standard operating procedures (sop) for
In-Booth Sales: Do-It-Yourself (DIY) 
with your own retail license or with a retail partner

The option to sell cannabis directly from your booth is now available to every exhibitor (except Craft booths). Selling directly from your booth at the show affords you more personal interactions with retail buyers and consumers, thus providing invaluable, instantaneous market research via face-to-face interactions. 

Conducting cannabis sales within your booth is equivalent to operating a small dispensary and requires a Retail Licensee and an associated employee to conduct all sales with all units for sale delivered to the site by a Distributor.

This guide is to assist in navigating In-Booth Sales with ease and accuracy while capturing all sales and record information required by the DCC and navigating any loss of internet access at the Sonoma County Fairgrounds. 

There are a variety of ways that records can be kept throughout the event as outlined in “In-Booth Retail Sales” with all sales requiring input and recording into METRC within 24 hours of a transaction. We have included instructions on individual sales entries as well as batched uploads using the Import New Sales function from spreadsheet tracking. 

Table of Contents

1. Sale Requirements Overview / Summary

2. Premise Requirements for In-Booth Sales

3. Personnel & ID Badge Requirements

4. Using Point of Sales Systems (POS) for In-Booth Sales

5. Distribution Requirements

6. Cannabis Product Pricing and Taxes

7. Product Intake

8. Product & Inventory Tracking

9. In-Booth Retail Transaction Process

10. Upload to METRC (Individual Sales Entry & Batch Import Using Spreadsheet)

11. LEGAL NOTICE

 Sale Requirements Overview / Summary

• Booths may include a retail licensee to assist in completing all sales transactions and must be carried out by an employee of the retailer.

• A retail employee may perform sales transactions within their dedicated booth space at any time during the event operating hours with important information collected and input into METRC within 24 hours.

• Certain requirements for the booth premises, personnel, and ID badges must be carried out throughout the entirety of the event. 

• Retailers are free to use any POS system of their choice.

• Distributors are required for any product transfers and they may not transfer to Retailers if there is no connectivity (see “Distribution Requirements” for more info)

• All cannabis goods for sale received must be complaint and tracked throughout the event days. 

• Product pricing protocols may vary between Friday (B2B) and Saturday (B2C).

• Retail employees may complete transactions by collecting the necessary information as outlined in “In-Booth Retail Transaction Process.”

• Within 24 hours of the transaction, all sales must be input into METRC. 

 Premise Requirements for In-Booth Sales

• A Retail Licensee must perform and carry out all sales. 

• The retail partner must prominently display their DCC Retail License.

• Secure & Locked Storage must be used at all times for any cannabis goods that have been transferred to the Retail Licensee for sale on site. 

• Opaque Exit Packaging must be supplied for all orders of cannabis goods purchased at the booth.

Personnel & ID Badge Requirements

• Personnel carrying out Retail transactions MUST be employed by the Retailer with their ID badge associated with the Retailer performing sales at the Booth. If your Retail partner does not have any availability to staff the booth, they may temporarily hire and train your staff for the event to ensure coverage. 

• All personnel who are conducting retail sales or handling cannabis goods for sale MUST have an ID badge on at all times with a clear photograph, full name, employee ID, and employing license number. 

Using Point of Sales Systems (POS) for In-Booth Sales

• Please follow all applicable instructions provided by your POS system.

• In case of loss of connectivity, your retail sales may continue! 

• Please utilize the information in “In Booth Sales - Recording Sales During Event” for record requirements and manual tracking.

• For Meadow Users: Upon restoration of connectivity, enter all sales data into the POS platform  which will automatically sync with METRC

Distribution Requirements

All Transfers must be conducted by a Distribution Licensee or a Microusiness authorized to conduct Distribution activities. 

Transfers may NOT occur when there is loss of connectivity and access to METRC (§15050). In these cases Retailers must: 

• If cell service is available, contact an off site representative who has their own METRC login and confirm all sections of the Transfer Manifest as entered into METRC are accurate to the physical product and the printed Transfer Manifest. 

OR

• If cell service or an off site associate is not available, physically deny and return any incoming Transfers to the Distributor. Deny in METRC upon reconnection.  

HOF’s Distribution partner, Nabis, requires all product from brands come through in two Transfers – one for the products to be sold on Day 1 (to retailers) that are priced as described below in Cannabis Product Pricing and the second for products to be sold on Day 2 (to consumers) that can have any pricing structure. This assists with proper tax attribution and submission. HOF recommends using this process with outside distributors.

