This month, California Leaf is traveling to Oakland to recognize a budtender who believes the best way to serve their customers is by getting to know them better and sharing experiences.
From an early age, Tyler Baker said he was interested in Cannabis as medicine, but being in the South, talking about treating something with weed was heavily frowned upon.
“Growing up, I struggled with a multitude of mental health issues,” he said. “My brain felt cluttered, and I was easily overwhelmed. Mary Jane helped create fresh perspectives, mold new outlooks and brought past difficulties to light with new intention.”
Upon moving to California, he was exposed to a new world and witnessed firsthand how weed went from underground counterculture to medical product and now adult-use. Still, Baker said it hasn’t changed the way he fundamentally thinks about Cannabis.
“I’ve always seen it as a true medicine. I felt dispensaries were essential businesses long before COVID brought the title,” he told the Leaf.
After working at a few different shops in the Bay, he found his home at Root’d in the 510, where he’s worked for the last four years. Baker loves Root’d because “it’s a neighborhood shop,” giving him the chance to cultivate relationships with customers and create opportunities to learn what they did or didn’t like. It’s the kind of give-and-take you have with your local butcher or bottle shop, trading suggestions and learning more from each other.
Baker said when he goes out, he often sees people who have come by Root’d to ask him for the perfect item for their occasion. Manager Infini Ford said she’s even seen people say that they’ll come back later when they stop by while he’s out on lunch.
Making informed suggestions is something Baker said comes down to listening to your local shoppers and finding answers for them if you don’t have one. “I’ll often ask simple questions like, ‘What are you going to do when you enjoy this product?’” he said.
He shared that his advice for new budtenders is to find the answer, not be the answer. “You have to let go of your ego,” Baker said. “If you haven’t tried something they’re asking about, find someone who has.”
He pointed out that by joining in that learning moment, you strengthen yourself as a budtender and discover things you might want to delve into more.
“I learned that I want to have personal experiences with every brand, every strain. I feel like personal experience is what helps me guide the customer to what I know they’ll really like,” he said.
With such a “Pokemon”-like approach to the weed game, the Leaf asked Baker what strain he smokes the most. He shouted out a couple of go-tos — including Emerald Bay Extracts, Snowtil, Rosin Tech and Smoken’ Promises — but said, “I feel like I’m never smoking the same thing. It’s rare I grab the same thing twice. … It keeps my tolerance on its toes.”
