Grandma’s Goodies is a marijuana delivery service on its way up, but maybe that’s because of its mission: to help patients through low prices, professionalism, and compassion.
Located in the East Bay, Grandma’s Goodies was first launched in August 2013. Christian and Shawn, friends and residents of the Bayview area, founded the company. When the company started, they made all the deliveries themselves, but they’ve since expanded Grandma’s Goodies to four drivers and five dispatchers serving all of San Francisco, with a view to expanding into the Bay Area. At the moment they have more than a thousand patients.
And the company not only survived, but expanded, despite charging somewhere between $30 and $35 for most of their eighths, and between $135 and $185 for an ounce.
“We earn just enough to pay our drivers and dispatchers. If there’s anything left, we’ll give it back to the community,” Christian said. The motivation for low prices came from the couple’s experience with family.
Christian’s grandmother died of cancer, as did his good friend. His brother is alive, but is HIV positive. When his brother needed to develop an appetite, marijuana was key to helping him eat healthy. And Shawn’s uncle ate edibles while struggling with cancer, which gave him a few more years of life, according to Shawn.
Those experiences were a bright spot for the two friends.
“People on a fixed income can’t get medicine,” Christian said. “And some companies get rich on the backs of patients.”
So Grandma’s Goodies strives to be the opposite and focuses on patients. It offers a 20 percent discount for all military veterans and a 20 percent compassion discount for verified low-income patients.
A patient must have a legal 215 card that corresponds to a California ID. Grandma’s Goodies then checks to see if the doctor still has his or her license and then confirms that the doctor’s recommendation is valid. The level of professionalism often surprises people, Christian said.
“There’s a stigma attached to it” [cannabis], and that bothers me,” he said. They’re trying to help patients in what’s known as a booming industry. It’s a stereotype that they know well. As SF Evergreen riding with Oma’s Goodies we saw a different story.
Christian was driving and Shawn had an iPad in hand to prepare for the next patient’s order. We crossed from Hayes Valley to the Outer Richmond and stopped near the beach.
After putting the cannabis delivery in a discreet white pouch, Christian stepped out in his shiny loafers. The professionally dressed Christian walked quickly to the patient’s door, iPad in hand.
The patient walked out, smiled, and the couple talked about the unusually warm weather for the ever-foggy Outer Richmond District. He swiped her credit card, and off we went.
“We’re trying to get there in two hours,” he said back in the truck, checking the next patients on a list on his iPad. “The next patient has Fruity Pebbles and something extra: the new patient connection.”
And Grandma’s Goodies is planning something extra, not just for its patients, but soon for the homeless too.
The company is now planning its first event at 420 in a location they have yet to choose, somewhere in San Francisco. It is now in talks with artists, which sounds like it will be a mix of some big names, with lots of local artists. Shawn owns a record label and the pair have deep ties in the record industry.
But the 420 concert is also a food campaign for the homeless, and under current plans, Grandma’s Goodies will pay the cost of the concert — the only entrance fee is the suggested donation of a can of food.
“We try to make sure we take care of our patients at all times,” Christian said. But before the food drive, the music and the care kick in, it starts with one simple concept, they said, “We keep our prices low.”
You can find Grandma’s Goodies at weedmaps.com, or email us at [email protected] Call for delivery at (844) 415-2837.
This post is sponsored by Oma’s Goodie
