How One Dispensary Transformed Sales and Efficiency With Budvue Digital Menus

Budvue-powered digital menus help shoppers navigate edibles, vapes, and flower with real-time inventory updates.

From Paper Binders to Dynamic Screens: A Dispensary’s Journey

Seven months after recreational cannabis became legal in Canada, an independent cannabis retailer opened its doors with high hopes and an ambitious vision. But right away, the team faced a challenge familiar to many in the industry: how to manage product information efficiently while delivering an exceptional customer experience.

Like many competitors, the shop relied on paper binders and handwritten board menus that couldn’t keep up with the fast-paced nature of cannabis retail. Shoppers waited in long lines, staff spent valuable time answering repetitive questions about THC percentages and prices, and menu updates became a constant source of frustration.

The turning point came when this retailer discovered Budvue digital menu solutions, a system that turned a major operational headache into a powerful competitive advantage.

About the Retailer

Behind every success story is a retailer with a vision and this independent cannabis shop is no exception. To truly appreciate how transformative Budvue’s solutions were, it helps to first understand the retailer’s identity, values, and what they set out to accomplish in a competitive market.

This cannabis retailer operates multiple locations in a major Canadian city and has built a reputation as a community-focused, independent brand.

What sets them apart:

• Multiple locations serving diverse neighborhoods, offering a consistent yet localized experience

• Community focus, with an emphasis on educating customers and supporting local growers

• Commitment to transparency, offering clear, accessible information on terpene profiles, rare cannabinoids, and the origins of their products

Their goal was clear: elevate the shopping experience while staying true to their independent roots.

“Getting a TV menu that worked was the biggest challenge. We didn’t see anyone doing it right, until Budvue.” — Store Founder

With a strong brand identity and a clear mission, this retailer had everything in place except the right tools to scale efficiently. That’s when they turned to Budvue, setting the stage for a transformation that would help them overcome operational hurdles and elevate their customer experience.

Seamless integration: Budvue digital menus keep dispensary customers informed across every product category.

The Challenge

For any cannabis retailer, growth brings exciting opportunities but it also uncovers new challenges. As this independent shop expanded, what once worked behind the counter quickly began to break down. To understand why a shift to digital menus was so transformative, it’s important to look at the growing pains they faced along the way.

As they grew, so did the pain points:

• Outdated presentation → Paper menus and basic Excel printouts couldn’t keep pace with weekly product drops, promotions, or inventory changes.

• Information bottlenecks → Customers repeatedly asked about THC %, price, and terpene content, creating long wait times at peak hours and overwhelming staff.

• Rigid early software → Off-the-shelf digital tools were inflexible, often designed for U.S. markets, and lacked Canadian compliance features.

• Operational inefficiency → Each store needed to manually update menus, increasing the risk of errors and wasting hours every week.

These pain points didn’t just create daily frustrations, they held the business back from delivering the seamless, elevated experience today’s cannabis shoppers expect. That’s where Budvue came in, offering solutions tailored to meet both operational needs and customer demands.

Why Budvue Made the Difference

Faced with mounting challenges, this retailer knew that patchwork fixes wouldn’t cut it, they needed a partner who understood the unique demands of cannabis retail. That’s where Budvue came in, not just as a vendor, but as a collaborator committed to solving real-world problems and unlocking long-term growth. 

Budvue didn’t just offer screens, we delivered a transformation.

Full Customization
Budvue’s design team worked closely with the retailer to create fully customized menu layouts, tailored to the brand’s look and feel. From brand colors and typography to the exact product details shown, the menus reflected the shop’s personality. Importantly, the menus could display richer product data, like terpene breakdowns, rare-cannabinoid ratios, and farm origin tags, giving customers more than just THC percentages and prices.

Smart Tags (Sale, New, Local)
With Budvue Smart Tags, staff could tag products as On Sale, New Drop, or Locally Grown with just one click. These tags automatically updated across store menus, eliminating the need for repetitive manual work and ensuring every screen promoted the same key products and deals in real time.

Multi-Channel Parity
Budvue’s system integration synced TV menus, in-store tablets, and the retailer’s website to their point of sale system. This meant that customers saw accurate, up-to-date product information no matter where they engaged with the brand, reducing confusion and building trust.

Hands-On Support
Budvue’s team provided responsive, human support. Whether the retailer needed a quick design tweak or ran into a technical issue, the Budvue team was always a support ticket or phone call away, delivering fast fixes, new feature rollouts, and a true partnership that evolved alongside the business.

With Budvue’s solutions in place, the retailer wasn’t just solving today’s problems, they were building a stronger foundation for tomorrow. What followed was a rapid transformation that reshaped operations, elevated the customer experience, and positioned the business for continued success.

Budvue’s dynamic menu boards deliver a polished customer experience from morning to night.