Cannabis Product Pricing and Taxes

On Day 1 for Industry Day Transactions  – all items are to be sold at $3 after applicable taxes. These items shall be wholesaled at $0.01 to and from the Distributor. 

On Day 2, Retailers may elect to price products to consumers as any other direct to consumer sales. 

Invoicing and receipts must be in the name of the Retail licensee conducting sales. 

While the tax amount does not need to be entered into METRC, retail licensees MUST track and are solely responsible remit all applicable sales, cannabis state excise, and any local cannabis sales taxes. The Sonoma County Fairgrounds is subject to the following taxes in Santa Rosa based on gross receipts: 3% Local Cannabis Tax, 15% State Cannabis Excise Tax, 9.25% Local Sales Tax.

Product Intake

After cannabis goods are brought to the show site by a licensed Distributor, the booth Retail staff must physically receive the product at the on site distribution facility or pick up from the outside distributor drop off site. They must ensure the products received match the METRC Transfer Manifest and accept the Transfer into METRC as described below. 

1. Perform Physical Count on units, confirm it matches the Manifest

2. Confirm Compliance on:

   • Packaging and Labeling

   • Tamper Proofing

   • Child Resistant Packaging

   • COAs – Confirm they match product

   • Store in the Secured and Locked Storage in your Booth’s Premise

3. Accept Transfer into METRC (See Distribution Requirements for more information)

If utilizing a POS partner, please follow any additional steps as required by your POS.

• Meadow Users: “Click Receive” for inventory data to sync with POS system

Product & Inventory Tracking 

Retailers must track all inventory units; these guidelines assist in ensuring that retail licensees maintain an accurate record of its inventory in real time and shall provide it to the DCC upon request (§15423). 

Bunch individual units into easy to count groups (master cases, rubber bands, envelopes, bins etc) for quick physical counts and matching remaining inventory to the recorded sales.

In-Booth Retail Transaction Process

1. Upon Customer’s selection of items, a retail employee will physically collect each item requested.

2. Retail employee shall collect and confirm the below information matches the product being purchased:

   • Package Tag Number

   • Quantity sold from each Package

   • Price

3. The Retail employee shall confirm customer is:

   • Over 21 with an acceptable ID

   • Within their daily purchasing limit from the retailer (28.5 grams of flower and 8 grams of concentrate or equivalent)

4. The Retail employee shall collect from and/or provide to customer:

   • Customer’s email address (Optional, but recommended)

   • Total sale price including all applicable taxes (CA Cannabis excise, Local Cannabis excise, CA sales tax)

   • Payment for the transaction

5. To finish the sale, the Retail Employee must: 

   • Provide opaque exit packaging for all cannabis good sold

Upload to METRC 

All sales transactions must be entered into METRC within 24 hours of the transaction (§15049). Sales conducted outside of a POS system can be entered into METRC individually or through a batch import using a spreadsheet. 

Individual Sales Entry to METRC

1. From the “Sales” tab, select “Record Receipts”.

2. Enter all information for each item under Package #1. If more than one item is sold, select the blue “+ Package” button and add until full transaction has been input. Select “Record Sales Receipts” to finish the entry’s upload.

Batch Import to METRC Using Spreadsheet

A spreadsheet that contains the Required Record Keeping for Retail Sales (as outlined above) can be used by the Retailer

Example for Required Spreadsheet Column Data & Guidelines for METRC Import:

1. Prepare Spreadsheet for Download

   a. Remove the first row that contain any headers

   b. Ensure all other formatting is cleared

   c. Download as .csv 

2. From the Sales Tab select “Import Sales”

3. Select “Sales (New)” Tab

4. Select “Select Files” for Upload

5. Upload Files after Selecting

The status of the upload can be tracked on the “Import Sales” screen including an estimated time for the upload to complete. 

The user who initiated the Import will receive an email (example below) with the status of the upload – this will also include any errors that were found in the import.

Note that once uploaded there can be no batch changes to the sales data. Changes must be handled manually in individual sales entries.   

METRC Upload/Input Tips

• Have one employee handle data entry and product tracking to minimize duplications or other human errors. 

LEGAL NOTICE

Nothing in this document shall be considered legal advice. Licensed Retailers are solely responsible for complete and accurate record keeping as required in §15047.2. This recommended protocol serves as an addition to any pre-existing SOPs that a Retailer utilizes for Sales. License Retailers are solely responsible for reporting any inventory discrepancies as required in §15034.  Hall of Flowers is not responsible for a Retail Licensee’s Track and Trace reporting. Please contact your compliance/legal parties for more information on your specific matters.