In this special format bonus episode I meet Clint G. Seukeran, the owner of Ganjika House, Brampton Ontario’s first legal cannabis dispensary, which opened its doors to the public on April 1 2019. Clint is a speaker at the RCC Retail Cannabis Forum coming up May 13 and I ask him for two starts, and one stop, based on what he has learned and experienced over the past year of the COVID era and beyond.
Welcome to the The Voice of Retail , I’m your host Michael LeBlanc, and this podcast is brought to you in conjunction with Retail Council of Canada.
In this special format bonus episode I meet Clint G. Seukeran, the owner of Ganjika House, Brampton Ontario’s first legal cannabis dispensary, which opened its doors to the public on April 1 2019. Clint is a speaker at the RCC Retail Cannabis Forum coming up May 13 and I ask him for two starts, and one stop, based on what he has learned and experienced over the past year of the COVID era and beyond.
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Thanks for tuning into today’s episode of The Voice of Retail. Be sure to subscribe to the podcast so you don’t miss out on the latest episodes, industry news, and insights. If you enjoyed this episode please consider leaving a rating and review, as it really helps us grow so that we can continue getting amazing guests on the show.
If you are a retail cannabis retailer or industry professional you don’t want to miss the RCC Retail Cannabis Forum that I have the pleasure of hosting on May 13th. Learn more and register at www.RetailCouncil.org/events.
I’m your host Michael LeBlanc, President of M.E. LeBlanc & Company, and if you’re looking for more content, or want to chat follow me on LinkedIn, or visit my website meleblanc.co!
Until next time, stay safe and have a great week!
Michael LeBlanc
Welcome to The Voice of Retail. I'm your host Michael LeBlanc. This podcast is brought to you in conjunction with Retail Council of Canada. In this special bonus episode I meet Clint Seukeran, the owner of Ganjika House, Brampton Ontario's first legal cannabis dispensary, which opened its doors to the public on April 1, 2019. Clint is a speaker at the RCC Retail Cannabis Forum coming up May 13th, and I ask him for two starts, and one stop, based on what he has learned and experienced over the past year of the COVID era and beyond.
Clint, welcome to The Voice to Retail podcast. How are you doing this morning?
Clint Seukeran
Hi, good morning, Michael. I'm doing great. It's a pleasure to be with you this morning.
Michael LeBlanc
Well, thanks for joining me, this is one of, one in a series of bonus episodes, looking at great cannabis retailers in a run up to Retail Council of Canada's Retail Cannabis Forum, which I have the pleasure of emceeing and the pleasure of meeting you. So, thanks for making time. Let's, let's jump right in. Tell me about yourself and your background and all about your store.
Clint Seukeran
Well, you know, I'm actually a very passionate person, when it comes to cannabis. My company is CGS Foods, and we operate as Ganjika House in Brampton, Ontario,
Michael LeBlanc
The flower city, right? The flower city.
Clint Seukeran
There you go, there you go. Flower city, we tried to be the best ambassadors for the flower that we can be. And we really, we really adore cannabis consumers, and try our best to cater to all of their needs. So, it's really been a fantastic journey over the past two years, you know, learning about the cannabis space, and really evolving and adapting and, you know, becoming a leader in the space. You know, it's been, it's been a real privilege to be here.
Michael LeBlanc
I think you are, you must have been one of the, in the first round, right? You've been, you're one of the original cannabis stores if I, if I don't, I don't guess incorrectly, is that Is that about right? When did you open your doors?
Clint Seukeran
Yes, that's correct. I was actually one of the original lottery winners, the original 25 lottery winners in January of 2019. And, we opened our doors at 9am on April 1st of 2019. We were one of the very few of those original 25 to open our doors on time.
Michael LeBlanc
Well, and you're one of the original 25 to still to be a private owner, right? And, many of them, many of those got, got moved along. And, were you always interested, like, did the lottery attract your interest? It sounds like you were, you were interested in being a cannabis retailer long before that. Tell me a little bit about it, were you ready? Was it something you were going to do anyway and you just, you know, threw your hat in and the process was the process at the time, and you, you got both lucky and now you're great operators? Is that a fair description?
Clint Seukeran
Yes, well, that's, that's fair. I've always had interest in the cannabis space. Prior to cannabis, I was involved in food production. And, prior to food production, I was, I was actually going to study medicine. So, I was always interested in health. And, cannabis seemed to offer very unique you know, sort of solution, or remedy to that, that space. And, you know, I always wanted to get involved with it and learn a little bit more.
