Marijuana Business Magazine May-June 2020

Marijuana Business Magazine | May-June 2020 48 “My first priority was to keep all our employees and customers safe—and after that, it was to keep everyone employed,” Yapp said. “So we did everything we could to stay in business for them.” To keep the business running amid a surge in demand and deliveries as well as a dip in the number of available employees, Chalice hired temporary workers who had been laid off because of the COVID-19 outbreak. “We’ve got people basically on call willing to come in and help with packaging, working in our stores, handling inventory. We’ve got people now who can cover for people,” Yapp said. Many of the new workers came from the food-service industry—including cooks with food-handling permits, so it was easy to transition them to work in Chalice’s infused product facilities. Chalice has been able to afford the new hires because of the increase in business, Yapp said. The company also launched online ordering. The Oregon Liquor Control Commission approved doing transactions at vehicles, allowing customers to wait in cars until employees armed with “mobile point-of-sale systems” came outside to ring up orders. This required Chalice to upgrade its standard operating procedures, share the changes with employees and train them on details such as how to conduct transac- tions at cars and how to reduce touch- points between themselves and customers. All store workers wear gloves, change them after each sale and wipe down reg- isters after every transaction, Yapp said. “There’s a whole SOP that goes with it,” Yapp said. “Because of COVID, we’ve got procedures that have changes for all of our stores.” ➤ Takeaways: Planning: Major initiatives such as creat- ing a delivery team require planning and an ability to pivot when circumstances undermine the original plan. People Management: To accommodate a sudden shortfall in staff because of sickness or crisis, consider bringing in temp workers until the situation stabilizes. Hiring workers laid off from other local businesses will boost your company’s stature in the community. SOPs and Training: The best plans won’t have maximum effectiveness if employees aren’t comfortable with them. That’s why it’s important to codify and update changes in your SOPs and make sure employees are trained in those changes. PARANOID IN PENNSYLVANIA Gregory Rochlin , CEO, Ilera Healthcare, Newtown Square, Pennsylvania Gregory Rochlin doesn’t like to take chances. “I’m pretty paranoid,” admitted Rochlin, the CEO of Ilera Healthcare, a vertically integrated cannabis company. So when news of the COVID-19 outbreak started making headlines in January, Rochlin and his team of former pharmaceutical executives who had experienced global economic disruptions in the past didn’t dismiss the threat to either their supply chain or employees’ health. They had recently completed a 70,000-square-foot expansion to their cultivation facility, roughly doubling its size, so they would have plenty of canna- bis flower. Securing packaging, however, was of greater concern. “We saw this way back in early January and increased our orders pretty dramati- cally at that time to make sure there were no supply-chain interruptions, so we’re in good shape,” Rochlin said. “I would not want to be trying to mobilize that today.” And when the contagious illness ar- rived in the United States, Ilera mandated that workers wear gloves, masks and per- form frequent sanitizing like other com- panies had. But in a move that was less common, Ilera instituted a policy requir- ing employees to have their temperatures checked before their shifts. To do that, an employee with a hand-held thermometer checked temperatures of other staffers in a vestibule as they entered one at a time to practice physical distancing. “We’re taking this very seriously,” Rochlin said. The company also has limited the number of customers who can be in the store at any one time, cleared out the waiting room and put signs throughout the store reminding everyone to stay at least 6 feet away from others. Ilera Healthcare instituted a liberal leave policy that included adding an extra week of paid time off. When Pennsylvania regulators decided to allow dispensaries in the state to offer curbside pickup, Ilera took advantage. The company set up a two-stop ap- proach: Drivers come to a stop at one checkpoint manned by an employee who checks identification and then calls to alert staff inside that a customer is ready to pick up a purchase. Then, customers drive around the building to pick up their purchases through a window that separates them from employees. “We’re trying very hard to move the majority of our customers to both drive- thru and CanPay,” Rochlin said. CanPay is a debit payment app that links to a bank account, facilitating cashless payments. He estimated that about 40% of Ilera’s customers used the drive-thru pickup system and paid with CanPay during the first week of availability. ➤ Takeaways Secure Your Supply Chain: Know where your materials come from and keep an eye on events or trends that could affect your vendors. If you foresee the possibility of interruption, secure additional vendors and materials. Check Employee Temperatures: Gloves and masks are good, but executives who want to be more rigorous in protecting employees, customers and the company should consider preshift employee temperature checks. It might be part of the new normal. Give Employees More Paid Time Off: In a crisis situation, this option keeps workers safe and gives them peace Pandemic Pivot