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Intro: Welcome to Kaya Cast the podcast for cannabis businesses looking to launch, grow, and scale their operations.
Tommy Truong: Mark, thank you so much for joining me today.
Mark Kazinec: My pleasure, Tommy. Thank you for having me.
Tommy Truong: Before we start, can you give, uh, our listeners a background about, uh, who you are and why you started Best in Grass?
Mark Kazinec: Absolutely. Um, I'm Mark Kazinec, and I, uh, grew up in Florida, Ohio, New York City, and now I live in LA and I started in the traditional marketing world, suit and tie, you know, working for all the big clients like Proctor and Gamble, Johnson and Johnson, et cetera. Was miserable. Moved to LA and got into the talent agency world.
Um, busting my butt as a nobody, mail room clerk, literally delivering mail to crazy A type agents that were like, drop the mail, get outta here. You know, kid. So fun times. Uh, but also, you know, interesting times. Robert de Niro's in our hallway. Julia Roberts is [00:01:00] riding the elevator with me. You know, VIN Diesel was bartending.
Our company, holiday parties, like a very interesting world to be working in. Um, and I did that for about five years. Uh, and then I signed High Times Magazine as a client and started booking some of their festival talent, you know, putting comedians on their stage, putting musicians on their stage. Got close with the High Times Magazine team and we hit it off, and then they poached me.
I left the agency world, went over to the cannabis world, worked at High Times for about five years, also starting out doing measly tasks, coffee runs, booking petting zoos and Ferris wheels for, for, uh. For some of their events, even though I was, you know, booking talent with them on the other side. But they were like, all right, we're gonna start you off from the bottom.
And then I got back into the talent booking, producing some of their events, and then I ran the cannabis cups four high times from, you know, 2020 to about 2023. So we traveled all over the country. I essentially took the model from. The traditional Cannabis Cup model, which was [00:02:00] only judged by industry professionals.
You know, you had to be a friend of High Times, or Danny Danko, or Kyle Cushman, or Frenchy Cannoli, or things of that nature. So it was a very secluded group of people that were chosen to judge. And I had all these people being like, mark, like I, I buy weed, I judge weed, I have a palette. I wanna have my voice heard.
I wanna be a judge. So I created this People's Choice model right when the pandemic hit. Everybody's staying at home. Cannabis is deemed essential. Everybody's like, I want weed, I wanna sit at home. I want to judge. This is perfect. I have all the time in the world now. So created this model that was more people's choice, consumer driven, and instead of it just being open to the industry people, it was open to anybody in that state.
And we did it from California to Michigan, Massachusetts to Alaska, New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado, Oregon. Everywhere and people loved it. It brought value to the brands. It brought, you know, a great opportunity and experience for consumers and it brought a bunch of traffic and promotions for the retailers to the dispensaries.[00:03:00]
And then, you know, thought I'd be at High Times for a long time, thought I was gonna run that company. And then sadly, you know, things started, news started coming out that High Times was defaulting on loans and having some. SEC fraud issues, uh, with their regulation, a offering where they essentially got thousands of people to invest money into the company and then high times had nothing to show for it.
So it was sad. I wanted to disconnect myself from that image. Um, and I had a lot of, you know, dis disgruntled customers and clients that were like, help me get my money back. Like, what's going on? And, you know, I didn't, I didn't hold the checkbook, so it really wasn't, uh, any, any power in my hands to help them out.
So. I knew that I had the experience, I knew that I had, you know, the clients in the community that would support me. And I took a leap of faith and said, all right, I'm gonna leave the big red logo that everybody knows and loves and I'm gonna try this on my own. And started to besting grasp with a couple, couple great people, [00:04:00] some that come from the cannabis industry, some that come from, you know, more, uh, consulting and tech and data backgrounds.
And we built Best in Grass in January, 2024, and we have been running and gunning across the country. We've done about 10 states so far, and we're just there to run what we found are the most honest, transparent, and well organized cannabis competitions that are open to the people of each state that actually spend money on cannabis.
Not just the industry professionals or you know, the Heady Boys and the friends of friends, but real people. That want to have their voice heard, that want to try new brands, wanna try new products, give their reviews, and then those reviews go to the brand so they can learn from that. And then we host a wonderful cocktail attire award show where everybody dresses up and it's all the key decision makers, the judges, the consumers, the dispensaries, the cultivators, and everybody comes together and we see who wins the Best in Grass trophy
Tommy Truong: That's a [00:05:00] wow. Beautiful. Really, really nice trophy.
Mark Kazinec: It is heavy. Tommy, if I could have, if I could pass this to you from the, the screen, every time I hand this to somebody, they're like, oh, whoa. Like, it's got some weight to it. And
Tommy Truong: pass that to me, you can hear an acceptance speech.
