Employee turnover is significant at dispensaries, causing dispensary owners and managers to cram interviews into already-busy schedules. However, interviews should not be an afterthought.

The interview process is completely under your control—you set the questions, establish the expectations and determine whether the candidate will be a good fit. It is an opportunity to showcase your company’s values, staff and culture. A good interview process should make candidates say, “This would be a great place to work.” But a poorly thought-out interview method, inadequate planning or inappropriate or illegal questions will not only create a negative impression for potential employees, but may also get you sued.

Tailoring your interview process and the questions you ask can help ensure your next meeting with a prospective employee isn’t in a courtroom.

Comply with Federal and State Laws

Certain questions and behaviors are regulated by state and federal laws, which are spelled out in basic HR handbooks and on a variety of websites. While every state has different laws regarding job interviews—such as the outlawing of marital status questions and/or forbidding discrimination of a prospective employee for an answer to a personal question—the dispensary owner should know there are some general “don’ts” that apply to every employer regarding questions about a candidate’s race, gender, age, religion, sexual orientation, disability or other sensitive topics.

8 Interview No-No’s:

Here are eight examples of questions that might appear well-intentioned, but are legally risky and could result in a lawsuit.

1. “Our dispensary is growing, and we need people who can work long hours. Do you have any religious issues with working on a Saturday or Sunday?”

Never ask candidates about their religious preferences, which religion they practice or how their religion might affect their work. Instead, provide the hours the candidate will be expected to work at your dispensary and confirm he or she can work those hours. If the candidate is unable to work the hours expected for the job, don’t assume or ask the reason. Remember that religious discrimination is illegal across the U.S., and while the government doesn’t specifically forbid questions about religion, there may be state laws that make them illegal.

2. “Your name is exotic; where are you originally from? Does that mean English is your second language?”

It is illegal to ask if the candidate is a U.S. citizen, where he or she was born or if he or she speaks a language that is unrelated to the job. Instead, you can ask if a person is authorized to work in the U.S. You may not ask if the candidate’s first language is English because this is essentially asking someone about his or her ethnic background or nationality, which is not permitted under the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

3. “Our dispensary is family friendly. Are you married? Do you think you and your partner will be starting a family soon?”

It is illegal in several states to ask about a candidate’s marital status, gender, whether she is pregnant, planning to have children or anything regarding sexual orientation. Even if the candidate offers this type of information, do not record it, and return the conversation to the job requirements. New York and California explicitly ban questions about marital status. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC)—whose role it is to enforce “federal laws that make it illegal to discriminate against a job applicant or an employee,” according to the commission’s website—advises against asking those types of questions even in states where it is not outlawed because marital status is often used to discriminate against female employees, which violates the Civil Rights Act of 1964, according to Business Insider.

4. “The budtender job requires the ability to lift merchandise that can be heavier than 20 pounds. Have you had prior medical problems that would prevent you from being able to do so?”

You are not allowed to probe a candidate’s health status because it can be seen as attempting to elicit information about a disability. You can ask if he or she has the physical ability to lift a certain minimum weight or reach a shelf that is 5 feet high, if that is an important part of the job. You can ask if there are accommodations the candidate would need to perform the job. The dispensary owner or manager should confirm the state requirements for accommodating employees with disabilities.

5. “You look to be in great shape! Do you go to the gym regularly? Did you take any sick days or medical leave last year?”

You can’t ask how tall candidates are, how much they weigh or what kind of shape they are in, as these can be considered discriminatory factors in a job selection. You are also not allowed to ask about a person’s sick-leave use on a prior job.

Additionally, questions about what type of organizations or clubs a person belongs to are also off-limits, because they could be seen as asking about a person’s sexual preference, disability or other information that is not related to the job.

6. “We are looking for a young, energetic team player for our new dispensary.”

Do not use language that relates to or suggests a preference for a particular gender, race or age. According to job site Monster’s article “Think Before You Hire: Maintain a Legal Hiring Process,” both “young” and “energetic” suggest an age preference and can open you up to a discrimination lawsuit. Phrasing the description to say, “Looking for a hard worker who can thrive in a fast-paced, dynamic dispensary environment” is a suitable alternative.

