Cannabis / Retail

From 1 Location to 7 — How a Cannabis Dispensary Scaled with 5 Dedicated VAs

7×locations scaled

The Challenge

What was holding them back.

A single-location cannabis dispensary was hitting a growth ceiling. The owner was personally handling bookkeeping, inventory tracking across hundreds of SKUs, compliance reporting for state cannabis regulations, vendor negotiations, and daily operations. Every hour spent on admin was an hour not spent on expansion planning. They had tried hiring locally but the cost of a full-time operations manager ($65K+ in their market) didn’t make sense for a single location. They needed operational leverage without the overhead. The administrative burden wasn’t just slowing them down — it was actively preventing them from evaluating new locations, negotiating leases, and building the supplier relationships that growth required.

The Solution

How THC built the system.

THC started with one dedicated VA focused on bookkeeping and financial operations — transaction recording, bank reconciliation, vendor payment tracking, and monthly reporting. The VA was trained on the client’s specific accounting software and compliance requirements. Within 60 days, the owner had full visibility into the financial health of the business for the first time. As the client opened a second location, THC added a second VA for inventory management and vendor coordination. The relationship scaled organically — each new location brought a defined operational need, and a trained VA was matched to fill it. By the fourth location, THC had VAs handling bookkeeping, inventory across all locations, compliance documentation, vendor management, and daily operational coordination. A dedicated Client Manager oversaw the entire team, ensuring consistency and quality across all five VAs. The owner never had to manage the VA team directly — THC’s management layer handled performance, coverage, and communication.

The Result

What changed.

Today, the client operates seven locations supported by five dedicated Human Capital VAs. Each VA handles a specialized function. The owner focuses entirely on strategy, real estate selection for new locations, and high-level partnerships. Financial reporting that used to take days now arrives weekly, automatically. Inventory discrepancies that used to cost thousands per month are caught in real time. The operational infrastructure built by THC didn’t just support growth — it made growth possible. The client has since expressed interest in expanding to a tenth location, with plans to add a sixth VA focused on compliance and regulatory reporting across all locations.

By the Numbers