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In Episode 7 of the Legacies Podcast, hosts Tom Ritchie and Wes Bowles welcome Lisa Bigioni, Co-Founder and CEO of Stok’d Cannabis. Lisa shares her journey of winning one of Ontario’s highly coveted, early retail lottery slots in 2019, including the high-stakes scramble to secure brick-and-mortar leases within strict provincial deadlines. She explains the branding strategy behind Stok’d, which features a cozy, cabin-style Canadiana theme that stands out from clinical competitors. Lisa breaks down their award-winning and controversial “Next to Stok’d” campaign with agency Angry Butterfly—where they advertised neighboring businesses to indirectly drive store foot traffic—and the resulting Health Canada compliance warning. The hosts also bring in Owen Allerton of Highland Cannabis for a deep dive into the industry-wide debate surrounding “dodgy data deals” and their negative impact on independent retail margins.
Tom Ritchie Says: What’s up, everyone? Check out what’s coming up this week on Legacies: “Hashtag fuck Instagram! Let’s make that our number one pick and choose.”
Tom Ritchie Says: Hey, what’s going on, everyone? Welcome to Legacies. I’m your host, Tom Ritchie. Joining me is co-host and executive producer, Mr. Wesley “The Wizard” Bowles. Wes, morning! How are you doing today?
Wes Bowles Says: Morning! Good. Today is a bit scattered—we’ve got the boys in the studio today.
Tom Ritchie Says: The boys? The troublemakers?
Wes Bowles Says: The troublemakers! Gordy and Randall are in studio, so we’ll do our best to make sure their background chatter is kept to a minimum.
Tom Ritchie Says: Dude, I need a haircut like that one!
Wes Bowles Says: I was in desperate need—high and tight! That’s what we like to call it. My hair grows super quick, so I’ve got to keep it short, otherwise I’m getting it cut every single week.
Tom Ritchie Says: When I first met you, you were cut right to the bone almost, with the exception of the top! My time in corporate life, I just said fuck it, I’m letting it grow. Lauren, my daughter, is a hairstylist, so she fits me in every once in a while. But with summer coming, it’s time to take it off.
Tom Ritchie Says: We’ve got two new brand partners on thehighflyer.ca: welcoming Lake of the Woods Bud Company (shout out to Julie and Josh!) and our very own BC partners, Victoria Cannabis Company (VCC). It’s great getting licensed brand swag out there, but more importantly, High Flyer is an SEO powerhouse helping these craft brands build true digital presence and traffic.
Wes Bowles Says: We’re at 16 or 17 brand partners live now, with a couple more exciting ones in the pipeline that we’ll keep under wraps for now!
Tom Ritchie Says: This week we’ve got Lisa Bigioni joining us from Stok’d Cannabis. Lisa has been in the industry a long time—she was an early Ontario lottery winner and built out incredible stores, along with a wicked creative campaign that Health Canada had some questions about. We’ll get all the details!
Tom Ritchie Says: There’s a lot of chatter surrounding this data deal bullshit this week. That’s the big industry headline, isn’t it?
Wes Bowles Says: The first real wrist slap for potentially inducing deals related to retail shelf space. A fine was handed out, and they’ll probably challenge it.
Tom Ritchie Says: We’re bringing on Owen Allerton of Highland Cannabis. We were speaking with him yesterday, and he has been the flag bearer and advocate against this. Shane Morris calls them “dodgy data deals”—or if you catch him on the right day, “fucking dodgy data deals!” Retailers want to carry great brands, and brands want distribution, but should money be paid under the table as “data” to secure shelf space? It puts independents who don’t have pay-to-play capital at a massive disadvantage.
Wes Bowles Says: It’ll be great to hear Owen break it down, because there are two opinions being pushed. One side says this shouldn’t be allowed, especially when retailers are already taxed heavily. The other side argues other retail industries do data deals. But the key point is our regulations: the Cannabis Act explicitly bans inducements at the federal level, and provincial rules strictly prohibit kickbacks for shelf placement.
Tom Ritchie Says: Let’s talk about our exodus from “Fuckerberg’s” Meta! I love “Fuckerberg”—I’m going to use it forever. We’ve constantly gotten in trouble on Instagram with the High Flyer account. We promote brands to build awareness, not induce, but Instagram hates cannabis. It’s their playground, so we’re taking our toys to a new home: X, formerly Twitter.
Wes Bowles Says: It really comes down to censorship. Meta and the other social giants are American companies where cannabis is federally illegal. But they operate in countries like Canada where cannabis is legal and federally regulated. Their community guidelines should reflect that! Brands should be able to market themselves without living in constant fear of being silenced. On X, free expression is taken seriously. You take the good with the bad, but you don’t have to worry about your brand being deleted overnight.