7. “Our dispensary offers paid time off for child care emergencies. Do you have children? What kind of child care arrangements have you made?”

It is illegal to ask questions about child care arrangements. You only need to know if the applicant can work the hours as indicated in the job posting.

8. “Did you graduate high school around here? I went to XYZ School, just a few blocks from our dispensary. What year did you graduate?”

Asking when a person graduated from high school (or college) is seen as a way to ask someone how old he or she is. Many states ban interview questions that ask about an applicant’s age. In your interview process, you can ask how many years of relevant work experience candidates have and in which years they attained that experience.

BEST INTERVIEW PRACTICES

Follow these pointers to help increase the odds of a smooth interview process:

• Don’t rush to bring in every candidate. Begin the interview process with phone interviews to identify finalists you want to interview in person. This will save time in the long run and will impede less on day-to-day operations.
• Each dispensary job is unique and therefore requires different skill sets and attributes. Be as specific as possible in the interview and include questions that will help you get a sense of what specific skill set the candidate will bring as well as convey the attributes you are seeking. For example, if the job description says: “Must be able to recommend CBD and THC products for clients with gastrointestinal symptoms”—generate an interview question that asks whether the candidate has that specific sales experience and what the applicant’s customer service style is.
• Be wary of candidates offering phrases like “passionate about marijuana” or “caring attitude toward people,” because they are difficult to define and quantify, and are subjective. If candidates offer a response along these lines, follow it up with a question such as, “How does your passion for marijuana make you a good candidate for this job?” or “Can you provide an examples of when you had to deal with someone who was confrontational?”
• Interview questions should be open-ended, meaning that they require more than a “yes” or “no” answer. Develop questions that encourage candidates to think on their feet and draw from their experiences. These types of questions are called “behavioral interview questions.” Behavioral interview questions reveal if the candidate is a potential fit for your dispensary.
• If other dispensary team members will be part of the interview process, brief them beforehand. Remember that everyone must conduct interviews according to employment law. Have the written job description available to the team, including skills and attributes, as well as written interview questions. During the interview, they should read the interview questions directly from the “script” so they don’t accidentally ask or talk about something off limits. Remind them that notes taken during the interview must directly relate to the questions being asked. Notes should never indicate an applicant’s race, age, national origin, gender, disability or other such identifier.
• A salary range should be discussed rather than a specific amount, since salary will usually be based on the candidate’s experience and qualifications. Specific salary and employee benefits should be stated in the written job offer, not in the interview.
• Don’t make any promises or guarantees regarding the job or future employment, comment on how “well” the applicant did on the interview or how he or she compares with other people you’ve interviewed.

There is a lot to remember and some work ahead of you and your team to ensure you have a legal and effective interview process. But it will be worth the effort! Remember, this is your opportunity to showcase your company and your team, and to let potential employees know that your business is a great place to work.

Note: The information in this column is provided for informational purposes only and should not be construed as legal advice. Always consult a legal professional regarding legal matters.

Most doctors agree that your diet is just as important to your health, if not more, than how much you exercise. When it comes to cannabis edibles, however, it can be hard to make healthy food decisions. Most dispensaries only offer infused sweets such as chocolates and gummies, and/or baked goods like cookies and brownies.

The Mint, a dispensary in Guadalupe, Ariz., is looking to serve a market segment with a more refined palate and bigger appetites for both food and cannabis through its in-house cannabis kitchen that offers made-to-order meals to its patients.

While it still offers the typical pastries and confectioneries, The Mint Café’s staff, led by a team of five chefs, serves a varied menu that includes artisan Beyond Meat burgers (THC is fat-soluble and binds well with the vegetable oils present in meat substitute products, Valle explains), pizza, street tacos, and macaroni and cheese.

“We saw a large, unmet need from patients who were regularly visiting our dispensary; they were looking to access fresh and healthy cannabis-infused foods,” Eivan Shahara, CEO of Brightroot, parent company of The Mint, said in the statement. “We know that the right kinds of healthy foods can help people battle a variety of illnesses, from cancer and epilepsy to Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s diseases. We’re using our knowledge about food and nutrition to help patients in their search for fresh, healthy snacks and infused meals.”

