Monday Morning Crisis Mode
It's 8:17 AM when your flagship location GM sends that all-too-familiar text: "Do we have any cones left? I thought we ordered a case last week."
No one's quite sure. Someone checks a spreadsheet (last updated who knows when), then places another urgent order—same vendor, premium price, rush shipping.
Finance won't discover this fire drill purchase until the invoice appears two weeks later.
Now multiply this scenario across your four locations, four different buyers, and 20+ SKUs.
This is precisely where your margins are leaking out.
A Tale of Two Inventory Systems
The cannabis industry has mastered product tracking. Every gram is meticulously monitored from seed to sale—but the items that support those products? They exist in a chaotic ecosystem of:
- Outdated spreadsheets
- Slack messages
- Text threads
- Personal credit cards
- And institutional memory (aka "I think we still have some in the back")
This disconnect creates a significant blind spot in operational efficiency.
The Real Cost of Disorganization
Cannabis operators don't miss margin opportunities because they're careless. They miss them because they lack:
- Visibility: Real-time insight into inventory levels across locations
- Standardization: Consistent pricing and vendor management
- Centralization: Streamlined reordering processes
- Analytics: Usage patterns and consumption data
- Controls: Budget guardrails that prevent overspending
Without these systems, you essentially operate half your business in the dark.
Centralization Doesn't Mean Bureaucracy
Let's be clear: centralizing non-cannabis inventory isn't about creating bottlenecks or micromanaging purchases. It's about:
- Making reordering fast, accurate, and proactive
- Preventing duplicate or unnecessary spending
- Providing finance with true visibility into COGS
- Creating scalable systems that grow with your operation
The goal is operational control without sacrificing speed.
Learning from Industry Leaders
Forward-thinking operators like Theory Wellness and Holistic Industries have moved beyond the chaos. They're managing all their non-cannabis inventory—packaging, PPE, facility supplies—with the same rigor as their cannabis products.
These companies use centralized systems that provide:
- Automated reorder triggers
- Location-specific inventory tracking
- Vendor performance monitoring
- Budget integration with finance
Because they understand that at scale, what you don't properly manage will eventually break your business.
The Bottom Line
Cannabis inventory is tracked closely for compliance. Non-cannabis inventory deserves the same attention for profitability.
In an industry with challenging margins and increasing competition, these "small" operational improvements can make the difference between struggling and thriving.
Ready to see what inefficient non-cannabis inventory management might be costing you? Try our [ROI calculator] and discover your opportunity for improvement.
