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Yahoo
5 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
How a CFO-built cannabis dispensary is expanding in New York City
This story was originally published on To receive daily news and insights, subscribe to our free daily newsletter. New York's legal cannabis market has faced a turbulent rollout with slow licensing, proximity disputes and the persistent presence of illegal operators. This has created a significant challenge for compliant cannabis businesses, particularly in New York City. Amid the uncertainty, leaders at The Travel Agency, a luxury-style cannabis dispensary with four locations across Manhattan and Brooklyn, say the brand has emerged as one of the few operators navigating the market successfully. Marketed as a sophisticated, franchise-quality retail experience, The Travel Agency focuses on compliance, branding and strong supplier relationships to stand out in a crowded and complicated landscape. Its stores are designed to appeal to consumers seeking a premium experience in a market still working to distinguish legal operators from unlicensed ones. In an interview with Roy Cysner, CFO of The Travel Agency, shares how he's applying lessons from his career in public accounting and fast-growing retail companies like Warby Parker and Camp to the cannabis sector. He discusses Section 280E and technology challenges, the origins of this CFO-built business, supply chain management with local growers and multi-state operators and why building adaptable processes is critical to scaling a legal cannabis business in New York City. Roy Cysner CFO, The Travel Agency Notable previous employers: Warby Parker Camp Gympass BuzzFeed Deloitte This interview has been edited for brevity and clarity. ROY CYSNER: My goal in finance is to create an organization that supports the rest of the business, not slows it down. We need to put processes in place so we can have complete, accurate and reliable data for the rest of the company. Only once we do that can we be comfortable using that data to budget, forecast, analyze and make strategic decisions at the highest level. 280E is a very big topic for us, and for me personally. I'm staying on top of it and updating the leadership team. Broadly, investors are always asking, 'What's happening with 280E? How is it affecting us?' There are a lot of nuances in this business. We're still in a world where many service providers just don't want to do business with us because it's easier for them not to. Sure, there are banks that work with us, and those are our partners. There are point-of-sale solutions, ERP solutions and AP solutions, but 90% of providers won't touch us. That's part of the unique challenge we're dealing with. We have what we think are the best solutions and processes for our business, but we can't just pick from the entire market like other companies can. We spend a lot of time taking what's available and shaping it the best we can to fit our business. 'Most payroll companies will not do business with us. We're using a current solution that isn't a seamless fit, but we don't know where else to go.' Roy Cysner CFO, The Travel Agency And one thing from my background that carries into cannabis is that there's no one-size-fits-all solution. I've been a CFO in multiple roles, and you walk in and someone says, 'What solutions did you use at your previous company? We should do that.' But it's not that easy. Even if the business looks similar, the right answer is often different internally. We do our best with what we have to figure it out. If it doesn't work, I'll dismantle it and rebuild it, and keep doing that as we scale and grow, to make sure finance can support the business in the best way. On average, our tech costs are actually lower because my approach has generally been to keep it simple. We're operating in the New York retail cannabis market. In the scheme of businesses, we're still fairly small. In my previous roles, we spent a lot more money because we could. We could use large ERP providers such as NetSuite and other more advanced solutions. That made sense there. We can't do that now. Right now, we're on QuickBooks, and I plan to stay on QuickBooks because I'm not going to force our systems into a solution that isn't the best fit. I don't know if the right answer would be NetSuite or something else, but our options are limited. When we look for solutions, it's usually [just] three options. Payroll is a perfect example. Nobody thinks about payroll — everyone just assumes people get paid and it's simple. But we have a payroll person who spends a lot of time making sure people are paid correctly, especially with hourly workers. Most payroll companies will not do business with us. We're using a current solution that isn't a seamless fit, but we don't know where else to go. That's the reality of our technology outlook; our market of available technology is much smaller, so we stick to simple, reliable tools and adapt them as best we can. I actually came into this job pretty randomly. I was working at Warby Parker when I got a call: 'We have a role in a cannabis company.' It seemed unusual, but it was a new and interesting industry. I connected with [CEO Paul Yau], and we got along very well. We talked about his background as a CFO. We also have another founder, Adam Semler, who is a former CFO as well. I see it as a good thing. My background includes working with founder CEOs, all brilliant in their own ways, but often very creative and emotional types. That can be challenging from a financial perspective. Many times, those leaders, as brilliant as they are, don't want to hear what the numbers are saying, what's working and what's not. They see the business visually, and they don't want to compromise the vision. There's always a balance there. "After we open a store, the pace of growth isn't great because awareness is hard to build. We have to spend far more than a typical retail business would just to get people in the door." Roy Cysner CFO, The Travel Agency In this case, I have someone who speaks my language. The nice part about Paul is that his background is more banking. I've had exposure to that later in my career, though it wasn't my starting point in finance. It creates a good balance. Paul trusts me and gives me the freedom to run finance independently. He also understands what's going on without needing a lot of charts or schedules for me to show what's working and what's not. And that makes the relationship work very well. New York is a