Tom Ritchie Says: What pisses me off most is Instagram lets brands grind until they hit 3,000, 4,000, or 5,000 followers—which is huge in Canadian cannabis—and then suddenly pulls the plug without rhyme or reason! Meanwhile, giants like Weedmaps and Leafly seem completely immune. Canadian cannabis brands need to spin up on X. Tell Elon Musk it’s a safe haven for legal cannabis.
Wes Bowles Says: We’re making X our primary social platform for a bit. It’s great because we can now post full video episodes of Legacies directly on X. In addition to YouTube, we’re diversifying across multiple channels so no single algorithm can shut us down. Hashtag #FuckInstagram!
Tom Ritchie Says: Guess what, friends? It’s almost t-shirt season! Head over to thehighflyer.ca and check out licensed cannabis brand swag from Odo, Victoria Cannabis Company, Smoker Farms, Royal Harvest, and more coming every single week. Suns out, guns out!
Tom Ritchie Says: Welcome, Owen Allerton of Highland Cannabis! Thank you so much for joining us. We wanted to bring you on because you live this day in and day out. First, Owen, break down for us: what actually is a data deal?
Owen Allerton Says: Technically, a real data deal is a retailer selling sales insights back to licensed producers. Why is that necessary? In Ontario, producers sell into the OCS, and the OCS sells to retailers. Producers fly blind—they don’t know which stores carry their products, who is reordering, or how well SKUs are performing. There is a legitimate need for sales data. But in our industry, the OCS sits as a black box.
Owen Allerton Says: At legalization, there were strict anti-inducement rules designed to protect consumer choice and prevent large corporate players with deep pockets from steamrolling independent startups. Everyone had to buy through the OCS at the exact same wholesale price—no bulk volume discounts. That was the promise made to 1,900 independent retail entrants.
Owen Allerton Says: A couple of years in, the AGCO amended regulations to insert an exception allowing the sale of “data insights.” Corporate chains and ex-alcohol CPG reps seized on this loophole. They set up verbal agreements telling producers: “If you want shelf space in our 50 or 100 stores, you have to buy our data.” They invoiced it as “Data,” but it was nothing more than an illegal pay-to-play inducement. In the bankruptcy filings for Wagner’s and Tricon, they owed over $800,000 to retail chains under these agreements!
Owen Allerton Says: Chains took those millions in kickbacks to engage in predatory pricing, discounting products 20% to 25% below independent retailers. In Huntsville, Ontario, eight independent stores were thriving. A corporate discount chain opened up, slashed prices using data kickback subsidies, cut sales at independent stores by 50%, and forced multiple independent shops to close. That’s not efficiency—it’s illegal inducement subsidizing predatory pricing.
Wes Bowles Says: Owen, quick question for you: Cannabis Express was the first retailer penalized with a fine and license suspension notice by the AGCO. Why do you think the AGCO went after them first rather than one of the massive corporate chains where we know this is widespread?
Owen Allerton Says: When we launched our Cancel Kickbacks campaign, we gathered 500 signatures and almost 200 stores. The AGCO assigned a lead investigator, Troy Moffitt—a fantastic guy who spent hours on the road interviewing owners and reviewing over 80,000 documents. Cannabis Express was reportedly very blatant about demanding payments for shelf access, making it an airtight, clear-cut case. Troy told me this is just the first of many; they have a small team, but they are systematically working through the files to send a clear message that enforcement is real.
Tom Ritchie Says: If independent retailers get squeezed out, craft producers lose their only real champions, because corporate chains only push what pays them under the table. What can indie retailers and producers do right now?
Owen Allerton Says: Independent retailers need to leverage the OCS flow-through program. The OCS expanded flow-through up to 5,000 SKUs, allowing indies to carry elite craft flower that corporate chains won’t touch. We’ve built a list of producers who refuse to pay kickbacks so we can support them. And if you’re a producer being extorted for data fees, reach out to Troy at the AGCO or the Competition Bureau. Stand up, support independent retail, and do the right thing!
Tom Ritchie Says: Owen, thank you so much for your leadership and for joining Legacies!
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Tom Ritchie Says: When we conceptualized High Flyer, we drew inspiration from Houseplant—Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg’s brand. Seth got into pottery and ceramics, designing high-end tabletop ashtrays, lanterns, and match holders with a warm retro feel.
