Tate Kapple
Age: 28
Company: Cannabis and Glass
Position: Owner
Location: Spokane, Washington
Starting at the bottom of a corporate ladder can greatly influence one’s perspective on business. Case in point: Tate Kapple, who began his business career — literally — in a Kansas City, Missouri basement.
Kapple worked at a miniature Applebee’s located in the basement of the restaurant chain’s corporate headquarters, serving the executives during lunch and dinner hours.
“I got paid $2 and change plus tips,” Kapple says, adding sarcastically, “It was great wage.”
Now, as the owner of Cannabis & Glass, one of the top marijuana retail stores in Eastern Washington, Kapple starts all his employees at a minimum of $15 an hour, with paid time off and health insurance.
“I think we treat our employees well and we are really proud of that,” he says.
Kapple was the youngest license-holder in Washington when he opened Cannabis & Glass in 2014 with $500 dollars of inventory, no money to pay rent and very little sleep.
“I was lucky that I didn’t have much money,” Kapple says. “If you have no money then you are salivating over all the possible decisions that you can’t quite make yet. It forces you to really consider the options at hand.”
Having recently hired its 40th employee, Cannabis & Glass now has locations open in Spokane and the tiny town of Millwood, with a third store in the works along the Idaho border.
“I am pretty sure we’ll do $15 million in sales after taxes this year,” he says. “I think that’s pretty good for a 28-year-old.”