The posting
High Plainz Strains | 2506 6th Avenue, Garden City, CO 80631 Full-Time | $15.16/hour + tips Generally 30–40 hours per week | 4–5 shifts
High Plainz Strains is hiring a full-time Budtender for our Garden City dispensary!
Budtenders help customers understand our products and choose options that fit what they're looking for while providing accurate, professional service in a regulated retail environment.
Our Garden City location serves a steady customer base through both the dispensary and drive-thru. We're looking for someone who can provide good individual customer service while also understanding that, during busy periods, the entire team needs to keep customers moving efficiently.
Previous cannabis industry experience is helpful, but it isn't required. Strong experience in retail, restaurants, bartending, serving, hospitality, grocery, convenience stores or other customer-facing work can translate very well to this position.
We can teach cannabis product knowledge. We're more interested in finding someone who communicates well, enjoys working with customers, is dependable and wants to learn the products well enough to become genuinely good at the job.
What You'll Be Doing
Budtending is a combination of customer service, product knowledge and responsible retail sales.
Responsibilities include:
- Greeting customers and learning what they're looking for
- Asking useful questions to understand what a customer actually wants
- Explaining available cannabis products and product categories
- Helping customers compare products and make informed purchasing decisions
- Learning our flower, concentrates, edibles, vapes, topicals and other product offerings
- Developing familiarity with the brands and products carried by the store
- Learning current promotions and loyalty programs
- Operating the point-of-sale system and completing transactions accurately
- Handling cash with accuracy and integrity
- Checking products and orders for accuracy before completing transactions
- Assisting with in-store and drive-thru customer service as assigned
- Helping process orders efficiently during higher-volume periods
- Stocking and organizing products
- Maintaining a clean and organized retail environment
- Following company procedures and Colorado cannabis regulations
- Communicating with Front Desk, other Budtenders and store leadership
- Helping the team manage customer flow during busy periods
- Recognizing when you don't know an answer and finding accurate information rather than guessing
Good budtending isn't about knowing the most cannabis trivia.
It's about listening to customers, understanding the products well enough to explain them clearly and helping people navigate a product selection that can sometimes be unfamiliar or overwhelming.
Different customers also need different levels of assistance.
Some people know exactly what they want and want to complete their purchase efficiently. Others want to compare several products or need someone to explain the differences between product categories, cannabinoids, formats, brands or price points.
A good Budtender learns how to recognize the difference.
Working in a Busy Dispensary
Garden City can move quickly.
During higher-volume periods, you may have customers waiting, online orders being processed, drive-thru traffic moving and coworkers handling several things at once.
The answer isn't to rush through transactions.
It's to become proficient enough at the job that you can work efficiently without sacrificing accuracy, customer service or compliance.
That means knowing the products, knowing the systems and communicating with the rest of the team.
It also means understanding that not every customer needs the same interaction. Someone who already knows exactly what they want shouldn't have to wait while you give them a ten-minute product lesson they didn't ask for.
At the same time, a customer who genuinely needs help should receive enough attention to make an informed decision.
Learning to balance those situations is an important part of becoming a strong Budtender.
In-Store and Drive-Thru Service
Our Garden City location serves customers through both traditional in-store retail and drive-thru service.
Drive-thru customers often expect an efficient transaction, but speed doesn't replace accuracy or compliance.
Budtenders need to make sure the correct products are selected, orders are accurate, transactions are processed correctly and required procedures are followed regardless of how the customer is being served.
During a shift, employees may rotate between responsibilities depending on customer traffic and operational needs.
We're looking for people who can adjust without losing track of the details.
Schedule
This is a full-time position, generally scheduled 30–40 hours per week over 4–5 shifts.
Our Garden City dispensary operates seven days a week, so this position requires retail availability that may include mornings, daytime shifts, evenings, weekends and holidays.
Schedules are based on store needs and employee availability.
Pay and Tips
Base Pay: $15.16/hour
Budtenders also receive tips from customers.
Tips at our Garden City location currently average approximately 4–6 per hour in additional compensation.
Actual tips vary based on shift, customer traffic, sales, staffing, hours worked and other factors and are not guaranteed.
At the current base rate, typical combined earnings have therefore been approximately:
19.16–21.16/hour when base wages and average tips are combined.
The $15.16 hourly wage is guaranteed. Additional tip income is variable, and the historical 4–6/hour average is not a guarantee of future earnings.
What We're Looking For
We're looking for people who are comfortable talking with customers and interested in becoming knowledgeable about the products they sell.
