No matter how hard we try, it is always a mad dash to get the Dispensary Application submission on time. This article will discuss how to address some of the time-consuming items to streamline your submission. If you are looking for Illinois Cannabis Dispensary Consultants to simply do the entire project for you, please feel free to reach out at info@quantum9.net.
The mad dash on January 2nd, 2020 for the Illinois Adult-Use Cannabis Dispensary License submission presents a stark difference than the Craft Grower and Infuser round during the COV-19, coronavirus, pandemic. As of today, April 10th, 2020, the submission deadline has now been pushed back twice (deadline for submission is now April 30th).
The second round of Dispensary licenses allows for 110 licenses instead of the 75 available in the first round. The state’s timeline indicated licenses should be awarded for the first round no later than May 2020.
Deadline Projection
Since the craft grower, transport, and infuser license submissions have been delayed due to COV-19, Quantum 9 projects that the Dispensary round 2 submission will also be delayed.
For a step by step guide on maximizing your point total for new dispensing organizations, please check out this article written by the expert Illinois Cannabis Dispensary Consultants at Quantum 9 – article.
Most Important Links
Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Services Cannabis website found: here
Here is a link to the Illinois Cannabis Dispensary Application: Here (Updated October 11, 2019) this link is no longer on the IDFPR Website – the Illinois Cannabis Dispensary Consultants have the link from the first round. The application will be the exact same.
Here is a link to the form each Principal Officer needs to fill out: Here
Rules and Regulations: Here
BLS Region Map: Here
Map of Disproportionately Impacted Areas: Here
FAQs: Here
Biggest Lessons Learned in Cannabis
1. Review the Questions and Answers
Many of the Quantum 9 Illinois Cannabis Dispensary Consultants gained incredible insight from the first and second round of questions and answers.
2. Team Recruitment
Unless you have a veteran social equity applicant, you will lose points right off the bat. The expert cannabis dispensary consultants at Quantum 9 suggest working on this piece first since it will drastically affect the capitalization table. If you raise money first and solidify the equity percentages, you will lose 55 points from not submitting as a social equity applicant that has veteran status. To obtain veteran status, you need 51% of the owners to provide their DD Form 214 discharge forms from the military branch they served in. To qualify as a social equity applicant, please review this IDFPR website – here.
Principal Officers need to be VERY strong; someone with a decade of running a dispensary should be your CEO or COO. Just because this is your idea doesn’t make you the ideal CEO, you can definitely become this role later, but you are trying to win a license here.
If you intend to use Illinois Cannabis Dispensary Consultants in Illinois, make sure you get this information to them early, it is an incredible amount of work to finish these projects.
3. Principal Officer Forms
Although the narrative sections are the bulk of the points, the most significant area applicants and dispensary consultants spend their time was the Principal Officer Forms. Who needs to fill this out on your team? This needs to be filled out by everyone except advisors. The state defines a Principal Officer as board members, owners with more than 1% ownership, more than 5% of a publicly-traded company, any active position held by anyone, anyone with authority, and any debtors. Make sure that every contract that is signed by this individual is included in this section. The Illinois Cannabis Dispensary Consultants at Quantum 9 recommend obtaining an active supplier agreement with a current cultivation company to buy products from. We suggest having a professional employment attorney draft employment agreements or letters of intents with each critical position, especially the Social Equity Applicant.
The section requires a three-page resume – make sure you use all the pages, you will need to create a redacted resume for Exhibit N, but the unredacted resumes with names, company names need to go in the Principal Officer Form. Depending on how much time you have to submit, we suggest creating the unredacted resumes unless the PO is very strong.
Add all the letters of recommendation to the principal officer exhibit and make sure you lead with your best team members first.
4. Table of Organization and Control – Addendum B of the Principal Officer Forms
Make sure you use the state provided Table of Organization found – Here.
The Illinois Cannabis Dispensary Consultants at Quantum 9 suggest using the state provided Table of Organization and Control on the first page then a more graphical organization chart. Graphical organizational charts can be found at Canva – Here or use a free one in Word, Excel or PowerPoint – Here.
5. Fingerprinting
Get your fingerprints within 30 days at a certified livescan vendor location. Illinois Cannabis Dispensary Consultants at Quantum 9 suggest to make sure you get all of the Principal Officers fingerprinted early to avoid the mad dash towards the end of the submission window, many applicants will try to finish this task very late in the game. Make sure you save the livescan receipt, it is required to submit with the application.
Livescan Locations
Livescan locations in Illinois – Here
Fingerprinting Instructions
In-state fingerprint instructions are located on the Principal Officer Forms. Here (Page 2)
Here are the out of state fingerprinting instructions – Here
6. Flash Drives
At first, the task of migrating your content to a flash drive seems simple, but the difficulty lies in the size of the flash drive to allow for the entire company name and the BLS District you are intending to submit in to be placed on the flash drive. The expert Illinois Cannabis Dispensary Consultants at Quantum 9 suggest that you print the name and the BLS District on a 1-inch by .5-inch area, then tape it to the flash drive. Make sure that the tape doesn’t prevent the grader from sliding the flash drive exposing the connection point into the computer.
7. Cahiers Check
Make sure you make a copy of the Cashiers Check to be included with the manila envelope.
8. Handing in the Manila Folder
When the applications are collected in their 9″ x 12″ clasped, but not sealed, manila envelopes, the applicant usually drops off the application in person to:
Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation
Cannabis Control Section
100 W. Randolph – 9th Floor Chicago, Illinois 60601
The outside of the envelope must include the following:
(1) the name of the applicant;
(2) the name of the BLS Region in which the applicant is applying; (Names of BLS Regions found – Here
(3) the number of licenses the applicant is applying for in the listed BLS Region;
(4) the name of the applicant’s primary and alternate contact;
(5) a phone number for the primary and alternate contact; and
(6) an e-mail address for the primary and alternate contact.
The following items must be inside the envelope:
(1) the completed Application Form;
(2) the cashier’s check or money order for the application fee;
(3) a photocopy of the cashier’s check or money order; and
(4) a USB drive that has affixed to it a label that includes the applicant’s name and the BLS Region in which the Applicant is applying. Applications for separate BLS Regions must be submitted in separate envelopes.
Since the outbreak of the coronavirus, applications are now being mailed in. While the submission process has been altered, the competition remains. Thus, engage a Quantum 9 consultant now to ensure that you’re submitting an application that will win you a license.