The café’s impact on the company’s bottom line is not insignificant: Monthly sales of roughly $60,000 represent up to 6% of the dispensary’s total revenue, according to Brightroot’s VP of operations Raul Molina. More importantly, the kitchen has attracted attention beyond Guadalupe’s 6,597 residents (according to the 2018 U.S. census).

“The kitchen was one of the things that put us on the national scene,” Molina says.

(Food) Safety First

Building a cannabis kitchen was no small feat, Molina says, especially considering that no other cannabis licensee in Arizona had ever approached regulators about having a kitchen that would prepare made-to-order, to-go meals for customers.

“The state made a lot of hoops and hurdles to get the kitchen open,” Molina explains. The state rejected the company’s first proposed proof of design because it misunderstood that the dispensary wasn’t opening an area to make gummies and other pre-packaged goods. “They were a little taken aback by the menu when they saw that we had pizza and burgers” and all the commercial-grade kitchen equipment, he adds.

The Mint’s ownership spent several months (and more than $300,000) working with the state to ensure that the dispensary could remain compliant with both cannabis and food safety regulations. These negotiations and delays forced The Mint Café to open in October 2017, six months after its originally planned 4/20 opening date.

Molina says talks took a turn “when they figured out that we weren't going to give up [on having our kitchen]. … When they started telling us exactly what they wanted, that's when everything kind of moved a little quicker.” Ownership agreed to concessions on the menu to ensure ingredients are not quickly perishable—notably, all of The Mint Café’s items are vegetarian—and continuous efforts are made to educate consumers on expiration dates and how best to preserve their medicated meals at home, mostly through having conversations with patients when they pick up their to-go orders.

Made-to-Order

Christopher Valle is one of the chefs who oversees kitchen operations at The Mint Café. Raised in the food-service industry with his restaurateur grandparents, Valle has worked as a chef in professional kitchens for the past four years. He received cannabis training in his early 20s at Herbal Risings, a group offering classes to cannabis industry hopefuls. There, he took introductory courses on budtending, concentrates and cooking with cannabis. Among other things, he says that experience taught him the importance of decarboxylating cannabis (the heating process that turns THC-A into ?9-THC) before using it in cooking to ensure that patients are receiving as much of the benefits as possible.

In addition to its all-vegetarian menu, there are a multitude of vegan and diabetic-friendly options to cater to a wide variety of dietary restrictions. Pastries and hot food items are made in similar fashion: butter or oil, which is ever-present in the menu, gets infused with THC distillate that is carefully dosed with syringes before being used in recipes.

To ensure even distribution of the cannabinoids “when we do our pastries, we churn the butter with the [distillate] oil. We turn the butter with the oil, then we add sugar [or stevia for ketogenic recipes] and turn it some more before any other dry ingredients are added,” Valle explains.

Beepers let patients know when the order is ready for pickup, allowing them to simply wait in their car or wander the dispensary to make additional purchases. That said, items are often ready before patients complete their regular dispensary purchases. For example, the seven-cheese mac n’ cheese dish takes only eight minutes to prepare from scratch.

This rapid delivery allows The Mint Café to serve more than 100 items from the made-to-order kitchen to an average of 30 patients per day. Patients often come with multiple orders. Some patients go so far as to order a month’s worth of meals and freeze items. The culinary team members walk those patients through best practices to keep and defrost their frozen wares. (“Seal everything in airtight containers,” Valle says, and “don’t defrost items in a high-voltage microwave for more than 20 seconds at a time.”)

The culinary team continuously tweaks the menu, offering both regular staples and seasonal items in what Molina calls a “live menu.” During last year’s Super Bowl, for example, the dispensary sold out of its 300 pizzas it had planned for the event. “They went really, really fast,” Molina says. The team already was planning menus for Thanksgiving and the winter holidays in July.

During the summer, the dispensary had team members from Flourish (an edibles manufacturer in Arizona) teach its kitchen staff how to make infused, homemade ice cream. The team of chefs is eager to add that to the dispensary’s menu but is awaiting a pasteurizing machine to be able to make the ice cream in-house.