And when the lottery came about I just thought you know, I'll throw my name in the hat and see what happens. You know, I certainly didn't expect to win but I hope to win. And you know, it was, it was just elation once, once I found out that you know, I was allowed to participate, I was chosen to participate in the space. And I took, you know, I took that seriously. I really bought into what the government, you know, the spirit of the, of the legislature in terms of making, you know, cannabis safer for consumers. And, I really applauded the efforts of the, of the politicians who did that. And, I bought into the the whole idea of legalization and then providing safe product to consumers.
Michael LeBlanc
Yeah, right on. Tell me about the, now I've been to your store, it's a great store. We were talking off mic, it's great people. Tell me, for the listeners though, tell us about the vibe of your store. Everyone approaches these things a little different. But, if I was to walk in your store today, how would you describe it and your approach? I you know, you and I know, different retailers take different approaches. Some are a little more clinical let's say. Some have more technology. Some are more, you just tell me what, what vibe you try to establish and what it's like to walk in to your front door.
Clint Seukeran
You know, that's a fantastic question. I don't think my words will really do the right merit, but I'll try my best. Essentially what we focus on is understanding the cannabis consumer. We want to make sure we create a safe, respectable, comfortable environment so the cannabis consumer can come in and explore, or really embark on a safe journey of discovery. So, you, we create a space that is very soothing, very respectful and focused on understanding how the cannabis consumer, what he looks for, what they look for, what, what are they trying to you know, attain through the consumption of the product. So, vibe is one of always acceptance, respect and positivity.
We want to make sure that the cannabis, and cannabis consumers understand that we are one of them. I mean, one of the prerequisites for working my store is that you must consume the product. You have to, you have to understand the product and have that passion, that, that fire that's ignited with knowledge. You know, that that sort of wholesome experience that, that you'd want to, you'd want to have when you're making, you know, this sort of choice to consume this product, recreationally or otherwise. We want to make sure that we're affirming to the cannabis consumer, that we're there with them, and we're there for them. And we understand their needs. And we do our utmost to make sure that we meet those needs.
Michael LeBlanc
So, you've been operating, you're a veteran, you've been operating as long as legal cannabis has been legal. So, let's talk about lessons learned. And, you know, the original question was from 2020, but you go back to 2019. So, it's been a, it's been quite a journey, right, from, you know, trying to sell anything I can get my hands on because there's a shortage, to now there's, you know, now there's a there's a surplus. Tell me about the, you know, your lessons learned. And, I'm kind of trying to phrase this in kind of two, two starts and one stop kind of thing. But, basically, what are the lessons you've learned as you've been operating for the past two years from a merchants perspective, from a retailer's perspective?
Clint Seukeran
Okay, well, initially, you know, at first, we had no idea what the market would look like. So, there was a bunch of, you know, we had no certainty into, in terms of what we were getting, and what how the consumer would respond. So, there was a lot of learning to do, and we definitely did it. So, one of my biggest learnings actually was the broad spectrum of the cannabis consumer. You know, prior to legalization, there was a lot of stigma, considering what a cannabis consumer looked like. And, when I started operating, and we saw the, I mean, I had people from 19 years old, all the way up to 98 years old.
Michael LeBlanc
Okay, that’s great.
Clint Seukeran
Now that 98 year old, it's quite funny story she walked in, I was actually I'm very hands on. So, I was actually at the store, I was checking IDs and was chatting with customers. And a 98 year old came in and I said, 'Okay, it's fine, you can go on in', and she was like, 'No, son, I want you to check my ID'. And, she was born in 1921.
Michael LeBlanc
Come on that's,
Clint Seukeran
You know, just such, and she came there to buy flower. So, I'm just, you know, I was just really, really so astonished with the, with the spectrum of the cannabis user.
And secondly, my, my other really, you know, pointed learning was the, the amount of passion people have for cannabis. The amount of, you know, sort of resentment that they held against, you know, the government for, for making this plant illegal for that long and everyone was just so so elated, so happy to partake in legalization at that time.
And, you know, since, since, you know, 2019 things have evolved into now, we have to be very agile, very adaptable in this industry, it's very dynamic, there's a lot of turbulence going on. We have to make sure we're choosing our partners properly, there are a lot of choices out there.
So, one of these thoughts would be you know, start looking at the ecosystem, start identifying key partners that, that, you know, I think that each, each retailer would, would be well served, you know, selecting proper LPs, proper, you know, software partners, proper banking partners, marketing partners, I think that is critical in the space now as it being so, turbulent. You know we really need to be able to identify those key players.
And another start would be you know, start focusing on the job that needs to be done. And start understanding your consumer. How are you going to serve them? You know, each area is different, for example, you know, in Brampton, we might sell a lot of flower, a lot of pre rolls, whereas in other areas, they're selling a lot of capsules, they're selling a lot of oils. So, really understanding your, your consumer and the consumer needs is critical to the success. And, and sort of figuring out your competitive advantage, because, you know, everybody knows Ontario's becoming very, very saturated with stores. I mean, stores opening, you know, 2 or 300 meters apart. So, differentiation is going to be key and one of the most important starts I would see would be start identifying your competitive advantages. The manners in which you can really differentiate yourself from your, your peers and outperform them and really drill down on that differentiation because that's, that's what's going to help us. We are all selling the same product, how are we going to differentiate? So, you know, focusing on your key competitive advantages, what are your skills that you bring to the table that others can't?