Mark Kazinec: Hey, I would love that. I would love that. Um, so that's kind of the, the, you know, the quick and dirty spiel.
Tommy Truong: Well, so you started Best in Grass just 19 months ago.
Mark Kazinec: Yeah. January, 2024.
Tommy Truong: What was the, what was the aha moment? Launching People's Choice in High Times, what, what was the impetus of, of that idea and what was the reception compared to what they traditionally did?
Mark Kazinec: Yeah, great question. So one of the impetuses was pandemic. You know, events got canceled because our biggest revenue driver was our cannabis cup festival. We would host. Thousands of people, you know, five to 10,000 people per day at these two to three day cannabis cup festivals. And we would [00:06:00] sell a ton of booth spaces to brands.
We would sell a ton of tickets to consumers. And the competition was not a revenue driver. It was free for the industry people to, to, uh, to judge the brands paid to enter. So we asked them for money and we asked them for product, but we asked them for a small amount of product because we had a small.
Judging population. So the competition side wasn't big on revenue and it wasn't world, you know, it wasn't very widespread across the state because again, it was just, you know, the Tommy's and the cas and who, and the Danny Dangos, et cetera. But the Cannabis Cup Festival was, was big and it was a big event and it was live and everybody got got together.
But pandemic, hit no more events, no more sponsorships, none of that. So I essentially had to save my job, otherwise I was gonna get fired. 'cause they're like, cool, you're running the cannabis cups. Like figure out a new way to do this that we can stay alive. And over the years of doing the traditional model, I still had a lot, all these people being like, Hey man, like.
I kind of know you, I kind of know Danny Danko, like, are you sure I can't get approved to judge, like I want to judge. And [00:07:00] I would disappoint all these people because we only had, you know, a hundred to 200 judge kits when we had thousands of people wanting to judge. So I kind of took the pandemic, took the feedback from consumers.
And said, all right, let's, let's put these two together. Everybody's sitting at home. They want to smoke weed, they want to judge weed, and, and people are willing to buy this. 'cause the, the industry people, they weren't buying it. They were getting free judge kits, and some of them would judge, some of them wouldn't.
It was a little disappointing to, to know that some of your, you know, your trusted friends or industry panel people would actually take a kit and not actually judge. And it was, it was disappointing. So I had enthusiastic consumers willing to spend money, willing to fully judge and put their heart and soul into giving real feedback.
To the brands, and that's how People's Choice was born. Um, some people really loved it, you know, they're like, amazing. I get to be judged by consumers, people who are actually buying weed. Great. I love that. Some people didn't, they said, no, I don't care about those people that are uneducated. They don't know what terpene profiles are.
They don't, they don't [00:08:00] know how to, how to judge weed. Why, why should I have them judge valid, but. Even if the consumer's a little bit less educated and they don't know the difference between lemonade and beta care filing and meline, they still buy weed. And I want those people to be able to have this opportunity and have a much larger judging population.
You know, we took it from 200 judges to 2000 plus judges. We were doing, you know, 2200 to 3000 judge kids per state. And it's just makes it a better even level playing field because when you have 200 judges. If you're, if you're 10 friends and you all vote for the same thing, you know that's 5% of the judging.
So that's a big way to sway the results. So now we have so many judges that it's just tougher to sway. Brands are getting more feedback. We have more enthusiastic people who are actually investing their own dollars into these judge kits. So they feel a sense of responsibility and a sense of pride in judging.
So we just get better judging reports, um, [00:09:00] and. Those are the people that will spend, spend the money. You know, if they like the product, if they judge favorably for it or they see that somebody won, they're gonna go and buy that. Whereas the industry people, they're like, ah, I'll just wait for my friend to gimme some of his free weed.
Tommy Truong: Yeah. Did you, did you, were you guys ever, ever, uh, able to measure the impact to the brands that won?
Mark Kazinec: it all depends on what the brands would provide us in terms of data or feedback. Some brands were like, cool man, I want a trophy. That's all I care about. I'm just here for the accolades and the ego. And some would be like, Hey man, I'm actually getting a lot of outreach from different retailers who say, Hey, you just won this award.
I wanna step, I want to, you know, stock your product. Or, Hey, I just, I just won this award and now I have, you know, I'm a flower guy and I have all these people who want to take my flower and wash it into rosin or press it into, you know, concentrates. So. get, whatever data we have is, has to be given to us, obviously by, by the people, um, or the dispensaries.
But yes, we've seen great stories of people saying, I'm getting more collab requests. I'm [00:10:00] getting more requests from my product at dispensaries. I have consumers asking dispensaries, Hey, why don't you have this brand in your store? Why is it only in the major metropolitan areas? You guys should take some.
And now that's causing a, an effect of retailers being like, okay, fine. Lemme take a sample order. Oh, it's sold out. Okay, let me get more. So now brands are getting more distribution, retailers are getting more variety of brands and serving their customer base that is saying, I want to, I want to buy award-winning product.
