Budtender

Budtender

Budtender is the term for an employee who works behind the counter in a legal cannabis shop and guides customers through the product range. The word is a blend of "bud", a common slang word for cannabis flowers, and "bartender".

More about Budtender

Just as a bartender knows the bottles behind the bar, a budtender is expected to know the products on the shelves. That includes the difference between strains, the aroma profiles created by terpenes such as pinene and caryophyllene, and how to read lab reports that document a product's content. Budtenders are also familiar with the everyday slang customers use, from kind bud to top shelf.

A large part of the job is about rules. In places where cannabis is sold legally, budtenders check ID and age, keep track of purchase limits and make sure sales follow local regulations. In some regions, such as Ontario in Canada, staff must complete mandatory training before they are allowed to work in a cannabis store.

Where the word comes from

The term grew out of the medical cannabis dispensaries that opened in California after Proposition 215 was passed in 1996. As more US states and Canada legalized cannabis, budtender became the standard job title in the industry. In the Netherlands, the staff in coffeeshops fill a similar role, although the Dutch rarely use the word themselves.

Budtender follows the same pattern as many other cannabis terms, where two existing words are merged into one. Today the word is also used outside the industry, often with a wink, about the friend who always knows the most about the subject.