Partner discussion draft · November 2026 · Confidential

The outsourced management team for New York dispensaries.

One company that runs operations, customer retention and finance for licensed dispensaries, under one contract and one point of accountability.

Monthly store scorecard
Sample
Net sales$512K▲ 8.4% vs. baseline
Returning customers61%▲ 4 pts
Gross margin48.2%▲ 1.9 pts
Loyalty enrollment7,420▲ 640 new
Net sales, last 12 months
Illustration of the monthly dashboard, not client data
Ops + CRM + Finance, one report
3 in 1Operations, CRM & loyalty, and accounting under one contract
$7.5K–15K+Monthly management tiers, plus embedded managers
$8,750Target monthly contribution per store at repriced base fees
$52.5K/moProfit at 10 stores after overhead, with no performance fees
01
The opportunity

Plenty of licenses. Not enough operators.

New York is licensing many first-time owners who can open a store but struggle to run one profitably. Today they coordinate four separate vendors, and nobody owns the result.

Today Fragmented

The owner hires, manages and reconciles every vendor alone.

General managerMarketing agencyLoyalty software nobody runsOutside accountantOps consultantFour invoices, four agendas
vs

With us Coordinated

One relationship, one strategy, one monthly scorecard.

One contract · One owner meeting · One dashboard
Operations
CRM & Loyalty
Accounting
02
How it works

The client pays us. We deliver through specialists.

The dispensary contracts with and pays the management company. We pay the accounting firm, Gold Standard's service team and our own operators, and we answer for the result.

ClientDispensary owner
One contractRetail Management Co.
Founding operators

Operations & Growth

SOPs, inventory, purchasing, pricing, staffing, training, local marketing, executive oversight.

Gold Standard

CRM & Loyalty

Loyalty programs, email and SMS, segmentation, reactivation, conversion tracking, retention reporting.

Accounting partner

Finance

Bookkeeping, reconciliations, AP prep, monthly statements, tax and financial reporting.

As needed

Specialist vendors

Brought in and managed by us, so the owner never coordinates them.

1
Gold Standard

Spots the trend

Returning-customer frequency drops. A targeted reactivation campaign goes out.

2
Operations

Finds the cause

Checks service, pricing, product availability and staff execution in the store.

3
Accounting

Proves the result

Confirms whether the fix improved margin and profit, not just sales.

03
What we sell

Three tiers. One team.

Defined packages let us serve different stores without overcommitting our people. Prices are drafts for partner discussion.

Foundation
$7.5–10K /mo
Newer or smaller stores with their own day-to-day manager.
Involvement: guidance
  • Operations consulting
  • CRM management
  • Accounting coordination
  • Marketing guidance
  • Monthly report and owner meeting
Core offer
Growth
$12.5–17.5K /mo
Established stores that need hands-on help growing sales.
Involvement: hands-on, weekly
  • Everything in Foundation
  • Weekly operational involvement
  • Staffing and training support
  • Inventory and purchasing strategy
  • Advanced CRM campaigns
  • Financial analysis and KPI management
Full Management
$15K+ /mo
Owners who want us heavily involved in running the business.
Involvement: we run it with you
  • Full management oversight
  • Operations, staffing, inventory, purchasing
  • CRM, retention, marketing and branding
  • Executive reporting
  • Business development and growth strategy
Add-on service

Embedded management

We place an experienced operator in the store as interim GM, operations, inventory, training or turnaround manager, with a set end date.

Stabilize→Build→Train→Transition

Example: client pays $12,000/month

$8,000 to manager
$4,000
Paid to the assigned managerCovers our overhead
04
Unit economics

The base fee has to carry the business.

Per store, we earn a management fee, a margin on resold accounting and CRM, and possibly a performance fee. The example is a store doing $500K a month in net sales.

73%

of the drafted example's profit comes from the 2% performance fee. Without it, a store contributes only $3,750 a month, too thin to carry overhead. Performance fees may also face New York regulatory limits, so we plan on a higher base fee and treat performance fees as upside.

Where $26K a month comes from

Drafted example, with the 2% performance fee

Repricing more than doubles each store's profit

Monthly revenue per store, split into direct costs and contribution
Direct costsContribution to us
Direct costs: accounting firm $3,000, Gold Standard $1,250, field labor $6,000, allocated $2,000.
Per store, per monthDrafted baseRepriced baseDrafted + 2% fee
Management fee$10,000$15,000$10,000
Accounting resale ($3K cost → $4K)$4,000$4,000$4,000
CRM resale ($1.25K cost → $2K)$2,000$2,000$2,000
Performance fee (2% of $500K)——$10,000
Direct costs−$12,250−$12,250−$12,250
Contribution$3,750 · 23%$8,750 · 42%$13,750 · 53%

At drafted prices, 20 stores barely pay. Repriced, 10 stores clear ~$52K a month.

Monthly profit after corporate overhead, before partner distributions and taxes
Drafted base ($3,750/store) Repriced base ($8,750/store) Drafted + 2% fee ($13,750/store, legal TBD)
Illustrative, not a forecast. Overhead (insurance, legal, software, admin, sales, account managers) is a placeholder: $20K/month up to 5 stores, $35K at 10, $60K at 20. Assumes every store matches the $500K/month example; many New York stores are smaller.
05
Our differentiator

One scorecard that joins the whole business.

Every month each owner gets financial, retail and customer performance in one report, with the actions we are taking on each.