Strong candidates are reliable, communicate clearly and can work efficiently when the store gets busy.
They should be comfortable handling money, learning retail systems and following procedures consistently in a regulated environment.
Experience in any of the following can translate well to budtending:
- Retail sales and customer service
- Serving or bartending
- Restaurants and hospitality
- Grocery and convenience retail
- Specialty retail
- High-volume retail
- Cash handling and point-of-sale systems
- Cannabis retail
Previous cannabis product knowledge is useful but not required.
For Garden City in particular, experience working somewhere that gets genuinely busy can be valuable. A strong server, bartender, cashier or retail associate who knows how to stay organized with several customers waiting may have skills that translate extremely well to this store.
We're particularly interested in people who can listen to customers rather than simply waiting for their turn to talk.
Product knowledge matters, but communication matters too. Being able to explain something clearly to a customer who knows very little about cannabis is often more useful than knowing technical information you can't communicate effectively.
We can teach someone who wants to learn.
You also don't need to make cannabis your entire personality to work here. You should be interested enough in the products to learn them well, enjoy helping customers and take the responsibilities of working in a regulated industry seriously.
Colorado Cannabis Requirements
Applicants must be at least 21 years old.
Employees must hold an active Colorado Marijuana Enforcement Division (MED) Employee License before beginning regulated cannabis work.
Candidates who already have an active MED license are encouraged to apply, but having one at the time of application is not required.
Candidates who are eligible and willing to obtain one before beginning work are welcome to apply.
Employees are responsible for obtaining, maintaining and paying for their required MED license.
Benefits
Full-time employees have access to our benefits package, including:
- Medical insurance through Kaiser Permanente
- Dental insurance through Delta Dental
- Vision coverage through VSP
- Supplemental accident, illness and gap coverage through Transamerica
- Colorado SecureSavings retirement program
- Paid sick leave
- PTO/vacation beginning after six months of employment
- PTO that increases with tenure, up to four weeks per year after five years
- Performance and wage reviews
- Opportunities to learn additional retail responsibilities
- Participation in our regular customer loyalty program, including 10% back in loyalty rewards on eligible purchases, subject to program terms and applicable law
Learn the Business and Build Your Skills
Budtending can be more than learning a menu and completing transactions.
A strong Budtender develops product knowledge, learns how different customers shop, becomes proficient with retail systems and promotions, understands the compliance requirements of cannabis sales and learns how a successful dispensary operates.
Garden City also provides experience working in a higher-throughput retail environment with both in-store and drive-thru customers. Becoming proficient in that environment means learning how customer service, product knowledge, communication and operational efficiency work together.
Employees who perform well and demonstrate reliability, product knowledge and good judgment may have opportunities to pursue Lead Budtender, Assistant Manager, Store Manager or other positions within the company as openings become available.
A retail progression can include:
Budtender → Lead Budtender → Assistant Store Manager → Store Manager
Advancement isn't automatic or simply based on time in the position. We want employees to build the skills necessary to take on additional responsibility successfully.
About High Plainz Strains
High Plainz Strains is part of Nature's Herbs & Wellness, a locally owned Colorado cannabis company that has been operating for more than 15 years.
We're still privately owned by the same people who founded the company and have longstanding roots in Northern Colorado.
Over the years, we've grown from a local cannabis business into a vertically integrated operation that includes retail dispensaries, cultivation, extraction, manufacturing, warehousing and distribution.
That gives our retail employees exposure to products and knowledge from several different parts of the cannabis industry.
Our stores carry products from across the Colorado market as well as products manufactured within our own operation. We're also continuing to grow our manufactured product lines and expand their distribution into other dispensaries around the state.
For employees interested in making cannabis a longer-term career, retail provides direct experience with customers, products and the part of the industry where purchasing decisions actually happen.
For employees who simply want a solid retail job, that's fine too.
The expectation is straightforward: learn the products, treat customers well, work with the rest of the team, follow the rules and do your job reliably.
Location: 2506 6th Avenue, Garden City, CO 80631 Employment: Full-time, on-site Schedule: Generally 30–40 hours per week, 4–5 shifts Base Compensation: $15.16/hour Additional Compensation: Tips, currently averaging approximately 4–6/hour Typical Combined Earnings: Approximately 19.16–21.16/hour based on recent average tips; tips are variable and not guaranteed
Apply through this posting with a current resume.
High Plainz Strains / Nature's Herbs & Wellness is an Equal Opportunity Employer.