Um, and we're trying to just educate consumers that. If a product wins, it's judged by the people, and it's not just about THC percentage, and it's not just about brand name, it's about the actual full entourage experience of what they smelled, what they saw, what they tasted, how they felt, you know, comments in the terpene profile, everything about it.
Um. Brands are liking, liking it, you know, liking the judging criteria, liking the model that we do, and, and the event is like the best part. It's just finally bringing everybody together as a community to [00:11:00] celebrate in, in style.
Tommy Truong: Well, so you took the success of that and you started Best in Grass. I love a, the founding story of the company. What, what was going through your mind when you said, Hey, I'm gonna start my own thing?
Mark Kazinec: I was scared. I was, I was like, oh my, this is either gonna go really great. Or I'm gonna fail and I'm gonna look like an idiot. You know, leaving one of the most well-known companies in the cannabis space and having my face all over high times, and everybody knowing me as the High Times Cannabis Cup guy, like I built a nice reputation.
So it was a risk. I was like, I'm either gonna leave and people are gonna be like, nah, screw you, man. You're not with High Times anymore. We don't, we don't care about you. Or they're gonna be like, Hey, you were the actually one of the guys at High Times that would actually respond to us and actually, you know, give us the, the white glove service because I pride myself on just good, good customer relationships or good client, you know, handling, um, you know, raised by a good family.
And I like to be a good, honest person and I bring that into my work and business. So, you know, first I gauged interest [00:12:00] by some of the partners. Hey guys, like, things are, things are going down. I might be moving, changing companies, starting something on my own. Would you work with me? And a lot of people said yes, and a lot of people said no.
And I've had to turn a lot of nos into yeses. I've had to turn a lot of maybes into yeses. Um, so it was very scary. It was very challenging, and it's still very scary and challenging. You know, I have all these other competitors that are, you know, more well known than me and, and Best in Grass. Um, we are a small team with a lot of big dreams and it's, I'm doing everything from left to right, top to bottom.
You know, obviously I have a team that handles, you know, certain things, but it's a big challenge being an entrepreneur. Um, and this cannabis industry is always changing with regulations and brands, and my context book is always being updated where people are moving companies or they're getting outta the business or they're coming into the business.
So it is, it is a crazy, wild west of an industry.
Tommy Truong: Where did you find your partners? I, [00:13:00] yeah, it's, I, I always think about, you know, when you start a business and the partners that you go into business with, I think it's even more important than, I don't know, that's probably the most important relationship that you can get into. Really, you're, you're now financially tied and your success is dependent on everybody to get, not only get along, but uh, to work as hard as you, to have to share the same visions, all those things.
Where did you find your partners and, and how did you guys get together?
Mark Kazinec: Yeah, so one of them is, comes from High Times as well. He was my road dog. We did the cannabis cups together. Um, Joey Psni, he is a big lovable ginger and he is our resident weed nerd. He knows he is a cultivator by trade, you know, worked with us at High Times. Um, so really great guy. Really hard working and really knowledgeable about the cannabis industry.
And then the other guys were consulting for High Times and they got screwed over by High Times. They got, you know, stiffed with a very large bill that High Times never paid them. [00:14:00] Um, and they were like, Hey man, like, I'm leaving. But, you know, we were working together for a little bit. They were looking at the cannabis cup business and how to optimize it, how to give better reports to the brands and like analyze some of the feedback in a better way so that, you know, when we give a bunch of data to a brand, it's actually actionable or digestible.
Um, so when they were leaving they were like, Hey, if you ever wanted to do this on your own, like we would be down to partner up with you. Let's keep talking. And we kept talking for a little bit. And then all of a sudden I was just like, I was fed up with High Times. I called them up, I was like, I think I'm gonna be leaving.
Like, let's start, let's take some quick action. Um, so few people from cannabis and High Times, a few people who were consulting for High Times, but you know, come from like PWC and other like big, you know, consulting gigs and tech gigs, um, and have been entrepreneurs on their, in their own right. So. It seemed to work out well.
There's obviously, we have different personalities, we have different work styles, so there might be things that I do really well that they can't do, and things that they [00:15:00] can do really well that I can't do. So we're seeing some supplemental or complimentary skills. Um, but I always want more from all of my teammates.
I think we, we have so, such big dreams and I don't wanna be, you know, coasting. I want to be hustling and I wanna be moving fast, and I wanna make sure that. Nobody can catch up to us in this cannabis competition space. So.
Tommy Truong: Did you guys flush through which lane each person is responsible for initially, obviously you guys did, and through the course of 19 months, how has that changed? How has the relationship internally kind of evolved to where it is today?
