing school, so like I have jazz outside on Sundays here and so we may have, you know, 30 people outside to see jazz and then at the end they come in and purchase cannabis. So it's been finding all those different things that connect and bring people to the store and give them an experience. It's like come for the jazz, stay for the weed, right. Yeah, come for this, stay for that.
Tahir Johnson:And I found that those things have worked a lot better by far than some of the other, like fancier bells and whistles, it's really just basics.
Tahir Johnson:It's like get people into the store and when you get them there, we really lean in on the customer service aspect, like just trying to make sure that it feels like you know, you get the experience, like you're going into a high end luxury place where we're greeting every customer with a smile and face, uh, you know, not just send them to the kiosk to make an order, actually being hands-on, helping them with it.
Tahir Johnson:Uh, and and on that part you am used we are utilizing technology. We have a system with kiosks that people can, you know, read about every product. They can see the pictures of the products. You know all those things as well, in addition to to the Bub Bar. So, even though we're limited with the stuff being prepackaged, we try to do as much as we can for them to experience and kind of know the product and what they're getting the in-store experience, I know that the kiosks most likely are tied to some type of e-com menu that you guys have in place that may or may not be through your POS, depending on how you built your tech stack and you haven't been open that long, but I know that the hope for many stores is to drive people to do order ahead.
AnnaRae Grabstein:I'm wondering if you're seeing people do order ahead, or is that something that you're hoping to be able to build? What the mix looks like?
Tahir Johnson:uh, yeah, it's actually something that, uh, that that I was actually looking at, yes, that we were actually analyzing yesterday, uh, right now, for me, about 90 of the orders take place in the store, versus somebody ordering online and coming by and picking up. So a lot of what we're focusing on is is education around that that people can order online, uh, and one of the other things is that we have a curbside pickup here and then most of the other dispensaries that are in my vicinity don't have that option. So we're trying to draw like just educate people on the convenience of that and try to drive it that way. And one of the things that I take back from my days of banking is how do you train customer behaviors? Right? I always look back at in my days in banking. It was like the early days where people were trying to adopt making you do deposits at the ATM and mobile deposits. Now you think about it now.
Tahir Johnson:If you got a check or got cash, you more than likely today nobody would go into the bank and do it right. You would take a picture or do it at the ATM, but in 2008, nobody wanted to do that right. They would no, I just want to see a person. So we gave them two dollar checks. Oh, if you come in, do your deposit at the ATM, we'll give you this free two dollar check, and it because we say, ok, I'll do it for something as small as two dollars. So, with that same line of thinking, literally we just implemented a program where people will get, you know, bonus points, you know, if they order online or do curbside pickup, to try to drive that behavior. And with our program, a point is actually a real dollar. So we're, you know, we're compensating people to do it that way and I'm hoping that it'll drive that behavior and help to build our online orders up.
AnnaRae Grabstein:Follow up on that. Just, you're hinting at your CRM and loyalty and also how you're communicating with your customers. Yes, what platform are you using?
Tahir Johnson:Talk about basics, what you have to have. Those things are essential, right, you have to have a POS, you have to have an e-commerce, you have to have a loyalty. For my POS and e-commerce I have Dutchie. They've been amazing partners. Anything I've needed from day one to now um, they've been on board Like I have a. Uh, you know, I mean, the service has been good.
Tahir Johnson:Anytime I need somebody, uh, you know, we need some advice, don't know how to do something that somebody's right there to kind of make sure we know what we need. And it's also convenient, uh, at least in my opinion, to have one like one, not have like trying to simplify things. And I have this thing over there, that thing over there, so we use them for our POS and e-commerce and for my text message and loyalty program. I use Spring Big and we actually had them build a app as well, so we're also driving people to download the app. So I'll say that loyalty program in the text message marketing has probably been one of the biggest.
Tahir Johnson:From again what I can see that works right, because even before I was open, I was collecting a lot of contacts and everything to have them in there, and so you can actually see, like with Springbag, you can see when you send out a text message how many people clicked it, how much, how much did they put in their cart, how much did they spend. Like a lot of data, like, oh, so what are they buying? Like, are they buying flour, are they buying it, you know. So you get a lot of data. So, honestly, like that has been in terms of my marketing, I think that loyalty and text message program is probably is probably given some of the most quantifiable actual results that I can see, cause I'm like why was it not this text message?
Tahir Johnson:It went to a thousand people in this many hundred people clicked in. This many people actually came in and purchase. You can see the, you know, you can actually see the results. So that that is. I'll say that's indispensable, you have that's. Those are the kinds of the things that I think you have to have, if anything.
