Paul Szmal: Good morning, it's 816FLXMorning. We're joined by Daryl Hilkert with High Points Dispensary right across the road on 5 and 20 from the radio station at the front of the Lake Geneva Plaza and he's become our once a month kind of cannabis correspondent. We discuss all these different questions about the industry. Good morning, welcome back.
Darryl Hilkert: Hey Ted, how are you doing today?
Paul Szmal: Doing well.
Now this is fascinating because when you told me this, we're going to talk about brands today and all of a sudden the light bulb went off in my head. I said, yeah, if you buy beer, you know Bud, you know Miller, you know Coors. I'm a craft beer guy, in which case the brewery is the brand, so I mean I'll go out of my way to buy something from Southern Tier because I know it's good. In cannabis, not that many people are familiar with the brands yet. So let's talk about first off what you offer. Are they largely, are there national brands in cannabis? I looked it up, it's 24 states where it's legal for recreational purposes. Are there these national brands like Bud or are they more regionalized?
Darryl Hilkert: There are national brands that are called MSOs, multi-state organizations that are making their way into New York, but they have to link up with local licensed processors or cultivators because to operate in New York, you have to, you know, have a New York state license to cultivate, process, or sell. So there's a lot of local brands and that's our biggest thing right now is bringing brand awareness to our customers and the community and everybody's going to end up with their favorite. You know, some people like specific kinds of coffee, beer, all kinds of stuff like that, cigarettes. So once somebody finds something they like, you know, they'll return for that. Most of our brands are local. We have a lot of them that are within a 10 mile radius of right here in Geneva.
Paul Szmal: So what do these producers have to do to satisfy the state of New York? They must have to submit samples, show quality control, and all kinds of things.
Darryl Hilkert: Oh yeah, it's huge. Every product has to be tested for multiple different heavy metals and pesticides and, I mean, you name it. From seed to sale, each product is followed all the way through and New York has implemented things in line to where from the time that seed is put in the dirt until it's through its whole growth, harvest, and then when it goes into processing, whether it's made into gummies, drinks, you know, any of the processed goods besides smokable flour. So everything goes through a complete process, testing, packaging, sealed, labeled, batch number, lot numbers. I mean, it's basically the same as a pharmacy would do with medication. It's followed just the same way.
So it's pretty intense. There's a lot involved with it, but by the time you purchase it from our store, you know you're going to get a good, clean, safe product, pre-sealed. Some people still looking at the old school want to come in and touch it and smell it and all that. We do have it to where you're able to view it, but you can't. Everything is sealed, you know, so it's like going to the store and buying a box of cereal. It's packaged, it's sealed. You can't open it up and check out the cornflakes. Everything has a expiration date and all that stuff on it. So it's pretty neat.
And right now we're up to over 70 brands in the store, which is huge, especially for not being open for a long time. We're into our 10th month. So we've had probably 150 brands trying to get in our store and there's a lot in New York and they're still growing. It's going to take a couple of years for everybody to get settled in, see who makes it and who doesn't. A lot of the small ones may not make it or they may just stay small time and stay in some locals and that's good. The big brand names that people know, they may come in and look for. Of course, you're going to pay a little bit more money for those products. They've been through the whole process so they know what kind of hardware works good. That might be a little bit more. They've been through the extraction process. They've done it for years, so they've already got their game on and they know what works and what doesn't.
A lot of the new companies out there right now, if you're trying to do 10,000 units of something and you can save $2 on a piece of hardware, that's a lot of money that they're saving. In reality, that hardware might not have the best quality to it, so they may plug up. Speaking like vapes or something like that, they could plug up or the batteries don't last, stuff like that.
Paul Szmal: Now, these brands, do they tend to be product specific? For example, if a brand makes gummies, is that going to be pretty much what they specialize in or do you have some that might make gummies but also leaf?
