Pecos Valley Production is one of the biggest, most extensive, and most well-respected cannabis organizations in the U.S. Southwest, made up of a team of more than 200 locals across 17 locations. Its storefronts, farm, and processing facility exemplify innovation and integrity, pioneering a new era of legalized medicinal and recreational cannabis.
Pecos is also a full-stack Dutchie customer, investing in POS, Ecomm, and Payments.
We recently caught up with our friend Devin Pruitt, Director of Ecommerce at Pecos, for a discussion on their in-store and online set-up, and how they’re streamlining the customer experience with Dutchie Pay. Here are just a few of the results they've seen so far:
"Before the migration, [training] was about a four month process to make sure people understood not only the point of sale platform, but the flow from capturing an ACH payment to marking an order as 'complete'. With Dutchie, I was able to train all 17 locations that we have—that's around 200 employees—within a month's time."
"We really wanted to hone down our services and make sure that everything was under one roof. Dutchie's ID verification, ACH transactions, and debit transactions all being on the one platform gives Pecos a streamlined, fast, in-and-out experience for our consumers, which is what we're all about."
"I really feel that the Dutchie platform best allows us to show our customers what to expect once we go federal."
Jay Rosenthal [00:00:06] Devin, thanks for making time.
Devin Pruitt [00:00:09] Thank you for having me. It's a pleasure to be here.
Jay Rosenthal [00:00:11] I'm excited because we talk, internally, a lot about New Mexico. I talk about New Mexico in my day to day life because I'm fascinated by it... I’ve driven through it twice. But tell us about your operation, your footprint, and the market as you see it in New Mexico.
Devin Pruitt [00:00:27] For sure. So Peco's Valley Production is really interesting. We started out in 2016, just a really tiny farm. Originally a dairy farm back in the day. So we like to say dairy is our new way of life here with the 40,000 plant count in 17 locations throughout the state and just how fast the market's moving. You know, it's been a pleasure. And more importantly, we can see it just growing to exponential levels.
Jay Rosenthal [00:00:53] Talk a little bit about the set up you have, both in your stores and online.
Devin Pruitt [00:00:58] For sure. Yeah. So right now, like I said, we're full stack with the Dutchie platform. So during the migration, we originally were running, in the state of New Mexico, we were originally Biotrack-required. They lifted that ban, or not ban per se, but that requirement so we're only required to use their state compliance. So in that process, we wanted to really, you know, hone down our services and make sure that it was all under one house. And with ID verification, all the way to ACH transactions, to even debit transactions... all being on the one platform allows Pecos just a streamlined, fast in-and-out experience for our consumers, which at the end of the day is what it's all about.
Jay Rosenthal [00:01:42] Especially when they're as busy as your shops are. Can you talk a little bit about what it's like training on those things? Does it provide ease of training when it's like one system that is integrated? Like do you think about it from that perspective?
Devin Pruitt [00:01:58] Oh my gosh. Absolutely. So prior to my current position—I'm the Director of Ecommerce here at Pecos—I was the Education Director, and that was a really, really long process when it came to anyone training. It was about a four month training process just to make sure people understood not only the platform for point of sale, but understanding the flow from how to capture an ACH on our old system to marking a simple transaction on an online order system as 'complete'. It becomes a lot of SOPs, but with it all being under one platform, I was able to train all 17 locations that I have—so that's around 200 employees—within a month's time, starting with two stores, or one store every two days. So two days worth of work.
Jay Rosenthal [00:02:47] That's really good, especially considering the sort of footprint you have. And I'll say the varied operation you have, right, between online, in-store and then payments, there's a lot going on within your stores to make it successful. And so that is no easy feat. Talk about ecomm, if you will, or where ecomm meets store with ACH payments, which we call Dutchie Pay. Talk a little about how you are using that, or how consumers are using that, to sort of ease that transaction. Is it in-store because it's faster or on ecomm because more people can more easily pay for large orders? Like how do you find people are actually using it and how are you using it in the store?
