To build a successful cannabis dispensary, you’ll need the right people with a diverse skillset, strong work ethic, and passion for your business. Here’s an essential list of which job roles to hire for your dispensary.
General Dispensary Manager
A General Manager handles many functions, including:
- Managing staff and the dispensary schedule
- Dealing with customer complaints
- Building and maintaining relationships with vendors
- Managing the facility, including repairs
- Working with your compliance officer to ensure operations consistency
Trust in your General Manager is essential, as they must keep things running smoothly and make sound decisions every day. Hire someone with managerial experience who can problem solve efficiently and multitask in stressful situations.
Budtender/Sales Associate
Budtenders are your direct line to sales and represent your dispensary’s cannabis expertise to the public. They’ll take responsibility for:
- Helping customers make buying decisions through education on strains and consumption methods
- Handling cash payments and logging transactions
- Meeting sales quotas
- Upkeep of the retail floor
- Maintaining their up-to-date product knowledge
When hiring budtenders, look for retail professionals with cash handling and face-to-face customer interaction experience, as well as extensive cannabis knowledge.
Receptionist/Greeter
Your Receptionist will handle a few areas, including:
- Greeting customers when they enter the dispensary
- Checking and scanning every customer’s ID
- Encouraging customer sign-up to dispensary loyalty programs
- Answering queries by phone and redirecting calls to other staff members
- Tracking the daily flow of customers
A Receptionist position is entry-level, but they are often the ones who give customers their first impression of your dispensary. Hire someone friendly, welcoming, and with the right personality.
Security Officer
Your Security Officer will protect your staff and dispensary against theft, unruly customers, and criminal activities by:
- Providing a safe and secure presence for everyone in-store
- Preventing customers from entering restricted areas
- Detecting potential safety threats or criminal activity
- Investigating reports of criminal activity and enforcing appropriate action
- Reporting security issues to the General Manager
As dispensaries stock a large quantity of cannabis and handle a lot of cash compared to other stores, they’re prime targets for theft. Hire a reliable Security Officer who is never afraid to enforce rules and confront people (even your staff) when needed.
Inventory Manager
Someone needs to handle and organize the high volume of cannabis coming through your dispensary. An Inventory Manager excels at:
- Receiving, stocking, tracking, distributing, and reporting cannabis products
- Controlling inventory levels to ensure there’s never too much or too little stock
- Keeping strong relationships with suppliers and managing returns
- Performing regular inventory audits
- Reporting relevant inventory information to comply with state laws and regulations
For this role, you’ll need someone with a mathematical mind and a methodical approach. They should be proficient in the full process of taking inventory and comfortable with a range of different software.
Other Important Considerations
As your dispensary expands, you may want to handle fewer duties yourself, or begin to offer extra services. There are plenty more positions you’ll want to employ in-house later on. These include:
- Accountant
- Compliance Officer
- Delivery Driver
- HR Manager
- Education Officer
- Marketing, Content & Social Media Manager
- Brand Ambassador
From day one, an essential aspect of starting your dispensary is securing the financial freedom you’ll need to keep growing, year on year. Bespoke Financial offers practical and flexible financing for marijuana dispensaries. Take a look at our cannabis funding solutions on our Services Page.