Mark Kazinec: Yeah, I mean, yeah, we had initial scopes of work for everybody. You know, some people handling financial planning and analysis, some people handling like the tech side of the business because yes, what you see, what the most people see is competitions, award show events. That's the majority of it. But we're also building out a tech platform to where, you know, the goal is to where anybody who wants to find [00:16:00] education about cannabis, wants to find products, wants to look at reviews, wants to see who's winning this stamp of approval as voted on by the people they're going to best in grasp.
Whether it's our website or our app, whatever it is, you know, we wanna build this out to where now we're like the Yelp of cannabis in a way. Um, so that's being, you know, steadily worked on and we have a team for that. With a CTO and you know, our CEO who's working, you know, steadfast on that. And then I have all the connections with the cannabis industry and, you know, people in this industry are tough to get ahold of, but luckily enough I've been able to prove myself to a lot of people and they pick up my phone calls and they respond to my emails or texts.
So I'm that guy as well as Joey, where we are. Very much focused on the competitions, making sure that we're getting as many brands represented and as many stores, you know, to, to work with us in each state. And just planting our flag in all these states. So 10 states so far more to come. Um, working on New York, working on Maine, working on Missouri, uh, Ohio, [00:17:00] and yeah, we're just, we're just moving and grooving, but new things come up and everybody needs to put their hands in at some point, and then it's like, okay, great, that's done.
Everybody back to their original scopes of work. Now something else is coming along. Now I need to get out of my scope of work and go help them. They need to get outta theirs and come help me. So it is, yeah, it's a lot of, a lot of moving parts at all times. And people need to be ready to be flexible.
Tommy Truong: Yeah, you guys, I, I had no idea about this. You guys are actually building a technology platform on top of the events and the awards.
Mark Kazinec: Exactly. Exactly. We want this to be somewhere, you know, and, and there's a lot of ideas floating around, gamification, you know, how can we, how can we have people? Rating, you know, not just 'cause we go into each state one time a year and people are judging our products for that one time. But how do we stay in the market?
You know, how do we offer winner's boxes, or how do we get people to be on the best ingra judging app or review app to where even if it's not related to a competition, they're picking up a product in a dispensary and now they're reviewing on reviewing it on the Best [00:18:00] Grass app. And now everybody can see what, you know what Tommy thought about this Lemon Haze vape pen.
Um, so just building something out to where, again, anybody who's looking for education or resources or how to find products, you know, recommendations. All right, Tommy, you seem to be voting favorably or rating favorably for a lot of products that have, uh, a high percentage of limiting. We're gonna recommend you more products that have high lemonade, or, hey, it seems like you continue to buy things that are high in lemonade.
Or let's say you continue to buy live resin vape pens. Have you ever tried a Rosin vape pen? Some people have no idea what rosin is, and it is like the whole foods of of cannabis, you know, in certain instances. And people are like, rosin, what's the difference between rosin resin? Why would I spend an extra 20 bucks on rosin?
That's stupid. But then they actually try it and they're like, okay, this gimme a much more flavorful high, a more aromatic, uh, you know, experience and. They, they, it can sometimes be a longer lasting high instead of where sometimes distillate live resin, you get a quick [00:19:00] high, you get a good flavor, but that might dissipate quickly.
So different strokes, different folks. Some people like hash raws and gummies. Some people like live resin gummies. Some people like shatter and wax, some people like rosin and hash. Everybody's body is different and it's gonna affect people differently. And we want to help people find their high, find their why.
And that's also through that, that platform that we're building.
Tommy Truong: How do you guys decide which state to enter into?
Mark Kazinec: A lot of it is just, you know, researching and talking to the different people. So like right now, you know, looking at New York, I'm talking to a ton of dispensaries. I'm talking to a ton of different brands. Hey guys, would you participate in a competition if we bring this, here's the model, here's the states.
We've done it in. Here's some testimonials. Talk to these guys. They can tell you the good and the bad, whatever else, and just gauging interest and looking at the marketplace to see what is pricing like, how many licensees are there? Are there enough brands to where I can have at least six or so raws and brands, or at least you know, a bunch of brands and flour.
[00:20:00] So it's the size of the market, it's the interest level of that market. You know, east Coast and Midwest. Much more intrigued and interesting or interested in these types of competitions, whereas California, Oregon, and Colorado, they're like, oh, competitions are a dime a dozen. We don't care. Whatever. Maybe we'll do it where like New Jersey, like, yes, we would totally do this.
Let's, let's do it. Um, and I was just at the network show in California here, and you know, I'm, I'm dipping my toes. I live here in California. I haven't, we haven't done a project in California and it's a tough market here, but a lot of the brands were like, yeah, we would do this. This is a good model. Like it's not, it's not like the Olympics, it's not like Emerald's Cup.
We have our own model, we have our own perks and so far people are telling me yes.
Tommy Truong: Oh, that's awesome. Your what's in it for the retailer? Why should a retailer join, uh, or distribute best and grass?
