TAKE OFF CANNABIS / CUSTOMER STORY
Take Off grew transactions by 31.5%.
A website that looked like their brand. More pickup and delivery orders. Less time spent planning routes. How one independent store made its online business work harder.
Figures reported by co-owner Bret Unger in a year-over-year comparison after switching to Breadstack. About these results
01 / THE RETAILER
An independent store built to stand out.
Take Off Cannabis opened in Thorold, Ontario, just outside St. Catharines. Co-owner Bret Unger brought seven years of jewellery-retail experience to the business, along with a clear understanding that a good store needs more than products on a shelf.
At the time of the interview, Take Off was a single-store operation with a broad selection, knowledgeable staff, and strong community support. Bret described customers ordering from across the area, even when other dispensaries offering delivery were closer to them.
The business served both value-conscious shoppers and customers looking for something distinctive. Its selection of 3.5-gram flower alone could exceed 100 options. Competitive pricing mattered, but so did curation, advice, and the convenience of buying from a store customers already trusted.
That loyalty gave Take Off a foundation to build on. Bret wanted the website to reflect the same identity and help the store grow beyond the limits of a familiar embedded menu.
A store with a personality of its own.
STORE PHOTOS
02 / THE CHALLENGE
A strong brand, held back by a generic online experience.
Bret’s first reason for considering Breadstack was straightforward: he wanted Take Off to look different from the shop down the street. At the same time, he needed a more efficient way to handle the work that came with online orders.
A website that looked like everyone else’s
The previous Dutchie menu offered a familiar shopping flow, but Bret felt it did not give Take Off the distinct online identity he wanted. The store had its own artwork, colours, and personality. He wanted those strengths to carry through the shopping experience.
Limited control over search visibility and customer relationships
Bret wanted a stronger foundation for SEO and a more direct connection with shoppers through Take Off’s own website. He hired an SEO specialist recommended by Breadstack to help develop that opportunity.
Manual delivery planning that consumed staff time
Planning the order of stops and keeping track of delivery kilometres were manual tasks. With a dozen deliveries spread around the area, Bret could spend about half an hour deciding which address should come first, second, and third.
Price pressure that left little room for wasted costs
Competing with larger chains made margins a constant concern. Bret wanted to grow orders while reducing avoidable work and payment-processing costs, so more of that growth could benefit the business.
03 / BRAND & ECOMMERCE
A website customers could recognize as Take Off.
Breadstack’s design team started with the brand Bret had already built. After a few questions, he shared a folder of artwork and gave the team room to bring it together. The result used Take Off’s distinctive visual identity throughout the online store.
For Bret, this was the website he had wanted from the beginning. He pointed to larger retailers whose websites each feel different and asked why cannabis stores should all look the same. The goal was a branded shopping experience that felt like his business.
Product presentation also improved. Bret said customers noticed the quality of the product images and asked who had taken them. For a store with a broad selection, clearer product presentation gave shoppers more information to help them choose.
Some returning customers needed time to adjust to the new layout. Bret acknowledged that people do not always welcome a change to a familiar routine, even when he felt the new website was easier to use. His team had to help shoppers learn the updated experience.
04 / SEO & DISCOVERY
Get found by shoppers already looking to buy.
Branding helped Take Off stand apart. SEO gave the team another way to reach shoppers searching for cannabis and delivery in the area, with more control over the content on its own website.
Bret did not present himself as an SEO expert. He hired a specialist and invested in the work. Breadstack provided the eCommerce foundation, while the specialist helped develop the site’s search visibility and category content.
The team reported a No. 1 search result for “weed delivery thorold” during the period covered by this story. For an independent store, visibility on a local, purchase-focused search put Take Off in front of shoppers who were already looking for delivery.
Take Off also reported 36% more pickup orders and 18% more delivery orders in its year-over-year comparison. Alongside search visibility, these were the outcomes that mattered to Bret: more customers choosing to order from his store.
05 / DELIVERY & FULFILLMENT
More deliveries. Less time working out the route.
Delivery was already an important part of Take Off’s customer experience. The problem was the manual work around it: lining up addresses, deciding the stop order, and keeping records afterwards.