Tom Ritchie Says: But what frustrates me is that Houseplant wares still do not ship to Canada! Seth parted ways with Canopy Growth in 2021, and Canadians keep asking on social media when Houseplant is returning home. I still have an old Houseplant Sativa tin with a Boveda pack! Seth, you’re a Vancouver-born Canadian legend—it’s time to bring Houseplant back to Canada. Hit us up at High Flyer; we’ll even connect you with elite craft growers.
Wes Bowles Says: Some of those Houseplant tabletop ashtrays are unreal! People complain about the price, but high-end design pieces are meant to be centerpieces for your living room when you’re smoking with friends.
Tom Ritchie Says: Welcome back, everyone! We are joined by Lisa Bigioni of Stok’d Cannabis. Lisa, did I pronounce your last name right?
Lisa Bigioni Says: You nailed it! Thanks for having me on, guys. I’m super excited!
Tom Ritchie Says: How was your family trip to Florida?
Lisa Bigioni Says: Florida was wonderful! It’s so nice to recharge with family. We’re fortunate at Stok’d to have Francesco Caruso as our Director of Retail running operations so smoothly while we’re away.
Tom Ritchie Says: Let’s go all the way back to the beginning. When did your cannabis journey start?
Lisa Bigioni Says: I smoked my first joint around age 12 or 13! I was babysitting with a friend, and we snuck a piece of hash from the dad’s stash box. We put the kids to bed, went outside, and rolled a hash joint—though we didn’t even crumble the hash properly, so we barely felt it! [laughs]
Lisa Bigioni Says: We went back inside to the rec room, found a copy of the Kama Sutra on their bookshelf, and started giggling hysterically until we completely passed out—me on the couch, her in the La-Z-Boy! The dad came home, found us passed out cold with the Kama Sutra wide open on the coffee table, and stood in the doorway shouting my name until I woke up! I’ve been a regular consumer ever since, while working 15 years in corporate sales and marketing at IBM and Lenovo, and later at U of T’s Rotman School of Management.
Tom Ritchie Says: In early 2019, Ontario scrapped plans for government-run cannabis stores and announced the 25-license retail lottery. How did you get involved?
Lisa Bigioni Says: My brother was working at Canopy Growth and told us about the lottery over Christmas dinner. A bunch of us in the family applied, checking all regions. On a Friday night while watching a movie with my husband Brian, my phone buzzed with an email from the AGCO: out of 17,000 applications, I had won one of only seven licenses for Ontario West!
Lisa Bigioni Says: That week was pure pandemonium. Retailers, consultants, and financiers were blowing up my phone at 3:00 AM with buyout offers. We had to secure a letter of credit within days and find a signed commercial lease when landlords were refusing cannabis tenants. We partnered with Choom, who provided capital and buildout support. We opened our Niagara Falls store on June 15, 2019—one of the greatest days of my life. On April 2, 2020—literally the day before provincial COVID retail lockdowns began—we finalized the sale of that store to Choom so we could launch our own brand: Stok’d!
Tom Ritchie Says: Walk us through establishing Stok’d in Scarborough.
Lisa Bigioni Says: I’m a Scarborough girl born and raised! We opened our first location at Pharmacy & St. Clair. For our second store on Kingston Road in Cliffside, multiple plaza landlords refused to lease to cannabis. So we bought the entire commercial building outright from an elderly owner, dealt with an illegal residential tenant upstairs, gutted the building, and rebuilt it from scratch!
Wes Bowles Says: I’ve been to the Niagara Falls store on Stanley Avenue—it is gorgeous! The indoor fire pit, the real canoes hanging from the ceiling, and that authentic Northern Ontario cottage camping vibe is incredible.
Lisa Bigioni Says: Thank you! All our stores feature that cozy Canadiana campfire aesthetic, making it welcoming and comfortable for everyday customers.
Tom Ritchie Says: How did the franchise expansion come together?
Lisa Bigioni Says: A former client of mine from my IBM days visited our first store and loved the polished, non-stigma design. He insisted on opening a Stok’d franchise. We executed a cluster strategy with three stores located within ten minutes of each other in South Scarborough, creating heavy local brand recognition that makes us feel like a larger chain while remaining independent.
Wes Bowles Says: Currently you have Niagara Falls and the three Scarborough stores—any plans to expand out toward London?
Lisa Bigioni Says: We’re working on another location or two, but London might be in the cards down the road!
Tom Ritchie Says: Tell us about the marketing campaign you developed with Brant Choi and Angry Butterfly!
Lisa Bigioni Says: Because the Cannabis Act strictly restricts cannabis marketing, and platforms like Meta ban cannabis accounts, Angry Butterfly came up with an ingenious idea: we funded ads for our neighboring small businesses—Cliffside Village Books, a local nail salon, an electrician, and a sub shop—featuring cheeky references and highlighting that they were located “Next to Stok’d Cannabis”!