Mark Kazinec: Retailers are, there's so many retailers in each state, so it's hard to stand out and it's hard to steal [00:21:00] traffic from other stores, especially when people are loyal to that store. So we only choose anywhere between 20 to 30 stores per state, and those are exclusive dispensary partners. So now we're telling everybody, Hey guys, you want a best res judge kit?
You want this exclusive limited time, once a year drop. Which for anybody who doesn't know what a best ingra kit is, it's this wonderful Best in Grass zippered tote bag filled with product by category. So if Tommy loves Rozen, you're gonna get a Rozen kit. If Cynthia loves edibles, she's gonna get an edibles kit.
We have flower kits, pre-roll kits, vape pen kits, everything. So we promote those stores and we tell everybody, Hey, here are the only stores that are have these. We're gonna have these judge kits. You can't go to your usual store unless it's chosen, so be ready to go to the store. So now we're driving a lot of people from other stores to these hand selected stores that we choose.
It drives a lot of traffic for those stores. They are there to engage with these people and say, great, you're here for Best and Grass. Awesome. Here's a great deal. [00:22:00] Sign up for our loyalty list. Here's our team. We would love to have you back. And we drive that traffic back, not just once for the Judge kit purchase, but also they get to see them at the award show because anybody who buys a judge kit.
If they fully judge their kit by the deadline, they're gonna get two free tickets on behalf of Best in Grass and on behalf of that dispensary. So we say, Tommy, thanks for judging. Here's your tickets on behalf of Rise Dispensary and Best in Grass. And now you're like, amazing. Great. You come to the award show, you dress in style, you look good, you feel good.
You see your dispensary, you know friends there, and you're like, oh my God, I bought a kid from you. Amazing. So now it's another touch point where you're in this community environment and you're engaging. So. You know, uh, although that's not a, a sale or it's not gonna drive revenue at that moment, it's driving a connotation and it's driving a relationship.
And then after the award show, we say, all right, Tommy, every judge who, who bought a judge kit and fully judge, they're getting a credit that is equal to 20% of their judge kit purchase price to shop back at that same dispensary [00:23:00] to buy winning product or whatever they product they want. And best. And grass pays for that.
So to put that into an example, Tommy buys a kit for a hundred dollars. Tommy Fully Judges, he gets two free tickets. Seat award show. He meets the cultivators. He meets the dispensaries, he sees all his friends, meets new people, and then we say, all right, Tommy, now go back to the dispensary and here's $20 off your purchase there that we pay for.
And now those customers are going back into that store and saying, Hey, I'm here for my Best in Grass. Uh, credit, I'm buying $50 worth of pre-rolls and, and concentrates, and I want my $20 off. And now that retailer is saying, awesome, thanks for coming back in. Are you on our loyalty list? Do you wanna buy other products?
Try to upsell them, try to get them, you know, more engaged. Um, and retailers have been loving it and we're, we send them in store assets. We create digital artwork suites for them. We're promoting them on email blast, social media posts. We get a nice network of influencers that are also pointing people to the different dispensaries and, uh.
It's been fun.
Tommy Truong: Oh, that's amazing.
Mark Kazinec: Yeah, it's been good.
Tommy Truong: How [00:24:00] many kits do a, can a retailer sell? Is there a limit to how many kits that they can sell?
Mark Kazinec: Yeah. I mean, we try not to give more than 300 per store, but it also depends. I mean, in Rhode Island there's only seven dispensaries and we only work with two in that state, which means I am having each of those dispensaries sell close to a thousand kits each. It's, it works for them because there's only seven stores.
So everybody in that state is just going to that dispensary and they're buying multiple kits and they're continuing to go back. So these stores can sell that amount of kits. But when I go to Michigan, I do 30 stores. Each store will get anywhere between 50 kits to 200 kits, and those kits are, again, based on categories.
So you might get 10 indica flour, 10 hybrid flour, 10 pre-rolls, 10 bait pens, 10 concentrates, et cetera. Um, so now people of all different walks of life go to those dispensaries. They know what they, what their category of, of choice is, or they're trying out a new category. And yeah, a lot of stores will sell out within the first couple weeks.
Some take a [00:25:00] month. Um, so yeah, typically like 300 maximum, you know, for,
Tommy Truong: Yeah, that's that. Well that definitely gives the, an exclusiveness to that store. 'cause you're not a very small percentage of stores will have these kits available. And I, and I'm, and I'm guessing that these kits, if you were to buy the normal retail value of the product and these kits, it would be substantially more than what the kits are being sold.
Mark Kazinec: Exactly. Yeah, we sell 'em. You know, typically like to be within a 30 to 60% discount from what each product is sold for. So we'll look at, you know, Tommy's Gardens and Mark's, you know, pre-rolls, and we'll say, all right, how much is, how much are they selling this for? Is it $12 a gram, five bucks a pre-roll?