unique market right now. Dispensaries operate independently, but we're not vertically integrated, and all of our growers are in-state. That's the landscape we're working in. We are probably one of the biggest—if not the biggest—purchasers of cannabis in New York state, and we maintain very close relationships with all of our growers. Some of our partners are multi-state operators that now have grow houses in New York. They don't have retail space to sell, and we interact with them the same way we would with any other one of our brands. We also take pride in promoting the smaller growers. To the extent that there are women-owned growers and growers owned by people of color, that will always be important to us. We've talked about that from the start. But as larger MSOs enter the market—Curaleaf and others—they will have a lot of supply that we need. In many cases, the smaller growers run out of product, and we're selling through a ton of inventory. Those larger players are, and will continue to be, an important part of our growth. In this region, we'll rely on them as key partners to keep our stores stocked and support our expansion. Advertising restrictions are one of the biggest ongoing challenges in New York's cannabis rollout, and we're experiencing them again with our Soho store. You can't buy a billboard. No public transportation. No outdoor advertising anywhere that someone under 21 could see, which is almost everywhere. These rules significantly limit our ability to market and run campaigns in a normal way, and they really affect our growth. After we open a store, the pace of growth isn't great because awareness is hard to build. We have to spend far more than a typical retail business would just to get people in the door. Finding a normal, effective way to get a solid return on ad spend through the limited available channels is extremely difficult. Recommended Reading The regulatory and tax challenges of cannabis in 2025 Sign in to access your portfolio
Time Out
08-05-2025
- Time Out
See inside The Travel Agency's trippy new dispensary in Soho
The Travel Agency has been one of our favorite dispensaries in the New York since it debuted in 2023—partially, because shopping at one of its locations can feel like stepping into a museum, and its expertly-curated inventory of cannabis and lifestyle products is second to none. If you're a newbie, don't worry—it has expert "budtenders" willing to help you sort through the weeds. Now, in addition to its much-loved locations across Union Square, Downtown Brooklyn and Fifth Avenue, the Travel Agency just opened a new store at 598 Broadway in the heart of Soho, and it's giving pure psychedelic vibes. The newest Travel Agency pays homage to downtown artists and design by blending sculptural art, trippy architecture and functional cannabis pieces in a deeply immersive store. This particular location was designed in collaboration with several creative studios, including Leong Leong Architecture, which created the store's minimalist architecture; Big Heavy Studios, which made custom fabrications to display the store's products as if they were art in a gallery; and Breakfast Studio, which installed a kinetic data-driven art installation by artist Andrew Zolty. The new store also includes a curated bong gallery featuring water pipes crafted by Milan-based artist Serena Confalonieri and Mexican sculptor Juan Manuel Carmona. Here's a sneak peek inside the new store. "As part of our mission to create retail experiences worth sightseeing, The Travel Agency has expanded to SoHo, one of New York's most iconic cultural destinations," says Arana Hankin-Biggers, one of the founders of The Travel Agency. "Long associated with boundary-pushing artists like Keith Haring and Jean-Michel Basquiat, the neighborhood's creative legacy serves as key inspiration for the brand's newest location."
Black America Web
22-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Black America Web
The High Life: Carmelo Anthony Debuts New Cannabis Brand ‘STAYME70' At The Travel Agency's Fifth Avenue Store
Black America Web Featured Video CLOSE Source: Michael Simon / Getty Last week (April 17th), The Travel Agency, New York's premier cannabis destination, teamed up with 10-time NBA All-Star Carmelo Anthony to celebrate his debut cannabis brand, STAYME70. In celebration of the launch and the 4/20 holiday, Anthony made a public appearance at The Travel Agency's Fifth Avenue location to meet fans and debut his newest venture. While at The Travel Agency, the New York Knicks legend met fans, who gained VIP access – including autographs and photo ops – through purchasing the debut collection, while enjoying The Travel Agency's fan-favorite DJ series Airwaves. 'It's a legendary moment in cannabis history to welcome Hall of Famer and New York icon Carmelo Anthony to The Travel Agency,' says Paul Yau, CEO and co-founder of The Travel Agency. 'As the first adult-use dispensary on Fifth Avenue, we've always aimed to set the standard, and this moment not only celebrates Melo's entry into New York cannabis, but also cements New York's place as a global leader in the industry.' STAYME70, pronounced 'Stay Melo,' was made in partnership with renowned cannabis entrepreneur Jesce Horton and award-winning creative director Brandon Drew Jordan Pierce ('Beedy'). The partnership between STAYME70 is a natural extension for both brands, with both carrying core missions of bringing social equity into the cannabis industry, prioritizing working with BIPOC-owned businesses, and reinforcing the commitment to social justice and economic empowerment. Carmelo's visit drew hundreds fans to The Travel Agency's Fifth Avenue dispensary. The event was part of The Travel Agency's 'High Neighbor' series –a 4/20 celebration reimagining suburban nostalgia through a week of immersive, neighborhood-driven cannabis experiences. The Travel Agency is proud to partner with the New York legend, and welcome STAYME70 across all three of its NYC locations. This partnership marks the beginning of a larger mission — rooted in dismantling stigmas, championing equity, and bringing creativity, joy, and culture into the cannabis industry. Congrats to Carmelo Anthony! Check out some photos from the event below! The High Life: Carmelo Anthony Debuts New Cannabis Brand 'STAYME70' At The Travel Agency's Fifth Avenue Store was originally published on Source:Getty Source:Getty Source:Getty Source:Getty Source:Getty Source:Getty Source:Getty Source:Getty Source:Getty Source:Getty Source:Getty Source:Getty Source:Getty