And one stop. I would say stop focusing on the rewards. Stop focusing on, 'Oh, I'm going to make a million dollars, I'm going to make $10 million, I'm going to make $20 million', stop focusing on that reward and focus more on the work that needs to be done. The rewards will come, the rewards definitely will come if the work is done correctly. And I believe that's, that's a very important message to get across. Because, I see a lot of guys is trying to open up stores and you know, I'm going to make millions here, well, if you do the wrong thing, you're probably going to lose millions. So, If you know that let's focus
Michael LeBlanc
Yeah
Clint Seukeran
On the work that has to be done rather than trying to figure out how much we can make.
Michael LeBlanc
Well, that was fantastic. I mean, you were you bring up so many great points. I mean, it is the case that in Ontario, as in many other provinces, you now welcome to retail kind of thing, as I said to one cannabis retailer, you've got competition, and you've got to convince someone probably, if not today, then tomorrow, to pass by two other cannabis retailers to come to you. You can't count on just you know, exclusivity as it was in the early days or great geography. And so, you're spot on, you know, thinking through, you know, what's your competitive advantage even even at the product level. Do you see getting to a place where you're, you describe, you know, different consumers wanting different product, different store, flower, or whatever, do you do you get to a point do you think where you actually start selecting different brands and different potencies even or different mixes that that helps you differentiate?
Clint Seukeran
Oh, absolutely, your product mix will be a key differentiator, um, you have to know what to buy, in order to serve the customers in your area and your geography. So, you know that that is critical. That's why I mentioned selecting the correct LPs, the correct, the guys who are aligned with your customer’s needs and aligned with your mission as well. I mean, we have a broad spectrum of choices for LPs and for suppliers out there. Obviously, we have one distributor, the OCS, but we are able to select the, the products that align with what we're trying to achieve. And, I think that, that's critical as well. And it is a key differentiator, not just you know, differentiating on service. We can also differentiate with product by our product variety and product selection.
Michael LeBlanc
Right on. All right, all right. So, you're gonna be on the virtual stage, so to speak, coming up. Retail Council of Canada's Retail Cannabis Forum, what, what are you gonna be talking about There?
Clint Seukeran
Well, again, I think I'm going to be speaking about the importance of making the right choices for software, for banking. Ensuring that you know, retailers understand there, there's, there are a lot of choices. There are a lot of options out there, but making the right choices, you know, educated choices based on the success of, of stores like mine. You know, I made some wrong choices in the beginning and paid heavily for those. But from my learnings, I hope to help other retailers, prevent them from making those sort of mistakes and get them onto the right path you know, in understanding Canadian, Ontario, sorry, the Canadian retail cannabis ecosystem. And, sort of importing some of my learnings and some of my recommendations for them going forward. For us to all you know, really make create something that we can be proud of, create something that Ontario can, can really benefit from and start normalizing cannabis and fight the stigma.
Michael LeBlanc
Well, fantastic. And you're on stage with Albert Kim, who actually just interviewed as well, such a, such a great entrepreneur himself serving the market with the Greenline POS. So, that, everyone look forward to that.
Thank you so much for, first of all, for joining us at the forum to share those kinds of insights. I mean, they're so valuable, and you've got such great experience. So, thank you for, for sharing. And thank you for joining me in this, in this bonus episode. I wish you continued success. And, we'll be, we'll be watching and visiting. I look forward to visiting the store again when it's open. But that too shall pass very quickly. So, congratulations, and thanks again for joining me.
Clint Seukeran
Well thank you for having me, Michael, and I hope you keep safe.
Michael LeBlanc
Thanks for tuning into today's episode of The Voice of Retail. Be sure and follow the podcast on Apple, Spotify or wherever you enjoy podcasts so you don't miss out on the latest episodes, industry news, and insights. If you enjoyed this episode, please consider leaving a rating and review, as it really helps us grow so that we continue to get amazing guests onto the show.
If you're a retail cannabis retailer or industry professional, you don't want to miss the RCC Retail Cannabis Forum that I have the pleasure of hosting on May 13th. Learn more and registered at www.retailcouncil.org/events.
I'm your host Michael LeBlanc, President of M.E. LeBlanc & Company Inc. And if you're looking for more content or want to chat, follow me on LinkedIn or visit my website at meleblanc.co.
Until next time, stay safe and have a great week.