Like, what, what is this? And then we'll discount that down, create a total of however many products are in there and what the average market value is, and then sell that kit. So it's a good deal. Most people can afford it. Sometimes it's above people's, you know, budget because they come in and they're like, I got 20 bucks.
You know, what can I get? But we [00:26:00] try to advertise it, you know, in advance so that people can save their $20, save another $20, and be like, okay, great. I got 60 bucks and I can buy, you know, one of the judge kits. And now I have a bunch of product that'll last me a month, and I get an experience and I get an award show and I get a credit to go back to that shop.
Tommy Truong: Hmm. Mark, I know that you guys are head set, building a lot of analytics on the backend. What's in it for a brand? Why should a brand or a cultivator join Best in Grass?
Mark Kazinec: A lot of people love it because of the ego. They have ego, they want accolades. They want to be the one on stage saying, best indica flower, me and my team, we won. Screw you. I'm the best. A lot of that is ego. Otherwise, we're promoting those brands where a lot of brands, they don't have. They don't have cash, you know, they just have product.
We don't ask them for cash, we ask them for product. So it's not a pay to play. A lot of competitions ask for money and product. We don't
Tommy Truong: Oh, that's.
Mark Kazinec: mar Yeah, exactly. So it's free to enter. We wanna make this a very low barrier to [00:27:00] entry. We, that any brand small or large can enter and they can try to stack their chips across the board and do, you know, an indica flower entry, a pre-roll entry, a vape pen entry, et cetera.
And yes, get, get real feedback. So it's. You know, ego and accolades, just being able to say that, Hey, I won, you know, best of Oklahoma, best of Michigan, best of New Jersey. Um, it's also the marketing. So we're promoting all the brands saying, Hey, here's all the brands that are submitting to Indica Flower.
Here's all the brands that are in this category. So we're helping to promote them. Um, we also work with influencers will, that will help promote them as well. They also get a feedback report, so all the judges that submitted scores for them and comments, they get to see that. So now they're reviewing that.
That's. That is, that is uns sugarcoated and anonymous feedback to where, you know, in our industry, you give people product and they're like, oh my God, it was so good. Let me get more free weed. They're just sugarcoating it because they want free stuff. We are, we're not giving them more free product. If they rate you high, we're, you know, there's no incentive.
It's just judge. And judge, honestly. [00:28:00] Then you get a reward, but it's not, Hey, tell somebody that they're best and you're gonna get free stuff. So people will be honest and it is brutally, it can be brutally negative or it could be wonderfully positive, but it's all honest and the brands get to see that and improve.
And then, yeah, we just host a really nice event that people are like, finally I get to like let my hair down and dress up with my team and come to something that is actually worthwhile going to, because in our industry, not allowed, these events are well produced. You know, a lot of them are simply trade shows or flea markets, and it's outdoor and it's hot and there's so many.
So many things going on that it's hard to stand out and we just have, you know, more of like a Oscars of cannabis gala type style, where it's a lot of the key decision makers. So it's just good to schmooze in those rooms. And if you're invited to that, you're, you're invited for submitting products. Um, and yeah, if you win, it's, you know, a lot of people have, as mentioned, find a lot of perks from that.
More, more recognition, more distribution, more collab requests, things of that nature. So
Tommy Truong: And it can only get better as you guys grow. [00:29:00] Winning an award just becomes more, uh, prestigious.
Mark Kazinec: Exactly, because we're just gonna expand in more states. If I promote a winner in New Jersey, the people in Michigan are gonna see and they're gonna be like, oh, okay. So a lot of people have been like, Hey, I want to break into this market. I see that these are some of your winners. Can you connect me to those winners?
'cause it seems like they obviously have good product and good processes. I want to partner with them and do a licensing. Or fans? Fans and customers. Hey, I, I'm, I'm going from Ohio to Michigan. I see that all these people in Michigan won. They're gonna seek out those people in Michigan or Illinois or wherever they're traveling to.
Tommy Truong: How many brands do you allow in a category?
Mark Kazinec: It's all up to purchase limits, so we always remain compliant. And compliance is different per state. So in California, for example, I can have 28 grams of flour in a judge kit, which sometimes we restrict brands to doing one entry, which would mean we're doing 28 brands at a gram each, or we might allow two.
And now we have, you know, maybe anywhere between 14 [00:30:00] to 25 brands submitting one to two entries or so. So it's always up to purchase limits. Some states have high purchase limits, like Oklahoma and Michigan. Some states have small purchase limits like Montana. Um, so yeah, it'll, it'll range. But, you know, we, we typically see, um, anywhere between 50 to 120 brands in any given state based on how big it is, how many brands there are, and how much, how, how large the purchase limits are.