Another potential item that Valle would like to further explore is ginger beer. However, the chef says infusing beverages is much harder than infusing food, as THC is fat- and sugar-soluble but not water-soluble. “Infusing without sugar is hard,” he says. “My background is in healthy foods, and I’m working on a ketogenic diet menu, so I want to keep things without sugar,” which makes infusing drinks even more challenging. The fermentation process required to make ginger beer also needs to be reviewed and approved by state regulators before being introduced into the dispensary’s kitchen. A smoothie and juice bar are closer to reality than a ginger beer, Valle says, but he’s hopeful that the team will figure out an in-house recipe.

“We’re very passionate about the things that we do, and when we go into something, we do a lot of research and dive deep into things,” Valle says about their drive to innovate the menu.

Molina hopes to keep the kitchen’s momentum going and launch branded lines of homemade food products in the coming months. “I’m also in discussions with a couple of brands in California in the hopes of getting a licensing deal where we make their products in-house,” he says. “We’re always looking for good partners who want to do things the right way.”

Millennials have surpassed baby boomers to become the largest living generation in America, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

In the process, they’ve cast off slacker stereotypes, redefined work-life balance and rewritten “adulting” rules as they moved from parent-influencing children to parenthood.

According to cannabis analytics and research company BDS Analytics, millennials and Gen Z make up 38% of cannabis consumers age 21 and older in fully legal states. Gen Zers, just one year into legal age, account for 2% of that figure.

The following millennial/Gen Z (M/Z) insights can help dispensaries meet the needs of these consumers as they reshape the cannabis industry.

1. Traditional stigmas against cannabis aren’t in play.

When the youngest millennials were born and the oldest Gen Zers conceived, California had already legalized medical cannabis. These generations have matured in a time when medical and adult-use legalization is becoming the norm.

Jennifer McLaughlin, vice president of merchandising for cannabis operator Calyx Peak Companies, points out that many M/Zers have parents and siblings who consume cannabis—and who work in the industry.

“They’re growing up in a time when they’re watching cannabis become official and be considered beneficial,” she says. “The stigmas for these kids just won’t be there. I see a big shift in knowledge at a younger age and a totally different attitude toward it.”

Jessica Lukas, senior vice president of commercial development at BDS, echoes that sentiment, saying more consumers are coming of age into a legal market. “When you think about this evolution of thinking, the younger consumers have fewer stigmas, fewer preconceived notions and more interest in trying something,” she says.

2. Recreational and social use fuels M/Z consumption.

Recreational and social reasons top the list of why M/Z cannabis consumers consume, according to BDS. About half of M/Z cannabis consumers also use cannabis to treat self-perceived health and wellness issues, most notably to relax or “mellow out.”

McLaughlin points to lifestyle. “They’re living their life the way they want to live it,” she says. “It’s all about the social interaction for them now—socially interacting with cannabis. Market to the fact they have these rich lifestyles. Market to what they’re doing in their lives.”

BDS offers additional insights about M/Z consumers:

• They want mood and effect labeling so they know what to expect.
• They’re more likely than older generations to consume before going out in public.
• Six in 10 consume with at least one other person or in group settings.
• About half consume daily. That’s on par with Gen X, but more than boomers.

3. Retail experiences and budtenders are key.

“Millennials tend to be all about the experience more so than most other groups,” says Jennifer Culpepper, founder of cannabis branding agency Brand Joint. She believes millennials will gravitate toward dispensaries that create a unique dispensary experience that’s right for their audience.

McLaughlin stresses the need to involve this group of customers in the task and individualize the experience. “Create an environment where we allow the customer to create their own adventure,” she says. “If we think of it that way, it will really resonate with them.”

BDS data reveals dispensaries and budtenders are important educational resources for this group. About 60% obtain their cannabis from an adult-use dispensary, and about four in 10 say the recommendation of the budtenders is very influential in their decisions.