With Breadstack Fulfillment, also known as Canfleet, the app organized the delivery sequence and gave drivers a clear next stop. Bret no longer had to rearrange a dozen addresses in his head before setting out.
The initial demo looked complicated to Bret and his staff. Using the app on a real batch of deliveries changed that. The numbered sequence and straightforward directions made the workflow easier to understand, and he said the team quickly came to value it.
Plan every stop.
Compare addresses, decide the sequence, and keep track of kilometres manually.
Follow the route.
An optimized stop order, clear driver directions, and delivery records in one place.
Bret estimated the system saved him at least an hour a day operationally. Including the rest of the team and tasks such as tracking kilometres, he put the total at 10 to 15 hours a week across one store. That is staff time available for other work without adding a dedicated route-planning task to every run.
Take Off also used digital signatures at delivery, giving the team a record of the customer handoff.
06 / PAYMENTS & SERVICE
Give shoppers more ways to complete the purchase.
Take Off added Interac e-Transfer alongside its other payment methods. By the interview, Bret reported that 13.5% of orders were being paid this way. He saw it as a familiar option for customers and a meaningful way to reduce card-processing costs.
The change needed an operating process. Staff kept the store’s payment email open and checked that transfers had arrived before processing orders. Bret also noted that his bookkeeper had to work through the reporting and reconciliation. The savings mattered, but the team still had to learn the workflow.
13.5% of orders
paid by e-Transfer.
A familiar alternative to card payment, with less reliance on card processing.
- 01Shopper chooses e-Transfer
- 02Staff confirm the payment
- 03The team prepares the order
The online store also included Breadstack Live Chat, giving shoppers a way to ask questions while browsing. Staff could use it to offer product recommendations or share a relevant coupon, bringing more of the in-store service experience online.
Together, these capabilities connected more of the buying journey: help choosing a product, another way to pay, and a clearer handoff to fulfillment.
07 / OPERATIONS & SUPPORT
Clearer reports. Useful support after the sale.
The benefits extended beyond the storefront. Bret found Breadstack’s analytics easier to read and especially valued the reorder reports. He said reordering had become one of his favourite features because the information was easier for him to understand and use.
The store continued using Cova as its POS and Alpine IQ for loyalty. Take Off already used regular communications to share fresh products, highlight occasional promotions, and reach customers who had not purchased recently. Connecting loyalty to the new website was the next step, with that integration still being finalized at the interview.
Bret was equally clear about the learning curve. Updating carousels, blog posts, or website copy required learning a more capable system. His advice was to set aside time for the training rather than expect every administrative task to be immediately familiar.
He praised the support he received from Ross, including ideas for the store after the sale had already been completed. That ongoing attention mattered to a retailer who wanted help growing the business, not simply a new piece of software.
“It’s just such a breath of fresh air to be able to have something that’s just different than the shop across the street.”
08 / THE RESULTS
More orders, with less manual work behind them.
Reviewing the year-over-year figures during the interview, Bret reported 31.5% more transactions, 36% more pickup orders, and 18% more delivery orders. His assessment was direct: “the website is performing incredibly well.”
The operating benefits supported that growth. Route planning and delivery records took less time, e-Transfer reduced reliance on card payments, and clearer reports helped Bret manage the store.
For an independent retailer, the combination mattered. Take Off could express its own brand, offer a more useful shopping experience, and handle more orders without keeping the same manual workload behind every delivery.
09 / THE RETAILER TAKEAWAY
Give customers a reason to choose your store.
Take Off’s experience shows why online growth and store operations need to be considered together. A distinctive website gets more valuable when the team can support the orders it brings in.
Carry your brand through the full shopping experience.
Use the identity, product selection, and expertise that already make your store different. Help shoppers recognize your business from the first page through checkout.
Treat SEO as ongoing work.
Start with a website you can improve, then put time and expertise into its content and discoverability. Track orders alongside search visibility.
Remove the manual steps that repeat every day.
Route planning and delivery records are small tasks that accumulate. Identify where automation can give your team time back as order volume grows.
Give the team time to learn.
New payment methods, reporting, and website controls need clear responsibilities and training. Make those part of the rollout so the capabilities become useful day-to-day habits.