Tommy Truong: I really, and this is verse I, I really love the feedback from customers. I think if, if you, if you wanna understand your business. Understand your customers, and it's probably really hard for brands to get that honest feedback. Is it a requirement? So, uh, what's the data Like if, if I was a brand and I was giving out, I don't know, say a thousand samples or whatever in these kits, right?
How, what is the percentage of feedback that I'll get back from that population?
Mark Kazinec: So most people are giving a maximum of 300 units, [00:31:00] and depending on the state, and depending on the category, the judging success rate will vary. Oklahoma, some people are just a little bit less educated or less enthusiastic. So the judging rates in Oklahoma have historically been a little bit lower. You know, whether it was my high times, days, or my Best in Grass days.
Oklahoma judging success rates are a little bit lower than they are for like a Massachusetts. Um, so different states will vary and then different categories will vary. So flower concentrates, those typically sell very quickly, and there's very high enthusiasm for people consuming and judging those products.
Edibles, some, somebody might be judging a chocolate bar and you know, it's hard for them to sit still and, and properly judge something because they're feeling the effects half hour to an hour later. And then they are riding that ride and they might fall asleep, they might take a hike, whatever else, and it's like, Hey, remember, go back into the judging portal and, and submit that score.
So it will range, you know, and we're, and I think we're the only competition that actually incentivizes people [00:32:00] to judge. We don't. You know, we, we require it, but there's no way that I can sit there in front of, in your house, Tommy, and say, put your fingers on the keyboard and, and on your phone and make sure that you're judging.
But we say, Hey, if you judge, you get the tickets and you get the credit of money to go back to the dispensary. And we're seeing a big increase, um, from my former days of getting success rates and. We actually increased the, the judging credit from 10% last year to 20% this year, just so we can try to be more generous and try to get more feedback for the brands.
So I think as, as more people come on board, more judges understand that, hey, this is like a really helpful piece of the process and more influencers and whatever else are pushing that and showing them judging. It's helping us get a higher success rate.
Tommy Truong: Mark what's involved in judging. So let's say, uh, in, in a state where somebody will get a kit for flower Inca or, or whatever, say Inca, and it's 28 different, uh, brands that I'm judging. When I'm judging, am I [00:33:00] giving what my thoughts are on each and every single one of the samples that I'm smoking and then picking a winner from there?
Mark Kazinec: Yeah, so essentially bag. Judge card inside of each bag with a unique QR code for every single kit. So your kit has a totally different code than the next person's kit. So you guys can't share it, and there's no stacking of, of reviews and scores. So that's, that's one big thing that I think we're the only competition that does that.
Um, and then, yeah, they're logging on. They're using that judge card and saying, Hey, great. I'm logging in. I'm Tommy. Here's my email, here's my name. Now you have an account. You're putting in your access code, which is gonna be specific to that category and to your judge kit. And now it says, great, thanks Tommy.
You're a, you're a vape pen judge. And then you're gonna see all the vape pens listed out that are in your kit. You're gonna say, okay, cool. I'm judging the lemon berry haze from, you know, society C, and you're gonna click society C Lemon berry Haze. Rated on aesthetics one through 10, aroma one through [00:34:00] 10, effects one through 10, vulnerability, one through 10.
And there's terpene profile questions where, you know, you kind of click, is it peppery? Is it lemony? Is citrusy, piney, whatever else. Mood and effect based, clickable questions. It made me relax, euphoric, sleepy, brought me appetite. Different things like that. Demographics, so we can understand, is this a 25-year-old heady boy in college, or is this a 42-year-old soccer mom who's, you know, putting, you know, having a vape pen?
At the end of the night instead of a glass of merlott, or is it a 65-year-old veteran who's trading out his Miller lights for, you know, a nice pre-roll at the end of the day? Um, so trying to understand the consumer, understand the consumer habits and consumption methods, and then what their preferences are.
And then the comments section. So yes, the rating, every single item. They're not just like, this is my favorite rating, every single one. So that every brand, every product gets a fair shot at real results and real feedback. And then we aggregate those scores, average them out, look at different data points and see is there any funny business?
Is Tommy voting all tens for one brand and all zeros for another brand? Alright, let's look at [00:35:00] Tommy. Let's call him. Let's check with him. Are you affiliated with the brand? If we see brand emails and they're voting for their own brands, we're gonna disqualify that, that data point. So we look at that data and figure out is there any shady business?
Is there any funny business? Because there's a lot of competitions in this, in this industry where people have been known to take bribes or they don't look at the data and they're like, cool, whatever happens, happens. And now you have all these brands going out. Voting for themselves, and they're not doing anything about it, but we actually look at that.
Um, so long story short, it's all on an online judging portal rating every single item, and then the highest scores of every item across all the judges within that s skew or that product, that's who takes home the win.
Tommy Truong: What kind of, and if you can share this, what kind of data or analytics do brands get? Back.
