IGTM Education in partnership with Cresco created a panel for potential business owners and potential employees to find and create opportunities in the cannabis consumption lounge space. The Illinois cannabis market has already exceeded 2 billion in sales since the inception of the recreational market that opened in 2020.
There has been plenty of controversy regarding the application process in Illinois along with covid complicating the matters further. IGTM Education, Cresco Labs, and ACC of Illinois decided to put together seminars and information sessions to help people get into the cannabis business in other ways that dont consist of having to gain a plant touching license (dispensary, craft grow, infuser).
This particular workshop panel was put together to help people gain insight into the possibilities that can happen in the consumption lounge business in Illinois.
Berwyn Thompkins of IGTM Education and Victoria Williams of ACC Of Illinois have traveled to many states that have legalized cannabis and have been actively trying to figure out how to enhance the consumption lounge program in the state of Illinois. Victoria and Berwyn visited multiple consumption lounges throughout the United States to see what consumption lounges visually looked like, what the experience would be and how can consumption lounges be a profitable venture.
Through visiting and speaking to staff and consumption lounge managers we learned of the various ways that these companies were able to create revenue streams for their business models. Simple things such as equipment rental (consisting of bongs, rigs, etc) create a revenue stream within the consumption lounge as an example of one of the many things that you can do to create revenue in your consumption lounge.
Traveling to visit multiple dispensaries allowed for Victoria and Berwyn to also look at the various laws that each state had and compare it to the current laws that now exist in Illinois. Through looking at programs such as the one in Nevada we imagined a future where one day Illinois consumption lounges will be allowed to sell single serve cannabis to consumers. The change to the law would create enormous opportunity and revenue to many people who qualify under the social equity provisions identified by the state of Illinois.
At the event Cresco provided a subject matter expert in compliance. He expressed the importance of following the law and to stay in compliance with the state. He discussed the sever penalties of violating the laws for failure to comply with the laws of the state of Illinois. Many may not have known that applied for many of the cannabis licenses in the state of Illinois that you have to have a person whom is dedicated specifically to compliance on your team or you could rack up fines and potentially lose your license.
The event left many ready to dive into the consumption lounge business in Illinois because it is a new untapped market in the state of Illinois. The lower entry level cost and the fact that the laws for consumption lounges are controlled by local municipalities makes it a attractive business to get into.