Business is fantastic at San Francisco’s downtown dispensary Barbary Coast. With its dark woods, red leather couches, timeless brick walls and funky wallpaper, the San Francisco Chronicle has dubbed the shop, “The most decadent pot smoking lounge in the West.”
The shop has grown a lot since Nate Haas took over as General Manger over two years ago. “When I started as GM we had 9 employees, now we have 30 employees,” said Haas. “Two years ago we had approximately 100 products on the menu and now we have over 400.”
“The concentrate market is very hot right now. Rosin, shatter and sauce make up the bulk of our concentrate sales at our dab bar. Patients are really craving products with great terpenes. Beezle, First Class Concentrates, and Guild Extracts are killing the game right now.”
Typical Day
“My work day starts at 6am with marketing stuff. We send out an email blast to our patients letting them know about specials, new products and demo’s for the day. Barbary Coast opens promptly at 8am, so the staff has to get in early to make sure the space is clean and all the opening duties have been performed. Once we are open, the fun begins. During business hours I can expect to be dealing with a myriad of issues from inventory to politics, and this could become overwhelming without good people underneath you. The key is having a really good team underneath you to effectively delegate remedies for potential issues and problems that will most assuredly arise day to day.”
Management Philosophy
“Just Win Baby! Put your managers and employees in positions where they can be most successful. The only way this philosophy works is by having robust and detailed standard operating procedures that really leave no ambiguity about job descriptions and how they relate to operations.”
Retail Trends
“The average age of our patient is increasing monthly and with that I’m seeing a trend toward micro dosing in edibles and measured dosing in the vaporizing pen market. We are also seeing an increased demand for high CBD topicals, edibles and vapor cartridges.”
What’s Hot
“The concentrate market is very hot right now. Rosin, shatter and sauce make up the bulk of our concentrate sales at our dab bar. Patients are really craving products with great terpenes. Beezle, First Class Concentrates and Guild Extracts are killing the game right now.”
Challenges
“I would have to say keeping up with all the emerging trends and product offerings. There are so many new products that come into our shop weekly that it’s hard to test and sample them all.”
Best Job Advice You’ve Ever Gotten
“Find out what you like doing best and find someone to pay you for it.”
“The most important thing I look for when stocking the shelves are clean test results. I am not overly concerned about potency. It’s the mold, yeast, and pesticides levels that concern me and should really concern our entire industry. Barbary Coast holds itself to the highest testing standards on all products especially concentrates. After the test results, it comes down to the numerous factors including vendor reliability, product concept, and packaging.”
Stocking The Shelves
“The most important I look for are clean test results. I am not overly concerned about potency. It’s the mold, yeast, and pesticides levels that concern me and should really concern our entire industry. Barbary Coast holds itself to the highest testing standards on all products especially concentrates. After the test results, it comes down to the numerous factors including vendor reliability, product concept, and packaging.”
Barbary Coast SF
952 Mission Street
San Francisco, CA 94103
(415) 243-4400
