How to choose the right tech for multi-location dispensary business: Blunt advice from Green Releaf
If you are active in Missouri’s cannabis industry, you’ve likely heard of Green Releaf. With 5 operational locations across the state and another one opening up soon, Green Releaf is Missouri’s premier medical marijuana dispensary aiming to provide an elevated cannabis experience to its customers. With an enterprise family business in retail, venturing into cannabis seemed like a natural extension for Jay Patel, founder & CEO of Green Releaf. Initially, people close to Jay raised eyebrows over his cannabis business idea because of the stigma surrounding marijuana. But with research, education, and a vicarious experience of a family member who healed through cannabis products, Jay and his family witnessed the medical benefits first-hand, which proved to be the motivation for everyone to get on board.
With extensive experience in the regulated retail space and a passion to help people in their wellness journey, Jay has been able to expand the footprint of Green Releaf quickly for the dispensary to become the preferred cannabis store in Missouri. With a college degree in engineering, Jay also understood the importance of using the right retail technology to ensure efficient dispensary management and chose Cova POS as the cannabis retail software solution for all his stores. Patel is very involved in the day-to-day operations of Green Releaf and has the following advice for cannabis retailers on how to choose the best tech and pos system for their business.
Choose Tech That Aligns With Your Business Vision and Growth Plans
Jay was always confident about the future of cannabis and applied for multiple licenses. Once Green Releaf got awarded its dispensary licenses, it became the first company to open all its allotted medical marijuana stores in Missouri because of a well-defined business plan. His vision for growth required that they choose a cannabis POS system that is capable of handling and streamlining multi-location dispensary operations, and evolves with them.
Jay is convinced that a multi-location business is the proven business model in retail. A clear-cut business plan and support from the community in advance allowed him to implement all his ideas methodically and scale up rapidly, and in this journey, Cova as a technology partner proved to be extremely resourceful. With plans to have at least 10 dispensary locations and eventually a vertically integrated cannabis company, Green Releaf couldn’t have chosen a better cannabis POS system than Cova to make its growth vision a reality.
Pick Tech That Helps Deliver on Your Mission and Provide An Exceptional Brand Experience
Before launching Green Releaf, Jay did extensive research on cannabis. His conversations with people and their experiences using marijuana for wellness made him realize that this magical plant is indeed a blessing for them. For Jay, cannabis became a leaf that provides relief- and that is how Green Releaf was born. With the tagline, ‘Cannabis That Relieves’, the dispensary is staying true to its mission of improving lives and empowering people to avail the healing benefits of this green good.
Jay says, “Cova’s suite of cannabis retail tools has helped Green Releaf’s staff provide excellent service and enhance the customer experience.”
When your mission is to enrich people’s lives, customer service is one of the most crucial things in retail. With an easy-to-use interface and relevant patient information available on the fly, Cova’s cannabis POS system enables the budtenders to focus on satisfying the individual requirements of each patient and help them relieve any conditions they may have, staying true to the brand image of Green Releaf.
Your Tech’s Reporting Capabilities Must Allow You to Make Strategic Decisions
When you are in the cannabis retail industry, where new products are being introduced every day and new demographics of cannabis consumers are visiting your store regularly, Jay recommends that you do a thorough evaluation of the tech’s reporting tools. Reports from your cannabis POS system must be fast, accurate, and easily accessible so that you can leverage these to deliver operational excellence.
Jay remarks, “Historical data and reports from Cova POS give me valuable insights to make strategic business decisions, optimize dispensary operations, and segment our target market better.”
Whether it comes to inventory ordering and management, staffing decisions on big occasions like 420, organizing promotions on certain days based on buying behavior, or just providing a more customized experience to customers, Green Releaf relies on patterns and reports generated by Cova POS to streamline dispensary operations.
Choose Advanced Cannabis Retail Software That Is Keeping Up With The Times
Jay believes that anyone who is still running a retail store on a laptop or desktop computer is still living in the past, as such systems are outdated. Technology has advanced a lot, and mobile tablets are a necessity to ensure a seamless customer experience at your cannabis dispensary. Green Releaf was approached by multiple cannabis POS companies that were offering their software solutions on a laptop, but Jay chose Cova for the simplified tablet format that both staff and customers love.
Jay asserts, “The future of retail is mobile, and Cova’s tablets allow us to serve clients on the floor and prepare their order while they browse the store.”
When you serve at least 1000 patients a day, simplicity and user-friendliness are extremely important in cannabis retail software, and Cova ticked all the checkboxes for Jay Patel and Green Releaf. With excellent product catalogs, seamless integrations with third-party cannabis software, and the ability to provide a smooth check-in and check-out experience on tablets to its customers, Green Releaf couldn’t have chosen a more advanced POS system to elevate the dispensary shopping experience.
Your Cannabis POS Must Automate Compliance To Save You Time And Hassle
With medical, pharmaceutical, and retail experience, Green Releaf’s team knows that the regulated retail industry’s foremost priority is compliance. Any minor infractions in the cannabis industry can lead to loss of your dispensary license, and no license means no business. Selling cannabis products compliantly and providing high-quality cannabis at affordable prices has always been the mission for Green Releaf, and Cova as a technology partner has made everything easier.
Jay declares, “Cova’s 2-way integration with the Metrc tracking system facilitates cannabis compliance, reduces errors, and saves us time and hassle.”
Green Releaf’s team doesn’t have to worry about crossing the legal purchase limits of a patient or inventory tracking and reporting to Metrc, which happens in real-time with Cova. Green Releaf and Cova have worked together to enhance the capabilities of our cannabis POS system and ensure that Missouri’s premier medical marijuana dispensary always stays compliant with the law.
As Green Releaf executes its plans to expand further into a multi-location enterprise cannabis retail business and possibly a vertically integrated company, Cova is excited to be its technology partner in this journey. If you want to have the most advanced cannabis retail technology tools at your disposal to grow your business and always stay compliant with all cannabis laws, click below to learn more about how Cova can help you accomplish your goals.
ABOUT COVA
Cova is an award-winning, seed-to-sale compliant POS and Inventory Management solution designed to streamline cannabis retail. A compliance-first company, Cova not only meets all requirements in every market served, but constantly adapts to changing rules and regulations to make compliance simple for owners and employees.
What sets Cova apart? An intuitive design, lightning-fast transaction time, and automated compliance features. Its technology platform currently powers more than 1300 cannabis stores of all sizes with virtually no downtime, even on 4/20, making it the most robust and reliable cannabis POS system available.
Learn more at www.covasoftware.com