Devin Pruitt [00:03:41] Yeah, for sure. So in the state of New Mexico, what we've noticed is people kind of, you know, reference them for price points, especially with the amount that there are. So they're not necessarily, you know, scrolling at two in the morning like myself and making sure they grab the best flower. It's more of, they want to make sure that they're grabbing the right price and the right quality. So what we're seeing is, you know, they'll glance at the device real quick. Scroll through the menu and then they're just going to walk into our store. But you do have those occasional college students, I see a lot of them or, you know, those tech-savvy mom and pops that, you know, want to be a little discreet. They'll use our online platform, which now, because it is the point of sale, we don't have to worry about data being miscommunicated. I like to describe it as the twins from The Shining. They're the same systems. They're going to say the same thing, right. So with that and the fact that you can pay in advance, we have customers—I was actually at our Las Cruces location last week, they literally walk in and say their name. I hand them a bag, and they walk out the door. It's 5 seconds at most, which has been a blessing in disguise.
Jay Rosenthal [00:04:50] Yeah, it is. And it's just the way you described it. It's like Chipotle. You go in, grab your bag, you're out, right. Increasingly, that is how consumers are shopping with all the limitations and restrictions on cannabis purchasing. Getting closer to that is obviously Dutchie's goal, and it's your goal. It's what consumers are asking for and want. But from what you're saying, people are utilizing it as designed to ease that transaction purchase both on them, which is more important, but also on you, the retailer, from an operational perspective.
Devin Pruitt [00:05:27] Absolutely. And I'm glad that you mentioned the government portion because unlike a lot of the other systems out there, I really feel that the Dutchie platform allows us to show the customers what to expect and what to experience once we go federal. Since we're kind of setting that foundation in these platforms of what you should be experiencing as the consumer that's receiving not only a product that most people would consider in our agriculture market, but is also a technology market as well with the innovative technologies we bring to the market literally every day.
Jay Rosenthal [00:06:01] Yeah, it is interesting. I hadn't thought of it like, it's building the consumer, it's training the consumers for a time when things are much more normalized, right? It's normalizing it ahead of legalization sort of federally, which is great for everybody. But especially, and this is kudos to you and the team, like to Pecos consumers it seems like a normal transaction that's like any other transaction like buying something. It's like once you sign up for DutchiePay, this is actually how you purchase. You know, in most cases, skip the line, faster purchasing, the shopping experience, the pick-up experience is just easier and better. And I would imagine, and I'll ask you, like the ease of fulfilling that order is also helpful from your operations perspective. That's not, you know, and people standing in line waiting, tapping their foot... like they're just ready to go.
Devin Pruitt [00:06:52] Yeah, absolutely. Again, what is it... on the marketing side, we always like to say the less clicks, the better. So with the process of Dutchie Pay and the fact that not only do ecommerce orders push into the point of sale, so you're not having to physically look anybody up, they're just right there, and you're just scanning, clicking, 'ok'. It not only helps with that process, but even on a compliance side, you're not worrying about, you know, is my product specialist running, are they over scanning products in. It will notify me of those types of discrepancies. So overall, yeah, no definitely, definitely exciting.
Jay Rosenthal [00:07:28] I want to ask you, because you were just talking about coming off a record month for you and the team in December, what are you looking forward to in 2023, either from your specific position or the company as a whole, or the market as a whole?
Devin Pruitt [00:07:47] So as a market as a whole, of course, I'm excited to see when the SAFE Banking Act can go through so we can start accepting more payment methods, more streamlined payment methods for our consumers, but more importantly, for the Pecos side, we're super excited for the partnerships that we're slowly building having partnered with the Dutchie team. So a good example is we're working on gift card solutions within our stores that integrate seamlessly. Can't go into super big details, but we're also looking at autonomous solutions within our retail operations. So, you know, I'm super excited for this new year and I can in full honestly say that we wouldn't be where we are if it wasn't for the technology that Dutchie provides, and more importantly, the support you guys offer as well.
Jay Rosenthal [00:08:35] That's nice of you to say. We didn't tell you to say that, but we're glad you're saying it.
Devin Pruitt [00:08:40] (laughs) No, no, no, no. No advertisement!
Jay Rosenthal [00:09:02] It's our pleasure to work with you and the Pecos team. So thank you for your time today, your partnership overall, and we wish you really good luck in 2023!
Devin Pruitt [00:09:18] Thank you, guys. It's a pleasure being here.
Jay Rosenthal [00:09:19] Thanks Devin.
Dutchie is an all-in-one technology platform powering the cannabis industry with Point of Sale, Ecommerce, Payments, and Insurance. Through our technology, we’re helping cannabis businesses start, operate, and grow with confidence. With software that simplifies their operations, our customers can focus on what matters most—bringing the benefits of cannabis safely to consumers.
Request a demo today!
.png)