Opening new cannabis retail locations is only part of the equation. The real challenge begins when those doors open: managing staff across multiple sites, keeping teams motivated, maintaining consistent customer experience, and adapting to rapidly shifting regulations.
Mandy Morton, manager of Locals Dispensary in Columbus, Ohio, oversees operations across two locations after the company expanded to Cincinnati in 2025. Her experience reveals the operational realities of scaling cannabis retail in a fast-moving market where compliance is non-negotiable and customer service determines survival.
Her biggest lesson? You can’t clone people.
The Core Challenge: Scaling Culture Without Cloning People
When Locals Dispensary opened their Cincinnati location, Mandy faced a problem every multi-location operator encounters: how do you replicate exceptional customer service with an entirely new team?
“Our Columbus store has amazing customer service. It’s one of the reasons that people come back every day,” Mandy explained. “When we opened up Cincinnati, we had to somehow make that work with a brand new set of people and that was really hard to do.”
The solution wasn’t about copying processes. It was about recruiting people who already aligned with the company’s philosophy: slowing down in a fast-moving market to actually serve customers.
“We went into it recruiting, looking for people that were excited to be in the industry and wanted to kind of slow down the pace,” Mandy said. “We were moving really quickly in Ohio as a fast-track recreational market, and we try to exist in the middle where we can still take our time with customers and patients and focus on that customer service versus just churning people—hundreds of people throughout the day.”
The result? Locals processes hundreds of transactions daily while maintaining the customer experience that drives retention.
“We want people leaving the store thinking, ‘Oh my gosh, I can’t wait for the next time to come back.’ And we hear that when people are leaving,” Mandy said.
The Delegation Shift: From Hands-On to Strategic
Managing one store allows for hands-on involvement in every detail. Managing two stores forces a fundamental shift in leadership approach.
“I broke ground on that Columbus store. I touched every point of it,” Mandy said. “When we started working on Cincinnati, I had to pull away from Columbus and I really did have to trust the leaders there to at least maintain the culture and the business.”
That transition required letting go of operational control—a shift Mandy describes as both necessary and difficult.
“I’ve had to let go of a lot of things and trust people. That’s been really hard, especially when you touched every point of that first store,” she said.
The forced delegation created an unexpected benefit: it freed Mandy to work on growth instead of operations.
“Now it makes it really easy for me to spend more time working off-site and getting stuff done that is going to grow the business versus spending time in the store working on operational stuff,” Mandy explained. “If we wouldn’t have had Cincinnati, I would probably still be sitting in the Columbus store right now running every bit of that.”
Delegation vs. Abdication: The Critical Difference
Delegation doesn’t mean abandoning oversight. It means trusting capable people while maintaining accountability.
“I’ve moved from a coaching to a directing type management style,” Mandy said. “Communication across teams—you’re now trying to relay one message to two separate teams and you have to follow up and make sure that those things were received properly and then addressed properly.”
The key skill isn’t just delegating tasks. It’s building systems that ensure consistency without micromanagement.
Keeping Teams Motivated: Food, Money & Creative Incentives
Retail work is repetitive. Cannabis retail adds compliance complexity on top of that repetition. Keeping teams energized requires creative incentive structures.
“It’s hard to show up every day and be excited about AOV (average order value),” Mandy said. “So we definitely incentivize our teams through little contests that we have throughout the week.”
Ohio’s strict regulations limit traditional incentive options, forcing Locals to get creative.
“In Ohio, we’re so regulated we can’t do a lot of the fun things that other states get to do,” Mandy explained. “We have to get creative and a lot of that is through fun competition throughout the teams. Most of it involves food and money.”
Incentives include: – Gift cards for highest average cart value shifts – Tickets to Ohio State football games – Bonuses for hitting sales targets – Vendor-sponsored contests – Recognition for Google reviews and customer survey responses
The strategy works because it’s tailored to the team rather than generic corporate rewards.
Training Budtenders: Educators First, Salespeople Second
Cannabis budtenders occupy a unique role: they’re simultaneously product educators and sales professionals. The tension between those two responsibilities determines customer satisfaction and repeat business.
Locals trains budtenders to prioritize customer needs over transaction speed.
“We ask a lot of questions,” Mandy said. “What are you looking for today? Is there something you’re trying to treat? Are you just here to party?”
The approach starts broad, then narrows based on customer responses.
