Photo courtesy RDNE Stock Project.
Hiring a budtender in New Jersey comes with different considerations than hiring one in Bangkok, and the contrasts reveal as much about regulatory frameworks as they do about building teams. One market operates under state-level legalization with an established cannabis culture; the other launched federally legal commercial cannabis just three years ago in a country with centuries of cannabis history but virtually no modern dispensary infrastructure before 2022.
Through the High Road Beyond Borders Tour, connections between U.S. dispensary owners and their Thai counterparts revealed something valuable: the challenges of building reliable teams transcend borders, even when the regulatory frameworks couldn’t be more different.
Linda Solana, co-owner of CannaVibes Dispensary in northern New Jersey, and Xavier Joyner, co-owner of Releaf Cannabis Dispensary in southern New Jersey, operate in a market with established labor pools and rigid state compliance processes. Meanwhile, Meilani Takaki, vice president of sales and marketing at Izumo Green in Bangkok, and Gaurav Sehgal, co-founder of Siam Green Cannabis Co., also in Bangkok, are building teams in a country where cannabis went from criminal to commercial almost overnight. The hiring practices that emerge from these environments, what they prioritize, how they train and what makes employees stay or leave offer a practical comparison for any dispensary owner wondering what works beyond their own market’s borders.
Experience vs. Attitude: What dispensary owners actually prioritize
Ask dispensary owners in New Jersey what they look for in a budtender and cannabis knowledge comes up quickly, even if it’s just personal consumption experience. Linda Solana puts customer service first, but she’s clear that some understanding of the plant matters.
“Some kind of knowledge about cannabis. Even if just the way they consume. They must be responsible,” she says.
It’s an expectation shaped by operating in a state where cannabis culture has been visible for years, even before legalization.
In Bangkok, the calculus flips entirely. Gaurav Sehgal actively prefers candidates without deep cannabis backgrounds.
“Honestly, cannabis experience doesn’t play much of a role because there has been so much misinformation out there. We almost prefer that they don’t have too much cannabis knowledge,” he explains.
Siam Green provides weekly cannabis education with testing for all staff, which means starting with a blank slate can be an advantage. What matters more: “Attitude, friendliness and willingness to learn. If they have the right combination of these three things, it’s a pretty easy win.”
The difference isn’t arbitrary. New Jersey’s market has had time to develop informed consumers and a labor pool with at least baseline familiarity. Thailand’s explosion from prohibition to thousands of dispensaries in under three years means the “knowledgeable” candidates often bring street myths, not facts. Training from scratch becomes easier than untraining bad information. Both approaches work, but they reflect where each market sits in its development. Dispensary owners hiring in mature U.S. states can assume some cultural literacy around cannabis, those building in newer markets may find that assumption creates more problems than it solves.
Market-specific hiring obstacles: Regulations, culture and consistency
The challenges of finding good people split along predictable lines: regulatory friction in established markets, uncertainty in new ones, and everywhere, the struggle to find employees who actually show up.
In New Jersey, the Cannabis Regulatory Commission’s onboarding process creates immediate obstacles.
Xavier Joyner describes the reality bluntly: “The CRC process for onboarding takes like a month (fingerprinting, background check, etc.) so that’s a challenge.”
But the bigger problem isn’t paperwork, it’s motivation.
“The biggest hiring challenge has proven to be finding people who are consistent and want to add to what we built as opposed to benefit from it. Everyone wants to work in a dispensary because they love weed and it seems fun, and it is, but you still have to show up and grind and many people just can’t do that.”
Thailand’s obstacles look different. Meilani Takaki points to regulatory instability as the primary challenge.
“The biggest challenge is the pace of regulatory change. Teams have to stay informed and adapt quickly. What is allowed one month may change the next,” she says.
Operating in a federally legal but rapidly evolving market means hiring for adaptability, not just skill. She adds, “Hiring also requires alignment with local employment structure, so finding the right long-term fit is key.”
Cultural attitudes shape recruitment differently depending on the market. Linda Solana notes that CannaVibes emphasizes “innovation, wellness and product knowledge, compliance awareness and customer comfort” with extra compliance training built in. She contrasts this with what she observes in more conservative markets: “In other markets, employees are more conservative. Not open to discussions about cannabis or consumption. They are vague and don’t open up as quickly. They are guarded and cautious.”
