The 12,000-square foot dispensary has opened a food branch titled The Mint Café. The new concept delivers handmade cannabis-infused treats within a 10-mile-radius of the Guadalupe location by Baseline Road and Priest Drive.
"It's a $50 minimum," Palomino continued. "And sometimes patients will order like an eighth or a couple of pre-rolls with food orders. But mostly, it's like a $100-plus order where they get pizza, wings, tots, and tacos, or they'll get a take & bake with tots."
The weed-infused munchies delivery service is limited to customers with current medical marijuana cards, and the food will be delivered in food handling bags with no extra fees.
"Our priority for providing food delivery in a fast and efficient manner is to receive the order hot and fresh for the best taste possible," Palomino said. "We have put together a great team with experience in both fields — cannabis and delivery. Drawing from both, we tried to work out any major obstacles we could think of and prepare for it."
The dispensary's menu, which also consists of burgers, spaghetti, pizza, salads, wraps, pastries, and cakes, is cooked with cannabis oils or cannabis butter, and each dish is loaded with 25 to 1,000 milligrams, depending on each patient's appetite.
The price structure is a flat rate across the smorgasbord. Depending on the amount of infused cannabis, the price for hot foods starts at 25 milligrams for $10.50. Then the price structure increases by dosage: 50 milligrams for $13; 100 milligrams for $18; and so on. If the patient has built up a tolerance, they can order food packed with 1,000 milligrams for $75 per menu item.
"But 100 milligrams is the popular dosage at the moment," Palomino added. "It is a good middle for highness."
The pastries are cheaper per serving, and the wings, served in increments of 10, are a tad higher than the aforementioned hot foods. Sam Cruz, a medical card holder from Tempe, placed an order from The Mint on July 11.
"They're my go-to for pizza and wings," he said. "When I'm at work, I place an order on my phone, and I usually go with 100 milligrams. When I get home, they are always on time, and the food's hot. It's convenient."
The food is cooked inside a kitchen in plain sight, nestled behind a large glass and wood partition, only a couple of feet from the dispensary's showroom floor. So while waiting in line to purchase meds, paraphernalia, or swag, recreational users and patients witness firsthand how the Mint's cannabis chefs get to work.
The cannabis cafe is also adding breakfast to its menu and in November, the dispensary will offer holiday sides for Thanksgiving and Christmas. Some customers who picked up the cannabis-infused sides last year, including mashed potatoes and gravy, told Palomino that the sides eased up the tension in some family dinners.
The cannabis cafe's next step will be extending its delivery services past the current 10-mile radius.
"Delivery as a whole is a project we have been looking into for some time," Palomino said. "It allows us to reach out to patients that can't drive to our location, and we can reach out to a part of our community to help with their medication and to try our delicious infused kitchen."
The Mint Cafe
5210 South Priest Drive, Guadalupe480-749-6468
themintcannabis.com