“Sometimes it does come down to somebody coming in and pointing at the kiosk and saying ‘I want that,’” Mandy said. “But other times it’s talking through the whole process where we’re asking them what category are you looking for. Are we looking for potency? Are you trying to look at what we have on deals today?”
The philosophy: if you sell customers what they actually need, they’ll return for that product. If you sell them the wrong thing, they’ll try a competitor.
This customer-first approach also drives average order value organically. When budtenders understand customer needs, they can recommend complementary products—not as upselling, but as genuine service.
Ohio Market Evolution: Pre-Rolls, Potency Limits & Regulatory Flux
Ohio’s cannabis market evolved rapidly in 2024-2025, creating both opportunities and operational challenges.
Pre-Roll Impact: Ohio didn’t allow pre-rolls until late 2024. When they hit the market, demand surged.
“When pre-rolls hit the market about fall of last year, we saw a huge uptick,” Mandy said. “It’s starting to taper off a little bit and people are starting to move back to full jar flower. Flower continues to crush here in the state.”
The shift created a pricing challenge: pre-rolls are impulse purchases with lower cart values. Locals adapted by structuring deals that encourage customers to add products beyond the single pre-roll.
Regulatory Changes: Ohio continues adjusting potency regulations and purchase limits for medical patients versus recreational customers.
“The state is changing a lot of the regulations on what we can have on our shelves,” Mandy said. “We’re trying to get people ready so they won’t be shocked by those changes when they do happen.”
Ohio also shut down hemp and CBD shops through SB 56 legislation, creating customer confusion about the difference between licensed dispensaries and unlicensed retailers.
“There’s a lot of confusion. People aren’t sure if they’re in a dispensary,” Mandy said. “We’re in a weird space, but we’re really set up to be a really great state market-wise. A lot of us are just sitting here going, ‘OK, I know it’s really weird right now, but it’s going to be amazing. We just kind of have to let the government side work itself out.’”
The Competitive Reality: Vendor Relationships Determine Success
Ohio added dozens of new dispensaries in 2024-2025 while the market was still maturing. The result: oversupply of retail locations competing for limited customer bases.
“We pushed out a lot of stores last year here in Ohio,” Mandy said. “At the same time, pre-rolls pulled a lot of the biomass away from the processors. The whole industry just kind of flipped while we were adding all these stores.”
In that environment, vendor relationships became the primary competitive advantage.
“This is such a relationship-based industry,” Mandy said. “If you’re not working with a vendor, a cultivator, or a processor to get those products and push those units—what are you doing? It really comes down to what you’re going to be able to put on your menu and what you’re going to be able to have available.”
Early market entry gave Locals an advantage newer competitors lack.
“If you didn’t have an existing footprint in the space, it was really hard to bust out and actually do well,” Mandy said. “We’re very fortunate that we got in when we did and had a little bit of time in that medical market to show people what we could do.”
Strong vendor relationships enable: – Better pricing (protecting margins in a competitive market) – Priority access to popular products – Exclusive deals that drive foot traffic – Flexibility during supply shortages
Day-to-Day Operations: Systems Over Proximity
Managing two stores two hours apart requires operational systems that function without constant physical presence.
“I went from spending just about every day in the Columbus store to having to share my time between the two locations,” Mandy said. “We realized early on that we really had to rely on our systems and get those systems in place.”
Critical systems include: – SOPs (Standard Operating Procedures): Documented processes ensure consistency across locations, especially for compliance-critical tasks – Policy alignment: Both stores must operate identically on compliance matters to avoid regulatory violations – Communication protocols: Clear methods for relaying information to both teams simultaneously – Inventory management: Tracking 1,000+ SKUs with 60-day sell-through monitoring – Delegation frameworks: Defined authority levels so managers can make decisions without waiting for Mandy’s input
The systems allow Mandy to operate strategically rather than tactically.
The Customer Experience: Fast When Needed, Personal When Possible
Locals balances two seemingly contradictory goals: high transaction volume and personalized service.
“You walk in and you’ll probably have five people saying, ‘Hey, how you doing today?’ Even if they’re already with a customer, it’s just a very good feel-good space,” Mandy said.
The environment adapts to demand: – Low traffic: Budtenders spend time educating customers, building relationships, creating a welcoming atmosphere – High traffic: The team “flips really quick and becomes very quick and efficient to get people in and out”
The store design supports this flexibility. Locals operates smaller footprints than big-box cannabis retailers, creating an intimate environment that feels more like a neighborhood shop than a corporate chain.