Lisa Bigioni Says: The campaign ran on social media without getting flagged because the ads were technically promoting bookstores and nail salons! It won multiple Clio Awards. But when Angry Butterfly released a promotional case study video on LinkedIn highlighting how the campaign skirted regulations, Health Canada sent a multi-page compliance letter. Our neighboring businesses had to take down their posts, and I took full responsibility with Health Canada to protect our partners.
Tom Ritchie Says: It proves that creativity within the legal framework can break through, even when regulatory boundaries are rigid.
Lisa Bigioni Says: Two doors down from our Cliffside store, an illegal unlicensed dispensary operates with giant 6×4-foot sidewalk signs advertising $3 pre-rolls and $2 grams, staying open past midnight! Legal stores must adhere to strict 9:00 AM to 11:00 PM operating hours, official window seals, and excise stamps. Consumers often don’t understand the difference, which makes continuous consumer education vital.
Tom Ritchie Says: If consumers are buying from illicit storefronts, they’re undermining the legal craft community. Legal retailers follow strict safety and testing protocols, and supporting licensed stores is how this industry survives.
Tom Ritchie Says: What is Stok’d’s stance on retail data programs?
Lisa Bigioni Says: We are part of the United Retailers of Cannabis (URC), which legitimately pools data for independent retailers. But we will never compromise our menu for kickbacks. If a product is on the URC list and we like it, great—but we will never take shelf fees from corporate LPs to push subpar flower. Our menu decisions are driven strictly by quality and customer demand.
Wes Bowles Says: Legitimate organizations like URC and Canna Collective provide valuable aggregated insights, whereas sketchy data deals just undercut the entire retail ecosystem.
Tom Ritchie Says: Last week, Gavin Delainey from Next Friday left an anonymous question for you without knowing who you were. Wes, roll that clip!
Wes Bowles Says: Playing the clip right now!
Gavin Delainey Says: In an industry facing intense market compression, financial hurdles, and competitors cutting corners to produce the cheapest product possible, what keeps you motivated every day, and what gives you faith that staying true to quality is worth it?
Lisa Bigioni Says: What keeps me positive every single day is our customers. Hearing how cannabis has helped their sleep, pain, or anxiety, and seeing their excitement to buy legally, makes every regulatory headache completely worth it.
Tom Ritchie Says: I need to come work at Stok’d for a day—like Mike Rowe’s Dirty Jobs! Put me in an apron and let me budtend!
Wes Bowles Says: We just can’t post the video on LinkedIn, that’s the only thing! [laughs]
Tom Ritchie Says: Lisa, now it’s your turn to pose an anonymous question for next week’s guest!
Lisa Bigioni Says: Inspired by my babysitting story: “What was your very first cannabis consumption experience?”
Tom Ritchie Says: I know who the next guest is, and that is going to be an unbelievable answer!
Tom Ritchie Says: We’re doing a giveaway for an awesome Stok’d hoodie! Wes, what are the details?
Wes Bowles Says: Head over to X (Twitter)—follow @LegaciesPodcast and @StokdCannabis, like, and repost the clip to enter. I have one of these sweaters myself and they are super comfortable and high quality!
Tom Ritchie Says: Lisa, thank you so much for joining us! You’re an absolute legend in Canadian retail. Keep crushing it with Stok’d!
Lisa Bigioni Says: Thank you so much, Tom and Wes! This was so much fun.
Tom Ritchie Says: Don’t forget to check out thehighflyer.ca for licensed brand gear, subscribe on YouTube and Spotify, and follow us on X. Have a great week, everyone!
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Founder
Lisa Bigioni founded Stok'd Cannabis after winning Ontario's dispensary license lottery, building a multi-location retail chain known for creative marketing campaigns and a focus on retail experience.
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Retail Dispensary Chain
<div class="brandpage"> <!-- MODULE 0 — breadcrumb --> <nav class="bp-crumbs" aria-label="Breadcrumb"> <a href="/">Home</a><span>›</span><a href="/brands/">Brands</a><span>›</span>Stok'd Cannabis ...
Learn More About Partner ↗Ontario initially allocated private retail cannabis licenses through a lottery system, limiting the number of stores. Lisa Bigioni of Stok'd Cannabis was among the early winners, using the opportunity to build a multi-location retail chain.
Stok'd Cannabis is an Ontario-based dispensary chain founded by Lisa Bigioni, known for creative marketing campaigns produced in partnership with Angry Butterfly ad agency and a focus on retail experience and community engagement.