Gaurav Sehgal reports the opposite dynamic in Bangkok. “Local cultural attitudes play no role,” he says, describing a team drawn from corporate chains, farming, and various sales backgrounds. The focus isn’t on cultural fit with cannabis, it’s on being “good ambassadors to our brand, but also to the cannabis plant.” In a market where cannabis commercialization is brand new, there’s no entrenched culture to navigate, which creates both freedom and responsibility in shaping employee perspectives from scratch.
Training and Retention: Building teams that stick
Training approaches reflect each market’s starting point, but the retention outcomes reveal what actually works.
Linda Solana’s training at CannaVibes centers on product knowledge delivered directly from brands.
“My main focus on training is knowledge of all products we receive, so to get brands to come in and educate our budtenders is big for me,” she explains.
The emphasis stays on customer service as the top priority, with clear boundaries: “We focus on our customer feeling they got honest and knowledgeable information, and they leave satisfied and happy.”
Meilani Takaki describes a more structured onboarding at Izumo Green: “Training is continuous. But for the first 30 days it’s a trial period and we focus on product knowledge, compliance, and how to guide the customer experience. It is not just about selling, it is about education and responsibility.”
The expectations coming in are minimal on cannabis specifics but high on professional aptitude.
“We do not expect deep cannabis knowledge coming in, but we do expect professionalism, curiosity, and the ability to learn quickly.”
The proof shows up in retention numbers. Xavier Joyner reports that Releaf hasn’t lost an employee in a year and a half. What separates the strong performers from those still developing? “Consistency, being a team player, and having a positive attitude through the grind.”
Izumo Green tells a similar story.
“Our turnover has been very low, with some team members with us since the beginning three years ago,” Takaki says.
She attributes this to intentional culture-building: “We focus on training, communication and creating a supportive environment.”
But she’s clear about what makes people stay long-term.
“The people who stay are the ones who take the role seriously and understand the responsibility behind the product. They are consistent, clear-headed and focused on the customer.”
Whether the market is mature or emerging, the pattern holds. Employees who treat dispensary work as legitimate professional responsibility outlast those chasing the novelty. Training can teach product knowledge and compliance, but consistency and attitude determine who’s still there a year later.
What each market can teach the other
The lessons between these markets aren’t about copying models, they’re about recognizing which challenges are universal and which are tied to where a market sits in its lifecycle.
New Jersey operators deal with regulatory delays and employees who confuse cannabis enthusiasm with work ethic, problems that come with mature markets where the novelty has worn off but the grind remains. Thailand’s dispensary owners face the opposite: regulatory uncertainty and building professional standards in an industry that didn’t exist commercially three years ago. Yet both markets have cracked the same retention code. Consistency, attitude and treating the work seriously matter more than prior cannabis knowledge.
What U.S. dispensary owners might take from Thailand’s approach is the value of training from zero rather than assuming cultural literacy translates to product knowledge. Gaurav’s preference for blank slates over misinformed “experts” challenges the common U.S. hiring bias toward cannabis experience. Meanwhile, Thai operators navigating constant regulatory shifts could benefit from the compliance infrastructure and brand education partnerships that established markets like New Jersey have formalized, even if the monthlong CRC onboarding process isn’t worth importing.
The hiring practices that work in Thailand won’t transplant directly to New Jersey, and vice versa. But the fundamentals, hire for attitude and responsibility, train for knowledge, retain through respect and structure, cross borders more easily than regulations do. Dispensary owners in both markets are building teams under completely different legal frameworks and arriving at the same conclusion: the people who stay are the ones who show up, learn quickly and understand that working with cannabis is still work.
Article sponsored by: Advanced Cultivators; a Massachusetts cultivation facility and winner of 18 awards, founded by and built from the ground up by firefighters, family members and veteran growers.
Veronica “Vee” Castillo is founder of the Traveling Cannabis Writer, an international plant medicine storyteller and journalist with more than seven years documenting cannabis culture globally. Author of Cannabis Legacy Chronicles and former communications director for a leading minority cannabis trade association, she helps businesses transform their stories into strategic content driving measurable growth.