Just a few years ago, Mr. Duffy was dabbling in the industry through edible companies, dispensaries, and transportation services looking for his niche. Recognizing a dramatic need for better distribution services, he started Low Spark Incorporated to help vendors and dispensaries deliver and receive their products safely and efficiently. As a non-plant touching entity, Low Spark operates on the fringe of the industry making his business bankable, insurable, and best of all, void of all 280E tax laws.
Today, Mr. Duffy and his team at Low Spark are the largest distributors of cannabis in Colorado.
|Defining Distribution|
With the legalization of cannabis, there have been road bumps along the way. Clearly, the lack of banking has been a significant inconvenience which forces delivery drivers and dispensaries to deal with large amounts of cash. Many times, a vendor’s delivery driver uses their own personal vehicle for transporting products and cash. These delivery methods are neither insured or safe.
In addition, keeping track of shipments from the various vendors is often difficult to manage. Dispensary managers and employees may not know when their deliveries are due to arrive, and when dealing with multiple vendors it may be hard to keep track of orders.
Low Spark Inc provides a service to help reduce the administrative nightmare surrounding product ordering and delivery as well as provide a more rounded distribution solution for the entire industry. Similar to liquor distribution, Mr. Duffy provides a centralized ordering and distribution solution which is currently servicing around 80% of the Colorado cannabis market.
After struggling to find a software solution to meet their needs, Low Spark opted to develop their proprietary software which is set to be released on May 1st. The software is built with open API’s which can be integrated into many existing platforms. In fact, during a phone interview, Mr. Duffy stated they are working on a pilot with Leafly to create an ordering platform at the dispensary level.
“Essentially, this is an all-inclusive order-taking, aggregation, and dispatching of outbound orders,” Duffy said.
Basically, the dispensary can place their order through Leafly for all products from all vendors. The order is then sent out and dispersed to the appropriate vendors to arrange a pickup time for the products. The software schedules the pickup of each order through each vendor and schedules the delivery for the dispensary. When the order is out for delivery, the dispensary will be notified with a live link to watch their delivery in route. When the delivery is completed, not only is the vendor notified, but the sales representative is also notified keeping everyone informed of product sales.
In fact, the reporting is one of the many benefits for vendors including robust reports with customer information and data, as well as geographical and demographical ordering statistics.
|The Fleet|
Low Spark has a fleet of custom-cooled delivery vehicles made just for the task at hand. Each vehicle is equipped with Black Box GPS Tracking, cash safes, LowJack, and dash cameras. In addition, each truck is insured for cash and products up to $150,000.
All deliveries are housed in a 100% compliant and secure overnight licensed storage facility. With a shared utility pricing model and consolidated deliveries, Low Spark is able to reduce the costs for their clients.
At the dispensary level, Low Spark also provides heightened convenience. Similar to Uber, managers can view and track their orders being delivered in real time. Take a lunch break with confidence knowing exactly when deliveries are scheduled to arrive.
|Growing with Legalization|
Low Spark originally started their operation in Denver, Colorado and received their recreational and medical marijuana transporter license in October of 2017. In a recent press release, Low Spark touted working with over 250 vendors and more than 600 dispensaries with an astounding 98% retention.
Now, with cannabis becoming more mainstream and legalization spreading across the country, Low Spark is also on the move and looking to expand into several other states including Oregon and Michigan, with 9 states in total within their scope.
To learn more about Low Spark, go to lowsparkinc.com.