“We’re small and our stores are still somewhat medical-focused,” Mandy said. “You’re not walking into a Clutch or Certified where everything is graffiti and bright colors and it’s a rec vibe. Our store is very casual. Our team is very inviting.”
That casual atmosphere creates a challenge: customers want to linger.
“It’s at times hard to get people out because they want to hang out with us and chitchat,” Mandy said. “But it’s just a really good vibe.”
Compliance: The Non-Negotiable Foundation
Retail mistakes might cost customer satisfaction. Compliance mistakes can shut down the business.
“I’ve read just about every regulation for cannabis in the state and I still don’t understand half of it,” Mandy said. “You really have to understand what space you’re working in to know how to do it in a compliant way or you’re just going to be paying so many fines that it’s not going to be worth it.”
Ohio’s Division of Cannabis Control enforces strict inventory tracking, product labeling, age verification, and sales limits. Violations carry financial penalties and potential license suspension.
For multi-location operators, compliance complexity multiplies. Both stores must follow identical procedures to avoid discrepancies that could trigger audits.
Career Advice: Start as a Budtender
For anyone building a career in cannabis retail management, Mandy’s advice is direct: start on the sales floor.
“I would definitely suggest just getting in there and start as a budtender,” she said. “A lot of our leadership team comes from people that started off as budtenders. If you haven’t done the job, you would have a really hard time leading a team and getting them to do that job.”
Even as manager overseeing two locations, Mandy regularly works the register.
“One of my favorite things to do when I’m in the store is hop on register and check people out,” she said. “It’s really important to talk to the people: Why are you here? How did you get here? What are you buying today? What’s going on with you? And just really get that perspective of ‘why did you choose my store today?’ When people realize that you’re the owner, they really think it’s fun.”
That floor-level perspective informs strategic decisions in ways spreadsheets and reports cannot.
The Reality Check: Retail Is a Beast
Cannabis retail is not easy money. It’s high-volume, low-margin retail with extraordinary compliance overhead.
“Retail is a beast,” Mandy said. “And cannabis retail is the biggest beast of them all. You really have to be prepared for what you’re getting into.”
For operators considering multi-location expansion, Mandy’s experience offers clear lessons:
1. You can’t replicate culture by copying processes. Hire people who align with your values, then train them in your systems.
2. Delegation is mandatory, not optional. You cannot scale while maintaining hands-on control of every detail.
3. Vendor relationships determine competitive advantage. In saturated markets, access to products and pricing matters more than location.
4. Compliance is the foundation. Everything else is built on top of regulatory adherence. Get that wrong and nothing else matters.
5. Customer service drives retention. In a competitive market with dozens of nearby options, experience determines where customers return.
6. Systems enable growth. SOPs, communication protocols, and clear authority structures allow locations to operate without constant oversight.
7. The market changes constantly. Adaptability is more valuable than perfection.
Looking Forward
Ohio’s cannabis market remains in flux. New regulations continue to reshape operations. Competition intensifies as more licenses are issued. Customer preferences evolve as the market matures.
For Locals Dispensary, the strategy remains consistent: maintain exceptional customer service, build strong vendor relationships, stay compliant, and adapt quickly.
“The industry changes every day,” Mandy said. “You have to be able to move quickly and adapt quickly.”
That adaptability—combined with systems that scale, teams that care, and leadership willing to delegate—determines which operators survive Ohio’s competitive retail environment.
Listen to the full conversation with Mandy Morton on The Green Margin podcast, where she breaks down the realities of managing cannabis retail operations across multiple locations.
Need help building scalable systems for your cannabis operation?
Schedule a consultation with GreenGrowth CPAs: https://meetings.hubspot.com/daniel833/blogs
About the Author
Daniel Sabet is CFO at GreenGrowth CPAs, a cannabis-focused accounting firm specializing in multi-state compliance, retail operations advisory, and CFO infrastructure for regulated industries. With seven years in cannabis finance and over 1,500 cannabis clients across CA, NY, NJ, MN, and DE, GreenGrowth CPAs helps operators build scalable systems and avoid costly mistakes.
Disclaimer
This article is for educational purposes only and does not constitute accounting, tax, legal, or financial advice. Consult qualified professionals before implementing any strategies discussed.
