In this episode of Your Highness Podcast, host Diana Krach sits down with Kema Ogden, owner of Top Notch THC, a popular dispensary in Las Vegas.
In this episode of Your Highness Podcast, host Diana Krach sits down with Kema Ogden, owner of Top Notch THC, a popular dispensary in Las Vegas. Kema shares her insights on running a successful dispensary and navigating the complex legal landscape of the cannabis industry. The discussion covers a range of topics, including marketing strategies, customer service, and compliance with state regulations. Kema also talks about the importance of building a strong team and establishing a positive company culture. This episode is a must-listen for anyone interested in the business side of the cannabis industry.
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Speaker 1 0:00
Hello before you begin this episode A quick note, the sound on my side is not the best because we are experiencing some technical difficulties due to weather. This is also the first series in our dispensary series where we go behind the scenes and do a deeper dive into the retail experience. So if you work at a dispensary or you know one that you want to have featured on the show, please do not hesitate to reach out. You can email your highness podcast@gmail.com Thank you for your patience, and we appreciate you.
Speaker 1 0:58
I'm your host, Diana Krach. And today I am joined by Kima Ogden once again. How are you doing today?
Unknown Speaker 1:07
I'm doing great. Thank you.
Speaker 1 1:09
Awesome. Thank you for coming back on the show. So, as you know, we start every episode with our recurring segment, the pot Badenoch and I'm going to start with my favorite pot. It is the brand Treatibles, which is a pet brand. And it has they carry a lot of different products, but their cat line with their salmon chewables are amazing. And also like their dog treats. And I'm just a big fan of the brand all around. And yeah, that's pretty much it. You can find them@treatibles.com and we'll have the link in the show notes for that came on what's your favorite part right now?
Speaker 2 1:59
I'm in product for a cannabis based product. Yeah, I would say yeah, I mean, right now. I'd like to take different edibles, you know, to sleep at night. So right now I'm taking wild brand gummies that's like one of my go twos for asleep at night. So that's a that works for me, I suggest to anyone who is like me and their mind runs a million miles a minute at night to try those.
Speaker 1 2:37
Nice, I keep hearing about that. So my favorite part is actually just something that's like a bigger, bigger picture. i It's not a TV show for once. It's actually outdoor festivals because the the weather is changing here. And even though it's not always nice outside is starting to have the beautiful spring feel. And so I love being able to take my son to a place where they have kid friendly activities and live music and local artists and that's been a lot of fun lately being able to do that. What's your favorite math class?
Speaker 2 3:21
Um, I am you know, right now I'm, I'm binging on a certain like Netflix. And oddly enough this is people are gonna kill me for this, but I never seen walking dead. I know. It's like live and see I haven't you heard? You know, it's I know, but you don't say it out loud. I parently because when you do everyone's like, Oh my gosh, I've never seen that. So I'm actually watching that. And I'm like, in the 10th season I've been there's only 11 So I'm almost done. But that's a great show. And you know, I've been binge watching that for for a little while. So that's kind of my favorite thing to do. I can't wait to get home to watch some of those episodes.
Speaker 1 4:03
I feel like I will watch it someday but I don't know. So, switching gears, we are doing a dispensary series on the show and I am actually surprised it's taken me this long. Six years then to pull back the curtain so to speak on the dispensary experience. I mean, we've touched on it a little bit here and there but we haven't actually had someone speak to the whole entire experience. So Kima Can you talk about first of all, what type of experience customers can expect from the moment they enter your dispensary? And also a little bit about your dispensary.
Speaker 2 4:54
So we have always had a model that was you Unique in in Vegas, a lot of people don't do this the same type of format that we do. Most people don't. When you go into most dispensaries, you kind of just walk in, you know, you're window shopping, you're looking around, you know, you might, and then you kind of point out something you want. And then they come and get it and bring it up, we actually assign a budtender to every customer. So every person that comes in the door gets their own personal educator, basically, they go, they walk around, they explain the products, they answer questions, they're very educated in the products, because we do a lot of pop ups with the companies and they educate us on their products and how they help and different things like that. So we so we pass that information along to the customers one on one. So we take them around, we explain different different types of consuming, if they ask whatever questions they have, they ask and we walk them through it all. So because we feel you know, education of products is what's going to keep people coming back, you know, just going around pointing at something and saying, Hey, I think I'll try this. And then they don't like they don't understand why they don't like it, why doesn't work for them. So that's the type of experience that they can expect from our dispensary one on one more education based more knowledgeable people that are used to this format. open to any questions we don't rush them through, even though we see a high volume of people every day. So it's a personal thing.
