Living the Dream: Steve Lopez

As with many industries, we have had to completely reshape our day-to-day procedures in the wake of COVID-19. At least with cannabis we have the advantage of change being our only constant, and with that, the ability to quickly adapt. We are navigating this latest “normal” with the same three principles that are at the core of TGS: the quality of our product, the safety and experience for our customer and the safety and wellbeing of our team.

Working in this industry has never been boring, and it’s more important than ever to address and embrace rules and regulations as they continue to evolve, while also managing increased costs. We have been able to quickly comply with all state and county regulations, which has required an extensive amount of employee bandwidth and legal resources. We have also worked with each of our 21 dispensaries to ensure new procedures are implemented with immediacy, while also incorporating any nuances within city regulations.

Taking care of our 700 team members, including retail staff, cultivation crews, our corporate team and other positions within TGS has meant shifting job responsibilities and hours. We’re grateful to provide jobs for so many people during this time, but more importantly, we want our team to be safe. In addition to providing safety gear, we have also set up new procedures to maintain social distancing and have installed sanitation stations at every dispensary and cultivation center.

We have also implemented new procedures for the safety of our customers. In addition to procedures to ensure social distancing and ongoing sanitization, we have made upgrades to our online ordering platform and have added express pickups. We have the added assurance of a packaging system we developed years ago that limits any contact with our cannabis and greatly reduces any chance of contamination.

Being a part of the cannabis industry continues to inspire me. Personally, the appreciation I have for our team has grown deeper, and it brings me great satisfaction to hear how much our customers appreciate TGS during this crazy time. While there are so many unknowns in our world right now, I do know one thing for certain: Like so many challenges our industry has faced before, this will only make us stronger.