Rolling Out the Solution — A Quick Timeline

Implementing a new system across multiple locations doesn’t happen overnight, it takes careful planning, testing, and evolution. With Budvue, the retailer didn’t just flip a switch; they rolled out solutions in stages, each one building on the last to drive even greater impact. Here’s how the transformation unfolded over time.

• Phase 1 → TV Menu Launch
  The retailer replaced paper binders with dynamic digital screens in store, immediately improving visual appeal and menu accuracy.

• Phase 2 → Tablet Menus
  They added tablet menus, giving shoppers who wanted a non-scrolling list or a more personal browsing experience an easy option.

• Phase 3 → Promo-Screen Playlists
  They introduced promo TV playlists that combined live menu feeds with branded slides, highlighting value deals, senior discounts, and seasonal promotions.

• Phase 4 → Online Menu Sync
  The retailer added real-time menus on its website for click and collect, ensuring that social media and digital campaigns were always linked to accurate inventory data, boosting online-to-offline traffic.

This thoughtful, phased rollout allowed the retailer to steadily upgrade its operations without disrupting day-to-day business. Each step brought new efficiencies, a stronger customer experience, and a bigger competitive edge, proof that digital transformation is most powerful when it evolves alongside the business.

Results That Show on the Floor

The true test of any solution isn’t just in the setup, it’s in the results it delivers day after day. For this retailer, the switch to Budvue didn’t just check technical boxes; it created visible, meaningful improvements across the business. 

Here’s how those changes played out on the retail floor.

• Faster Checkouts: Digital screens dramatically reduced customer decision-making time, keeping lines moving smoothly even during rush periods.

• Higher Customer Retention: Customers repeatedly praised the store’s polished, professional feel, typically associated with larger chains, and came back for the same seamless experience.

• Improved Staff Efficiency: Managing multiple locations became easier. One centralized dashboard meant no more retyping SKUs or juggling separate systems.

• Boosted Brand Legitimacy: The store projected the image of a polished, multi-location chain, without adding corporate overhead, strengthening its market position as an independent leader.

“We’ve seen other shops struggle while we keep growing. A clear, fast menu is a big part of that—it keeps customers coming back.”

These outcomes weren’t just operational wins, they reshaped the retailer’s reputation and positioned the business for long-term success. By combining technology with thoughtful strategy, the retailer turned everyday improvements into powerful competitive advantages.

What’s Next?

The journey doesn’t stop here. The retailer is currently beta-testing Budvue’s upcoming playlist builder, which will allow them to create even more dynamic and engaging in-store promotions tailored to specific audiences or times of day. They’re also pushing for more advanced Smart Tag management, which will make it even easier to highlight key products, promotions, and local offerings across all locations with just a few clicks.

These innovations are more than just features, they’re proof that the partnership between the retailer and Budvue continues to evolve in step with the fast-changing cannabis market. As the industry grows, Budvue remains committed to helping retailers stay ahead of the curve, meet customer expectations, and scale with confidence.

For more on compliant cannabis retail practices, visit Health Canada’s cannabis regulations page.

Budvue digital menus transform dispensary spaces into efficient, visually appealing shopping environments.

Questions

What’s the biggest difference Budvue made for this retailer?
The biggest impact was turning a slow, manual labour operation into a fast, polished, and modern customer experience. Budvue didn’t just install screens, it gave the retailer tools to manage their menus across multiple channels, save staff hours every week, and give shoppers access to richer product details like terpenes and cannabinoid profiles. That combination directly led to faster checkouts, happier customers, and stronger brand loyalty.

How easy was it for the retailer’s team to adopt the Budvue system?
Budvue was designed with busy dispensaries in mind. The rollout was phased and hands-on, starting with simple TV menus and gradually expanding to tablets, promo playlists, and online sync. Because the system is centralized, staff only had to learn one dashboard to manage everything and whenever questions came up, the Budvue support team was always just a call away.

What kind of future innovations can retailers expect from Budvue?
Budvue is constantly evolving to meet industry needs. Right now, we’re beta-testing an intuitive playlist builder and enhancing Smart Tag controls to make promotions even more dynamic and personalized. Our roadmap is shaped by retailer feedback, so dispensaries can count on Budvue to keep improving with them, whether they want more automation, better reporting, or next-level in-store experiences.

Ready to Upgrade Your Menus?

If your dispensary is still struggling with static menus, clunky processes, or digital tools that can’t keep up, it’s time to explore what Budvue can do for you. Whether you operate a single location or a multi-store chain, Budvue’s platform is designed to help you improve efficiency, boost sales, and deliver a polished customer experience. Book a live demo today.

Interview conducted March 28, 2025. Quotes edited for clarity. Retailer kept anonymous to protect their business. If you’re interested in learning more, book a demo and ask about this case study, we’re happy to share additional insights and details directly.