Speaker 1 6:42
And so speaking to the products a little bit, what type of products do you carry in your dispensary?
Speaker 2 6:48
I mean, we carry every product, every type of cannabis type product, you know, from oils, tinctures, edibles, flower, dab, you name it, it's it, we have it all. The one thing about our dispensary is we have a large variety of products, but we don't over. It sounds like when you say that, like people would be overwhelmed with the different types of products that we have. But what we're really good at is being connected to our consumer base, you know, as I may be talked about in previous podcasts on your show, you know, we, as owners, it's the original three, we've been in this for, you know, since the beginning, we worked our own store, we tapped into our customer base and the community. So we know what people like. So we know what works for them, what helps them we're really connected. So we do a variety. We have a large variety of different products, but but it's very, it's also a very you know, it's very unique, because they, it's we know what they want. So we order what people really like and want and what goes so we were really good at that. And we have a lot of options for people.
Speaker 1 8:11
So where are your dispensaries located? What is the general attitude toward cannabis? Like? Do you get a feel from the community about normalization? I mean, do you have any kind of read on that?
Speaker 2 8:27
You know, we been almost 10 years now we've been in the industry. And, you know, we, when we first opened, you know, as one of the first dispensaries in Las Vegas, our neighbors gave us a little bit of a hard time, the companies more so than then the people, we never really had a lot of people push back against us coming into the community. It was more the businesses next door, you know, because they were afraid of what type of people you know, the stereotypes, what type of people will be drawn to you know, their area, what type of people will be what will happen to the traffic and what will happen to you know, will crime go up, you know, those stereotypes. So we had that from, from neighbors in the area, but but once things got going and actually we ended up helping crime in the area because, you know, we might have a company two doors down and they got robbed from, you know, something random and the police will come ask us for our video footage. So they can kind of, you know, see what happened in the whole area. And they've been able to solve, you know, crime that way and we have armed security. And so it actually keeps people from coming around there. So it was just the opposite. And that's kind of what we've been experienced in the community. But outside of that, no, we've been very, you know, welcomed in our area because where we're located is off of a freeway. We're not on the strip, we, you know, we don't cater to tourists. We, we cater more to the local community and but we're kind of in a off the beaten path a little bit. It looks almost industrial when you go down our street. But it's a busy area. So yeah, so it's private too. So people, you know, because it's a little like when you turn off, it's a little bit off the beaten path, but not enough to deter anyone we you know, so it's just, it gives a little bit of privacy in that sense to a regular consumer.
Speaker 1 10:47
So you mentioned tourists, do you get a lot of that? I mean, obviously, I'm sure you do. But what is that type of experience? Like, when you have a dispensary?
Speaker 2 10:58
Well, we don't um, as I mentioned, we don't cater to tourists, we don't market to we're off the strip. So we don't, but we will get word of mouth is our largest, you know, marketing campaign like we function mostly off word of mouth. So sometimes people come in town, they might ask a local where to go. And that's when they'll find out about us. So we do occasionally get people from the strip and tourists but that's not it's, it's mostly locals is who we cater to.
Speaker 1 11:35
So can you talk about holistically positive?
Speaker 2 11:40
Yes, sure. That's my one of my babies. I started this program probably about six, seven years ago. And we started I have a nonprofit organization that helps the underserved or underinsured population with health wellness education programs, and we've been doing that since 2007 2008. And, you know, I started a working with a nonprofit clinic, I took over that clinic, back in 2016. And we started holistically positive program, which helps seniors and veterans in, you know, people who have financial barriers that may not be able to afford a medical card. And they have elements that, you know, really, they really need this medicine. So what we did is we put a program together to help those people get their medical marijuana card, they we give them a at the clinic, we do their medical exam, we file all their paperwork for their medical card, we give them an education piece where they they learn about product product education, and and then you know, as well as cannabis, one on one, like, what does it do? How does it help, things like that. So education piece is really important to us. And then just getting them through the proper process of getting their card and then allowing them to take a tour of a dispensary and get that see the product, talk to a budtender that may be educated enough to really go through each type of product and ways to consume so and then you know, and and then giving them discounts on products. So it's a kind of a start to finish with them and then keeping them in the system that way where it allows them to go continuously get discounts, you know, skip lines, things like that. So staying focused on the medical side of this for the underserved population or, you know, Miss underrepresented population.
