Happy Munkey, a trailblazing cannabis lifestyle brand, is an icon in the New York cannabis community with its unique approach to merging culture and cannabis. The founders of Happy Munkey, Vladimir Bautista and Ramon Reyes, are visionaries hailing from New York City who transformed the cannabis landscape with their event series, podcast, and now a retail brand. Deeply rooted in the city’s vibrant culture, they created Happy Munkey to bridge the gap between the cannabis community and mainstream acceptance.
With a shared passion for education, inclusivity, and advocacy, Vladimir and Ramon have guided Happy Munkey from its legacy roots to the opening of two fully licensed dispensaries in New York City and Brooklyn. Their leadership continues to inspire a movement that celebrates culture, community, and cannabis in NYC and beyond. This case study explores how Happy Munkey transitioned to a fully licensed retailer, overcoming challenges with innovation, resilience, and strategic partnerships.
The Challenge
As New York’s cannabis market began to emerge, Happy Munkey faced several hurdles:
- Transitioning from Legacy Operations: Moving from an unregulated market to a fully compliant, licensed operation required navigating complex regulations.
- Scaling Operations: Managing multiple locations in a fast-paced retail environment demanded efficient systems, workflows, and integrations.
- Enhancing Customer Experience: Ensuring an engaging and convenient experience for its diverse customer base was critical to maintaining its reputation as a trusted brand.
- Improving Accessibility: Providing an in-store and online shopping experience that was bilingual to cater to their core demographic, many of whom spoke Spanish as their first language.
The Solution
To tackle these challenges, Happy Munkey partnered with BLAZE, to build a customer experience that embodied their vision. With a suite of robust software tools, BLAZE empowered Happy Munkey to create an inviting and inclusive shopping experience that pays tribute to their community.
In the newly legal New York cannabis market, there was a steep learning curve for social equity legacy operators who received a CAURD license type. They not only needed a technology provider to help them process sales but also a genuine business partner that could help them navigate the nuances of running a legal dispensary.
BLAZE made a concerted effort to meet with the founders of Happy Munkey in person to assure them they would receive white glove support and onboarding. The management team and staff were fully trained on how to use the software and provide best practices for operational workflows and SOPs.
One concern that was of utmost importance to Happy Munkey was the ability to have the website menu in both English and Spanish. A large portion of their core demographic spoke Spanish as their first language, so BLAZE prioritized developing an English-to-Spanish translation for their e-commerce website.
Key Components of the BLAZE Software Suite
- Point-of-Sale (POS) System
- Provided real-time inventory management across both locations.
- Integrated with Sage Intacct for simplified accounting and bookkeeping
- Implemented compliance safeguards to verify age and track daily purchase limits.
- Enabled quick and efficient transactions, reducing wait times and improving customer satisfaction.
- E-Commerce Platform
- Enhanced customer experience with a bilingual online menu and self-serve kiosks to handle high-volume sales.
- Facilitated online payments with a user-friendly interface, expanding accessibility for customers.
- Integrated seamlessly with in-store POS and fulfillment, ensuring order accuracy and consistent inventory management.
- Track and apply appropriate tax rates for cannabis products versus non-cannabis products (i.e. branded merchandise, apparrel, accessories, etc.)
- Enhanced customer engagement through personalized promotions and loyalty programs.
- Operational Insights
- Delivered actionable analytics to identify trends, optimize inventory, and adjust to market demands.
- Supported strategic decision-making with data-driven insights.
- Recommended best practices for online order fulfillment to increase productivity.
- Implemented in-store digital payments to increase average order value.
The Results
Since implementing BLAZE, Happy Munkey has achieved remarkable outcomes:
- Enhanced Customer Experience:
- A streamlined ordering process with in-store kiosks allowed them to handle a high order volume during their openings and busiest hours.
- A bilingual online menu catering to their core demographic allows quick and easy translation for Spanish-speaking customers.
- A branded e-commerce website provides a consistent experience across all sales channels for customers raising brand awareness.
- Operational Efficiency:
- An integrated POS, e-commerce, and payment processing ecosystem created efficiency by eliminating double entry/management.
- A robust inventory management system allowed them to create and intake products quickly and track them to the end consumer.
- A user-friendly interface provided budtenders with recommendations for returning customers and reduced transaction times resulting in high customer satisfaction.
- Regulatory Compliance:
- Automated compliance features ensured that Happy Munkey tracks customers’ daily purchase limits.
- Automated age verification ensures that every customer is of legal age to purchase cannabis in-store or online.
- An integrated cycle counts feature provides a quick way to continuously audit inventory to prepare for the transition to BioTrack seed-to-sale reporting.
- Scalability:
- Increased sales by over 75% since their first full month of operations.
- Launched two retail storefronts in the Inwood neighborhood of Manhattan and Brooklyn with self-serve kiosks and online ordering for both locations.
- Integrated with Sage Intacct to automate their accounting and bookkeeping to track sales and expenses by location
- Planning to release the Happy Munkey mobile application to provide an easy online ordering experience for their customers.
- Launched a delivery service to expand their customer base and offer customers a convenient way to order from home.
Set to Scale
Happy Munkey’s journey from legacy roots to licensed retailer is a testament to their resilience and vision. By partnering with BLAZE, they have not only overcome the challenges of legalization but also established themselves as a leader in New York’s cannabis industry. With their innovative approach and commitment to excellence, Happy Munkey is well-positioned to expand further and adapt to the evolving market.
To learn more about how BLAZE can elevate your cannabis retail operation, contact us for a full personalized demonstration.