Performance dashboard
MonthlyQuarterlyAnnual

Financial

Net sales
Gross margin
Labor %
EBITDA & cash
Inventory value & turns

Retail

Transactions
Average basket
Units per transaction
Category performance
Sales per employee

Customer

New vs. returning
Loyalty enrollment
Retention & visit frequency
Customer lifetime value
Email, SMS & reactivation
Mini trends are illustrative. Real reports use each client's POS, CRM and accounting data.
We would not simply provide services. We would provide coordinated management and measurable results.
From the founding proposal
06
Ownership & compensation

Paid for the work. Rewarded for the whole.

Recommendation: equity plus a cost-based service fee (a blend of Options A and C). Every partner covers the real cost of their work, and profit is shared only through ownership.

Gold Standard

Equity partner

Ownership
Equity % to be agreed
Paid for work
Fixed monthly fee per store, set to real cost plus a small margin
Profit share
Distributions by ownership %
Operations partners

Equity partners

Ownership
Equity % to be agreed
Paid for work
Salary or field rate, plus separate pay for embedded placements
Profit share
Distributions by ownership %
Accounting firm

Strategic vendor

Ownership
None at launch
Paid for work
Wholesale fee per client (e.g. $3,000)
Profit share
None; keeps responsibility for its professional services

Why not Option B (70–80% of CRM revenue to Gold Standard): it rewards growing one division's margin over the whole company, and it is easy to double-count against profit distributions.

Annual fee review. Service fees are checked against actual cost per store each year, so no partner subsidizes another.
Origination commission. Whoever sources a client earns a one-time share of first-year fees, separate from equity.
Vesting and buy-sell. Founder equity vests, with clear terms if a partner leaves.
Separate investment entity. Stakes in client stores sit outside the management company, and each partner can opt in.
07
Go-to-market

Sell through our networks. Prove it with data.

Lead sources

Partner relationships, the accounting firm's clients, vendor and brand reps, and owners of underperforming stores.

The entry offer

A paid 2–4 week store assessment with a scorecard, designed to convert into a tier contract.

Proof

Before-and-after dashboards on sales, margin and retention from our first 3–5 clients become our case studies.

RoleOwner
Sales lead: pipeline, pitches, closingTo be decided
Account lead per store: client contact, owner meetingsOperations partner assigned per store
CRM delivery and the customer half of the dashboardGold Standard
Financial reporting and the finance half of the dashboardAccounting firm, reviewed by operations
Contracts, compliance, company adminTo be decided
08
Roadmap

Equity only after ten stores run on shared systems.

Four phases, each opened by a go/no-go gate the partners decide together. Timing is a proposal.

1
Months 0–3 · Now

Build the platform

  • Form the company, sign the operating agreement
  • Legal review and client contracts
  • Pricing, SOPs and the dashboard
  • Sales presentation
Gate 1Counsel signs off on contracts and fees
2
Months 3–12

Launch clients

  • Sign 3–5 dispensaries
  • Track real cost per store
  • Build case studies
  • Refine tiers and pricing
Gate 2Three clients profitable on contribution
3
Year 2

Standardize

  • Grow to 10–20 stores
  • Hire account managers and field operators
  • Centralize CRM, reporting, training
  • Shared SOPs and vendor relationships
Gate 3Ten stores on shared systems
4
Year 3+

Portfolio

  • Minority stakes and joint ventures
  • Held in a separate investment entity
  • Only stores we already manage
  • Every deal cleared with regulators
09
Risks & legal checklist

The biggest risk is regulatory. We answer it first.

Several revenue streams may need Office of Cannabis Management disclosure or approval, or may not be allowed. These are questions for a New York cannabis attorney, not conclusions.

Do our management services agreements need to be filed with or approved by OCM?
Would a % of sales or profit fee, signing authority, or an embedded GM make us a "true party of interest" in a client's license?
Are there extra limits for social-equity (e.g. CAURD) licensees on management agreements, fees or ownership changes?
Can one company manage, or later hold interests in, several retail licenses at once?
Can the accounting firm legally pay us referral commissions, or should we resell at a wholesale rate only?
Are embedded managers our employees or the client's, and who carries compliance liability in the store?
Who owns customer data and loyalty lists, and what happens to them if a client leaves?
Safeguard: the client keeps control of bank accounts and approves every vendor payment.
Business riskMitigation
Thin margin on base feesReprice the base tier; track cost per store from client one
Partners stretched across too many storesCap stores per account lead; hire field operators by Phase 3
One client is a big share of revenue6–12 month terms with notice periods; 5+ clients before hiring ahead
Conflicts between competing nearby clientsDisclosure policy and territory rules in contracts
10
For the partner meeting

Seven decisions to form the company and start selling.

Ownership split

Between the operations partners and Gold Standard, with vesting.

Gold Standard's model

Equity plus cost-based fee, or another option. Gold Standard brings its real cost per store at 3, 10 and 20 stores.

Base pricing

Confirm the repriced base (about $15K management fee for a Growth store) or another target contribution per store.

Performance fees

Hold until counsel answers the legal checklist.

Sales owner and commission

Who leads sales, and what partners earn for bringing in clients.

Division boundaries

Where CRM ends and ops-led marketing (social, events, local outreach) begins, so no work is duplicated.

Budget and counsel

Who funds formation, legal review and the first months of overhead, and which attorney we hire.

The long game

Not a collection of vendors. A company that grows more valuable with every store.

Recurring management revenue first. Then systems, data, relationships and reputation. Then, where it is legal and makes sense, a stake in the stores we help improve.

Consult→Manage→Improve→Partner→Invest→Acquire