In recent news, Colorado company, Unique Pizza & Subs announced their plan to add a Marijuana pizza to their menu. They plan on developing a pizza with a cannabis-infused sauce. The special pizza would be sold at adult bars and night clubs throughout the state. The company believes that the pizza will go over well due to the increasing demand and legalization of marijuana in Colorado. In light of the legalization of marijuana in several states and as we are beginning to see pizzerias adding marijuana to their menus, I wonder, what will the addition of marijuana do for sales?
Marijuana sales have already resulted in a general increase of income. For example, Carbondale, Colorado has seen a spike in shoppers and tourists since retail marijuana sales began this year. Not surprisingly there has been an influx of tourists from neighboring states as well. The local businesses on Main Street in Carbondale all saw an increase in customers starting on January 15th, the day that local business the Doctor’s Garden began selling recreational marijuana. Cody Lee, an employee of the Carbondale Food Co-op which is nearby the Doctor’s Garden told Forbes, “It seemed a lot more like a summer crowd with all the people trickling in,” Lee said. “We sold lots of snacks and drinks in that time. I also noticed a lot more out-of-towners coming into the co-op.”
Peppino’s Pizza owner Carol Bruno also noticed new faces in her restaurant. Bruno noted “What was kind of surprising was how normal the people were that were coming to Carbondale to buy marijuana. It wasn’t the ‘stoner’ crowd I expected, but an older, normal clientele.”
The Carbondale Chamber of Commerce has been lit up with calls about where to purchase marijuana. The executive director of the Chamber said she has seen a definite increase in visitor information requests directly related to retail marijuana. Stewart also added that she was surprised in the demographics of the people calling her – they were not the younger crowd she expected, but more of a 50-plus age group.
Another local business employee, Montana Miller of Bonfire Coffee, stated “Bringing in people from outside of Carbondale can only help business,” Miller said. “The Doctor’s Garden brought in a significant amount of people that haven’t been here before. I heard a few say they were coming back for sure and that’s very cool.”
A Forbes article from March of this year states that Colorado has already pulled in millions of dollars in tax revenue from marijuana sales. In fact “Colorado pulled in $2 million in taxes related to the sale of recreational marijuana…in January 2014 alone. Combined with taxes on sales from medicinal marijuana, the state pulled in nearly $3.5 million in pot-related tax revenue” The article goes on to point out that at that rate the state could end up with over $40 million in additional tax dollars in 2014. That’s not chump change!
With these figures alone it would seem safe to conclude that marijuana does indeed help sales. As the pizza industry is synonymous with marijuana usage I think it is safe to assume that combining pizza with marijuana is a profitable idea.