Ben Larson:I love it. Yeah, man, we've covered so much, just like from the brand to the tech stack to the engagement. I love what you were saying about just this constant, like calendar building and all that. It sounds like that in itself sounds like a full-time job. Like booking out the calendar, promoting that, creating the, creating an experience, more so than just a dispensary. Like are you doing all that? Do you have someone helping you? Like what does that calendar management look like?
Tahir Johnson:well, you know, one of the things that I really do try to make it an experience Most people have that have come in here have said is the most beautiful dispensary they've ever seen, and I wanted to not only be that visually but to feel like that as well. And the calendar is crazy, man. Sometimes I wish I had a clone. It's hard to be to accomplish all these things at once. But I do also have a great team at once. But I do also have a great team my managers, my general manager and assistant manager here in the store. They're incredible.
Tahir Johnson:And even my hourly employees, my cannabis advisors. Everybody's so dedicated, they love the mission and they're passionate about what we do. So that really makes a big difference. And even externally, the amount of support and friends that you know that are always willing to just help out, it just goes. It always goes a long way. So I definitely have a lot of help and support behind the scenes, but I'll say I do as much as I can myself too, because I want to ensure our success. So I put in 25 hours a day.
AnnaRae Grabstein:I think all founders deserve a little bit of a cape, but that cape is also for the team. So I love how much you've called out your mentors. You mentioned early some crucial people like Hope and Wanda that inspired you, and then to hear about the team that's backing you up is amazing. So I love to end an episode talking about the people, because that is really what drives all this forward and makes it possible. So I want to thank you so much for coming on and talking with us today, and I want to turn it over to you to make your last call to our audience.
Tahir Johnson:Yes, yes. Well, thank you for listening. Thank y'all, anna Rae and Ben, for having me, and thank y'all folks for tuning in and listening. You can find me here on LinkedIn, tahir Johnson on Instagram. Everywhere else, twitter is simply Tahir, and I hope if you're in New Jersey, you'll come by and visit the store.
Tahir Johnson:And I'll just end it with another shout out to and give flowers to some of my mentors that helped me get here. Not only you know a lot of, a lot of, I'll say, black women have helped me along the way, so I definitely wanted to. James Hope Wiseman, my auntie Linda Green, dr Shonda man all of y'all have been like major influences for me. So I love all of y'all and more folks than that, but I don't want to say too many names. If I leave some out then I'll look bad. So thank you all again for having me come visit us at Simply Pure and I support Minority Cannabis Business Association. So many important issues, from rescheduling the safe banking to that entrepreneurs really need. So being an advocate is as an important aspect of business, so make sure you support advocacy and a lot of other great organizations doing the work. That's all I got is doing the work.
Ben Larson:That's all I got. Amazing, amazing, and thank you, tahir. You're so good at giving people their flowers and I know everyone just wants to give them back to you because you've been so involved with MCBA, mpp, ncia and just the whole litany of efforts that we have like pushing this whole industry forward, and now you're being vulnerable and opening up about what it's like being on the operating side. Congratulations on on getting through launch and in the first, the first month. So, yes, looking forward to following you on on it yeah, we'll talk about.
AnnaRae Grabstein:We'll, you know, talk to you in a year. For the one year, look back for sure.
Ben Larson:Yeah, that'd be great all right, if you're in new jersey, folks be sure to check out to here at simply pure trenton specifically, uh, but yeah, uh, excited uh to see, see what you do next to here. We'll talk to you soon. Appreciate you guys. All right and all right. I, we, we, we need to do more of that. Just like digging into, like the specific aspect of of what it is to run one of these crazy cannabis businesses.
AnnaRae Grabstein:It's a lot and and people, people deserve to hear these tips and tricks too they often get hidden and to hear some of of just the basic things that he touched on, like like the events and the crm and and the text messaging like this is the stuff that people really, really want and need to know because, they're opening stores, so yeah it's a lot.
Ben Larson:You mentioned having this like 700 point like checklist. I have no desire to open a dispensary, but I would love to see this checklist and just see what it takes to actually do this Wow.
AnnaRae Grabstein:I'll share it with you.
Ben Larson:All right, folks. What did you think? Was this helpful? I hope so. What aspects of business do you want to hear? What can we do? What can we discuss? Who can we have on? Let us know, thank you. Thank you, thank you for liking, subscribing, sharing, doing all the things. And don't forget, we're going to be live and in person at Benzinga, chicago, coming up here in October, and then MJ Biz, the morning mixer, so make sure that you're on our invite list and that we get to hang out, uh in either of those cities. Thank you to our teams, uh at virtosa and wolf meyer again, without you guys, we couldn't do this. Uh, thanks for keeping our lights and mics on and, as always, everyone, stay curious, stay informed and keep your spirits high until next time. That's the show.
