RezWeed and BrotherPOS at the Canna Crawl Fall Festival in Hamilton
The BPS team brought RezWeed and BrotherPOS to the Canna Crawl Fall Festival in Hamilton. Here is why, and what we are solving for Indigenous dispensaries.
Our team spent a Saturday under a red tent in Hamilton, talking with dispensary owners, staff and shoppers. Here is what we brought and why we were there.
On Saturday, October 3, the Canna Crawl Fall Festival came to Hamilton, Ontario, and ran from 2 p.m. to 10 p.m. The organizers kept the exact location a secret until noon on the day of the event. The flyer promised more than 100 exhibitors, along with food vendors, guest speakers, a DJ and prize giveaways.
The Brother Processing Solutions (BPS) team was there with one booth under the RezWeed banner. At that same booth, we also talked with people about BrotherPOS and the payment services BPS offers. This was our second Canna Crawl this year, after two of our team spent a full week on the road with the crawl in May. We are showing up at more events, and that is on purpose.
About the Fall Festival
Canna Crawl brings together the people who grow, make, sell and enjoy cannabis in Ontario. A sign at this year’s photo booth called it Ontario’s largest and longest-running legacy event. The fall festival gave dispensary owners, brands and shoppers a chance to meet face to face in one place. You can find the full lineup and future dates on the Canna Crawl website.
The festival ran until 10 p.m., and after dark a lit-up photo booth kept people posing for pictures. It was a long day for our team, and a good one.
Why Hamilton Matters to Us
Hamilton is about 30 minutes by car from Six Nations of the Grand River. Six Nations has more Indigenous dispensaries than any other community listed on RezWeed, and our map at the booth showed 70 shops there. Many people at the festival shop at Six Nations, work there, or run a dispensary there. That made Hamilton a good place to meet them and hear what they need.
What We Brought
Our booth was simple, with a large RezWeed banner hung across the back of the tent. In front sat a table with a prize draw that people could enter by scanning a code with their phone. Two signs stood out front, and each one had a job to do.
The first sign was a printed map of every dispensary we know about at Six Nations, and each one has a coloured dot. Green means someone on our team called or visited the dispensary. Orange means the owner keeps the listing up to date. Grey means the listing comes from public sources and has not been checked by our team yet.
We use those colours for a reason. Shoppers deserve to know how current the information is before they make the drive out to a dispensary.
The second sign was our Rolling Station, with a QR code that opens the RezWeed map on your phone. The map shows hours, menus, deals and directions for each dispensary, so people could plan a visit right from the booth.
The Problems We Are Working On
Indigenous dispensaries face a few problems that most other retailers never have to think about. Our three brands each take on a different one, and they work best when they work together.
Getting paid
Many banks and card companies still treat cannabis as high risk, even though it is legal across Canada. That can mean high fees, money held back from each sale, or no account at all, so some dispensaries end up taking cash only. BPS sets up card payments for cannabis stores, including Interac debit and e-Transfer. The company has worked in cannabis since 2019, and its first clients on reserve land were on Tyendinaga and Six Nations.
Staying open when the internet drops
Many reserve dispensaries are located outside big cities, where the internet connection can be weak or go down without warning. When a checkout system stops working offline, the dispensary loses sales and customers walk out the door. BrotherPOS, the checkout system BPS built for dispensaries, keeps ringing up sales without the internet. It syncs everything automatically once the connection comes back.
Being found
It is hard for shoppers to know which reserve shops are open, what they carry, or what is on sale this week. Online directory listings become outdated quickly, and a wrong address or old menu can cost a dispensary a customer. RezWeed puts Indigenous dispensaries across Canada and the U.S. on one map. Today it lists more than 1,000 shops on 247 reserves and reservations.
Shops that use BrotherPOS can send their menu straight to RezWeed, so when a product sells at the counter, the online menu updates too. That way, the price a shopper sees on their phone is the same price they will pay in the store.
Keeping costs simple
Small dispensaries do not have time for confusing price plans or surprise charges. BrotherPOS costs $99 CAD a month with every feature included, and there are no setup fees and no contracts.
A Gift From the Booth Next Door
One of the best moments of the day was a small one. An artist at a booth near ours drew our whole team on a pink card, with RezWeed.com written across the top. We did not catch the artist’s name, but the card is signed with the handle @ponzoyarchive. If that is you, thank you, and please reach out so we can give you proper credit.
Why We Keep Showing Up
Most of our work with dispensaries happens over the phone, but events like this let owners meet the people behind the tools in person. They can ask hard questions and see how things work before they decide anything. We also get to hear what is working for them and what is not, straight from the people behind the counter.
“This is why we’re here. Friends, fun, and in Hamilton, the energy is something you remember. The smiling faces, the good vibes, the history + culture, all make the day that much more special.”- Jordan
We plan to keep attending Canna Crawl and other community events like it across Ontario and beyond. If you operate a dispensary on a reserve or reservation, come find us at the next one and say hello.
To find a shop near you, visit RezWeed.com. To learn more about BrotherPOS or BPS payment services, call 1-800-891-8965.