Mark Kazinec: They get a nice PDF report of all the comments that people. see percentages of male versus female age demographics, uh, where their key highlights were, Hey, a lot of people voted [00:36:00] you very high in aesthetics, but low in aroma, but high in effects or effectiveness. So they get pie charts, they get bar graphs, they get comments.
So they're just seeing a little bit more of a digestible, um, report because a lot of people, you know. Our industry, not everybody went to college. Not everybody knows how to properly review data or they have the time to do that. So we try to make it as, as as simplified and digestible as possible. So a lot of charts and graphs, and then all of the comments that people can see exactly what people said.
Hey, I opened the drawer. I smelled lemonade, diesel aromas, bright green, fluffy buds. Didn't really see the cure, you know, as well as this other strain smelled really good, but it was harsh on the throat. I, I was high for half an hour, but then it faded away. What's up with that? I would love to find this in another dispensary.
I would love to try a different strain from this brand, or I'm never gonna try this brand again. Whatever else it is. That's the feedback that they get.
Tommy Truong: Oh, that's amazing.
Mark Kazinec: Yeah.
Tommy Truong: That is amazing. How long do consumers [00:37:00] have during the judging period? What? What does that period look like?
Mark Kazinec: So it's two months. So from the launch date to the judging deadline, it's two months. So if, if somebody buys their judge kit on the first day, they get a solid two months. But if they buy it one month later, then they're already mid judging timeframe. So now they only get one month. But it's plenty of time.
I mean, a lot of these, a lot of these people are judging within a couple weeks because they're, you know, they smoke a strain of night. And if, you know, you got 14 items or something, you're, you're judging within two weeks. Um. So that's why we try to push these, make 'em a, a really good deal so that they sell very quickly and now the judges are off to the races.
Tommy Truong: That's such a cool way for a consumer that to be involved in the industry. I, I, I can't really name any other instances where somebody that's really passionate about cannabis can be involved in the industry like this.
Mark Kazinec: Exactly. We're trying to do something a little bit different.
Tommy Truong: Mark, is there anything about Best and Grass that we didn't go through and, uh, what are the key dates that are [00:38:00] coming up?
Mark Kazinec: Um, so I guess anybody who's not following us, follow us on Instagram. Best ingra.io. Check out our website. Best ingra.io. My Instagram is mayor, M-A-A-Y-O-R under mark for anybody who wants to see our best inss tours and some skateboarding and some Polaroids, and all the fun stuff. Um. We're, we're moving all across the country.
If you guys want us to come to your state, please reach out to us. Hit us up on Instagram or on our website, online inquiry contact form. But I am about to launch in Chicago, uh, for our second year in a row. Then we go to Oklahoma. Then we have our award show in New Jersey. Then we are, uh, bringing it to Nevada for the first time ever.
So Nevada is gonna be really fun for us. Um, and then Arizona in January, and then yeah, working on. We're returning to a lot of the same states because a lot of people want us to come back. So Massachusetts, Michigan, Rhode Island, all of those states are really great for us. We'll probably go back to New Mexico.
We're, you know, working on New York, Missouri, [00:39:00] et cetera. So we have a big tour always in a different state every month. It is way too much travel, but it's fun, it's adventurous, it's exciting, but boy is it tiring
Tommy Truong: I was gonna say, you're, you're, you're burning the midnight candle.
Mark Kazinec: yeah. Um. So, yeah, we're open to feedback. Obviously our business is, is giving other people feedback and we want to take feedback as well.
So if people like something, tell us, if you don't like something, also tell us, and we will try to take that feedback into, into our team and, and adjust as we can. Um, but yeah, hopefully we become what everybody understands as the Oscars of cannabis. A very polished, well organized cannabis competition that is open to the people where we actually incentivize.
Judges to judge. We actually give real feedback reports to the brands, and we host a beautiful award show that everybody has been very excited about and I just wanna keep doing it and, uh, provide value to the brands, the retailers, and the consumers.
Tommy Truong: Mark, thank you. Thank you so much. This, if you are a brand, I, if I was a brand, I would do it right away. [00:40:00] Just, just, just from the feedback itself, let alone winning. I think that's gold. And if you win, uh, what a, what a cool thing to have on the shelf.
Mark Kazinec: Well, we're gonna have to start a Tommy's Tommy's cannabis brand.
Tommy Truong: Yeah. Mark, thank you so much for joining. Uh, me. Oh, we gotta have you back. Maybe, maybe you come back after the award season and you highlight the winners.
Mark Kazinec: I would love that. We're, we always have an award show, so I can always highlight, our winners are always listed on our, our website, so we can always talk about some of the top brands, um, per state. And yeah, we'd love to come back on again and give you guys an update in, you know, six months.
Tommy Truong: Thanks, mark.
Mark Kazinec: Thank you Tommy.
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