Darryl Hilkert: Well, the cultivators will be where you get your flour from and they'll be their own brand when it comes to that. But when it comes to processing, I have vendors with multiple brands and that's where the MSOs come in also. They'll come in and team up with a processor and get into their store and they'll sell through their license. That's how they're able to get into New York because the way it was set up was you had to be a resident of New York and you had to do this and had to do that. So, if they link up with somebody that's already up and running in New York and they come in as a brand, they just sell through their license. But it still allows them to get their brands into the state.
Paul Szmal: So, when someone comes into the store, how do you steer them to a brand that's a good fit for them? Are there noticeable differences in taste or consistency or how do you steer a customer to the brand that you think they're going to like?
Darryl Hilkert: We try to get an idea of what they're looking at, first of all. Some people come in and you know they're price conscious. Some people may not want to spend a whole lot of money. But the quality, the difference between outdoor flour, indoor flour, the process of the growing, the quality of it, it all determines on what the cost is going to be. So, you know, we like to find out what people would like when they walk in the door and when they start to hear all their options it is a bit overwhelming. But that's why we do what we do. You know, if you're price shopping, we try to put you in this little area over here. If you're looking for high quality, we can show you in the different areas. But just kind of let people look around because there is so much now.
Paul Szmal: Yeah, I was surprised when I looked at your website at how many brands there are.
Darryl Hilkert: Yeah, we have over 40 vendors in over 70 brands in the store right now. And so we have choices of anything and everything you can think of. Anything THC related is pretty cool. It's neat to see what's available out there.
Paul Szmal: At this point, are you beginning to see more sophisticated customers come in who have a little experience and know a little of this? Or are you still dealing with a lot of first time people coming in saying, okay, I tried it 40 years ago and want to get back in?
Darryl Hilkert: We see a little bit of everybody over there. We get some that come in just number shopping, they're looking for percentages and stuff like that. And, you know, some of those people are just number shopping and they don't understand that numbers aren't always the best. You know what I mean? Just because it says it's a 30% doesn't mean it's better than something that's 25% or 20%. And everybody's body reacts differently, especially when it comes to the consumables. One person may take a gummy and it's perfect for them. Somebody else may take it and not feel a thing. And somebody else, it may put them on the couch. So everybody's body is built different. So how it reacts to the cannabis, that's why New York doing the 10 milligram baseline as a starting unit. And then you can go down to five if you have very low tolerance. And some people, you know, might need 30 or 40 to get them where they want to be.
Paul Szmal: How do growers keep the THC percentage consistent from batch to batch? I would think that sometimes maybe one comes out a little higher or lower or is that part of the process?
Darryl Hilkert: It's all in the growth. They cannot consistently say that if they have a mother plant that they clone and they keep making the same. You're not going to get the same percentage every time a plant is harvested. That's why there's a lot of batch number percentages. All that is indicated on each package as you get it.
Paul Szmal: So remind us about the store experience. Someone walks into High Points Dispensary, first-timer, don't know a whole lot, and they come up and say, okay, help guide me here. How do you do that and what's the process of purchasing?
Darryl Hilkert: Well, we have our check-in station very similar to a doctor's office. You come in, you got to show your ID just to show you're 21. You're welcomed into the store. We always have at least three people on the floor so people don't have to wait around. We just kind of get an idea what you're looking for. Some people just want to browse and we let them go along their way and when they have questions, they can come to us. But if you come in and you just have no clue and you're looking around, it does get a bit overwhelming because we have multiples of every different product. But we try to narrow it down to what you're looking for. We talked about cannabinoids the last time. There's so many different options out there that help you with different aspects of the use. So we just kind of pick your brain a little bit when you come in. If you're just browsing, want to look around, we let you go. If you're looking for something specific, we can show you around to different things that are available and explain to you what the different cannabinoids do to help the effects you're looking for.
Paul Szmal: All right. The website is highpointsdispensary.net. We've been talking about brands today. Daryl's going to educate us each month. Appreciate the time. We appreciate your advertising and thanks for the education.
Darryl Hilkert: Perfect. Thanks for having me, Ted. It's now 826 FLX Morning.