4. Inhalables rank high, and price trumps brand.

M/Z consumers prefer inhalables over other product formats; 82% of millennials and GenZers say they’ve consumed inhalables in the past six months, which is higher than BDS reports for other generations.

While flower still holds the lead, its use is declining across all age groups, according to BDS. Close to half of M/Z cannabis consumers use vape products. “Ease of use” is the main driver behind that choice. Two-thirds consume edibles/ingestibles; one-third uses topicals, BDS reports.

Brands are low on the list of drivers influencing product choice, according to BDS’s analysis. Market volatility and product availability often keep brand awareness and loyalty low, the research firm reports.

But when brands are a factor, Culpepper says M/Z seek those with substance.

“One thing you want to watch out for is that you’re not creating things just to be flashy and new and trendy, because if you do create something trendy, trends come and go pretty quickly,” she says.

5. Causes and community make a difference.

Culpepper says that socially conscious companies have an edge with younger consumers. “As younger people are starting to see the world and see all the things that need to be done, they are looking to companies to do their fair share, and they’re willing to support those companies that do good,” she says. Doing, not just saying, is critical.

Interest in sustainability is higher among younger consumers than older generations, according to BDS. A sizable portion of the M/Z group wants manufacturers to do a better job of making their packaging more sustainable and eco-friendly, according to BDS findings.

A sense of community also is an important part of the puzzle—for all generations—in Culpepper’s eyes. “People are going to be more likely to shop at your store because they feel some type of connection,” she says, adding that the core values that guide a dispensary is a good place to start.

“You really can cut through a lot of different demographics … when you look at it more in terms of their other interests, the other elements of their lifestyles that could overlap,” Culpepper says. “To me that is a much stronger way of marketing because you’re going to be making connections that are based on something that is real and authentic.”

Loyalty programs have long incentivized customers to continue shopping at their favorite retail locations, but what about cannabis dispensaries? With so many new dispensaries opening, can you encourage your customers to choose you using rewards? The short answer is, yes. In fact, it can be one of your most effective marketing tools, if done right. There are several efficient ways to do it without spending a bunch of money or giving away product discounts at the register. Here are three key tips for building and effectively utilizing your loyalty program.

1. Incentivize Your Customers To Sign Up For Your Loyalty Program.

Signing up for a loyalty program can be annoying and time consuming. Without the right incentive, there’s a good chance your patrons won’t want to share their personal information. This is especially true for retailers operating in the still federally illegal cannabis industry. So how do you gain loyalty members without adding a negative experience to the consumer journey? A common strategy is using cashback credits on every purchase for anyone who signs up. If your business chooses to do cashback credits, points-per-dollar is more effective than points-per-visit. Another cost-effective approach is to establish monthly raffles, with multiple prize winners, with incentives such as grocery store gift cards, prepaid cell phones, or even heavily discounted cannabis product such as an eighth for $1, should your local regulations allow such promotions. This is a great way to grow your frequent-flyer database with new customers while continuing to incentivize your existing ones.

2. Be Strategic With Your Database Promotions.

An effective loyalty program can transform your business, and one of the most effective strategies is to use your loyalty program to build a relationship with your customers. Use your platform to monitor customer shopping habits and send targeted promotions to your guests based on their preferences. Identify trends such as a favorite strain they purchase every week and implement a system that allows them to redeem that product after they’ve collected enough cash-back points (for example, to redeem an eighth). Use your loyalty platform as a tool to help you make strategic marketing decisions that speak directly to your customers. Remember, connecting with your guests involves paying attention to what’s important to them!

3. Give Customers Something To Hold On To.

For patrons who choose to opt in to your loyalty program, giving them something physical to represent membership goes a long way. Printing a loyalty card with the customer’s name on it is a great way to make your loyalty program feel more official. Consider making a special one for other industry members and neighboring business employees—just make sure you’re able to reference a digital version of your database information in case they lose it. You don’t want to hinder the customer journey for your loyal patrons who accidentally misplace their cards. And trust me, it will happen!

Nick Jack is chief retail officer at Diego Pellicer-Colorado, and supervises daily retail operations, including cannabis procurement, sales, cash handling, financial reporting, customer service and more.