Speaker 1 13:56
I love that every time I read about that program, I just get so happy warms my heart that that is just exactly what we need this. So switching gears a bit. How do you think Las Vegas is uniquely positioned for consumption lounges?
Speaker 2 14:15
Oh, we're the you know, this is the place because you know the casinos. They don't want you to consume on property. They are the biggest. Some of the owners of the casinos were the biggest lobbyists against cannabis legalization. So they really tried to enforce people not smoking on their property. They didn't want it in the town for the most part. They don't want anything to take away from their profit from people coming in drinking, gambling, things like that. But these lounges allow people a place a safe place to consume without fear of retaliation and a sense of these corporates. Asians were you know, obviously they could smoke cigarettes in there and different things like that drink all day. But you can't consume cannabis, which is legal in the state. So this allows people to go leisurely in whatever way they want to consume and go do it in a safe place, that they're not going to be harassed. They can enjoy themselves have fun, depending on the on the format of the lounge. So I think Las Vegas is the perfect place for this. You know, we're, we're based on tourism, entertain entertainment, things like that travel. So, you know, and when you can't do that, when you come here, where else you gotta go, you know, so I think it's, it's important to to have these lounges here in Nevada,
Speaker 1 15:51
I think so as well. And I don't understand why casino owners are so against it. I mean, I'm sure it all comes down to the money, but it just seems strange. I feel like the consumption would be a bonus.
Speaker 2 16:08
Right? No, it's the same, you know, the casinos, the tobacco companies, the liquor companies, you know, anybody who just, you know, all these industries that have greedy, you know, CEOs or owners and people in which they were they it's, it is all about the money. They really just trying to keep people from consuming and taken away from their bottom line. I mean, that's one reason why it got you know, it was early got turned to a legal you know, frowned upon plant to begin with, it was all about the money, and not really what it you know, what it's good
Speaker 1 16:53
for. So Kima, before we end this episode, do you have anything that you'd like to promote, or any particular calls to action?
Speaker 2 17:05
Well, I would ask anyone who's interested in making sure that this plant stays regulated properly legalized, because we're still fighting that process of federally legalization. And they are concerned about safety and of consumption. And, you know, please go support doctors for cannabis regulations. You know, it's a group of doctors, I'm on the board of an A medical professionals, they, you know, really go around we advocate for legalization, proper regulation, education and things like that of the plant, you know, by supporting bills, testifying, doing different things to make sure that this happens throughout the country. So if people really believe in the plan, believe that it helps want to see it legalized, want to see it safe, you know, from it and get the backing of clinical providers and people that are professional, you know, medical, medical professionals, I would say go support doctors for cannabis regulation. They're a nonprofit organization that relies on funding from outside, you know, sources and donations, in order to keep fighting for the rights for people to use this plant and consume safely. They can also go to my website Kima ogden.org. Or I'm sorry, Kima ogden.com. To follow, you know, me as I go and talk about this, some of the things that I'm involved in the organizations that I'm a part of, if they want to learn more about different areas of that.
Speaker 1 18:55
Awesome, I appreciate you joining me again today and just thank you doing what you're doing. I appreciate your hard work and for joining me again, so thank you.
Speaker 2 19:11
Yeah, no, thank you. I always enjoy coming on here. You. You have such great guests, and it's just such a pleasure to be back.
Speaker 1 19:20
It's a pleasure to have you back. Anyway, we can do this all day. Thank you again Kima. And thank you for listening. Until next time, stay high and beautiful. Bye. Thank you. This episode of Your Highness podcast is brought to you by nature gaia.com Meacher gaia.com is giving listeners a 10% off discount when they use the code YH pod. That's why H pod at Mitra gaia.com, a top-rated kratom company. Also, you can keep up on the recent events and all the news surrounding our show by subscribing to our substack Your Highness newsletter. This episode was edited and produced by James crash and myself Diana crash and is a production of Your Highness media. intro music is brought to you by your mom likes my music. Thank you for listening
Transcribed by https://otter.ai