The short answer
Track eight numbers every month: customers per day, average ticket, gross margin, labor cost as a share of sales, new customers as a share of transactions, delivery share where allowed, shrink and your compliance audit score. Set a target and a red flag for each, based on your own market and forecast, and give every red flag a fix, an owner and a date. Those eight numbers tell you whether the store is healthy faster than a profit and loss statement does.
Why eight numbers
A dispensary produces thousands of data points a day. Owners who try to watch all of them watch none. These eight are the ones we review every month in our own stores because together they explain almost every change in profit: how many people came in, how much they spent, what you kept after product cost, what you paid in labor, whether you are growing, what you lost and whether you are compliant.
The eight KPIs
| KPI | How to calculate it | Starting target | Red flag |
|---|---|---|---|
| Customers per day | Transactions divided by days open, compared with the store's opening forecast | At or above forecast | Below 85% of forecast |
| Average ticket | Net sales before tax divided by transactions | At or above plan | Below 90% of plan |
| Gross margin | (Net sales minus cost of goods sold) divided by net sales | 45% or more | Below 40% |
| Labor cost | Total payroll and payroll taxes divided by net sales | 20% or less | Above 25% |
| New customers | First-time customers divided by all transactions | 18% or more | Below 10% |
| Delivery share | Delivery sales divided by all sales, where delivery is allowed | 10% or more | Below 5% |
| Shrink | Inventory lost or unaccounted for, at cost, divided by cost of goods sold | 0.5% or less | Above 1% |
| Compliance audit score | Score on a monthly unannounced internal audit, out of 100 | 95 or higher | Below 90 |
These starting targets reflect our experience in competitive Northeast markets. Set your own targets from your site forecast, your market's prices and your state's taxes, and revisit them every quarter.
What each number tells you
Customers per day
Traffic is the first sign of trouble or success. Compare it with the forecast you built for the site, by day of week and hour. A drop usually means a new competitor, a price gap, a stockout on best sellers or a service problem.
Average ticket
Ticket shows what customers buy once they are inside. It moves with product mix, pricing, promotions and how well staff recommend products. A falling ticket with steady traffic often means heavy discounting or a thin assortment.
Gross margin
Margin is won at the buying desk. Track it by category, not just in total, so you can see which categories subsidize others. Margin below the red flag usually traces to discounting, poor vendor terms or aged inventory sold off cheaply. See purchasing, pricing and marketing.
Labor cost
Labor is the largest controllable expense. Schedule to traffic by hour, not by habit. If sales fall and labor stays the same, this number rises fast.
New customers
New customer share shows whether the store is still growing its base. A low share in a young store is a marketing problem; a low share in a mature store may be fine if retention is strong.
Delivery share
Where delivery is allowed, it can add sales without adding floor space. Track whether delivery orders are profitable after driver and vehicle costs.
Shrink
Shrink is product you paid for and cannot account for: theft, damage, receiving errors and system variances. Because seed-to-sale records must match the shelf, shrink is also a compliance risk. See common Metrc errors.
Compliance audit score
An unannounced monthly internal audit, scored the same way each time, shows whether daily habits are holding. Track the trend, not just the score. See compliance audits.
How to report them
Pull the numbers from your POS, payroll and seed-to-sale reports on the same day each month.
Show each KPI against its target and the prior three months.
Highlight every red flag at the top of the report.
For each red flag, write the cause, the fix, the owner and the date.
Review the report with your general manager and owners every month, and check last month's fixes first.
Monthly KPI checklist
- Customers per day by day of week, against forecast
- Average ticket, against plan
- Gross margin in total and by category
- Labor cost as a share of sales, with hours by daypart
- New customers as a share of transactions
- Delivery share and delivery profitability, where allowed
- Shrink at cost, with variances explained
- Compliance audit score and open findings
- Every red flag has a fix, an owner and a date
- Last month's fixes reviewed first
A sample monthly report
Keep the report to one page. Lead with the red flags, then the scorecard, then the fixes.
| Section | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Red flags | Every KPI past its red flag, with cause, fix, owner and date |
| Scorecard | All eight KPIs against target and the last three months |
| Category view | Sales and margin by category |
| Labor view | Hours and labor cost by daypart |
| Compliance | Audit score, open findings and their status |
| Last month's fixes | Done, in progress or late |
Owners should be able to read the report in five minutes and know whether the store is healthy, what is wrong and who is fixing it.
Using KPIs to make decisions
Numbers only help if they lead to action. A few examples from our own stores:
- Traffic down on weekday afternoons while ticket held: we shifted one shift lead to evenings and ran a weekday loyalty offer within the state's rules.
- Gross margin slipping in one category: we renegotiated terms with two vendors and cut slow sellers instead of discounting.
- Labor rising as a share of sales: we rebuilt the schedule around hourly traffic data.
- Shrink rising after a staff change: we retrained receiving and added a daily count of high-value items.
Each change had an owner and a date, and the next month's report showed whether it worked.
Where the data comes from
| KPI | Source |
|---|---|
| Customers per day, ticket, new customers, delivery share | POS |
| Gross margin | POS sales and cost of goods from inventory records |
| Labor cost | Payroll system |
| Shrink | Inventory counts reconciled to the seed-to-sale system |
| Compliance score | Internal audit |
Pull every number from its source system, not from memory or a spreadsheet someone updates by hand, so the report is the same every month and can be checked.
A word on benchmarks: published industry averages mix very different markets, store sizes and tax regimes. They are useful for spotting outliers, but your own forecast and history are better guides to what your store should achieve. Compare yourself with stores in your own market wherever you can, and watch the trend over time as closely as the number itself.
Above all, keep the report consistent. The value of these eight numbers comes from comparing them month after month, measured the same way each time. Change a definition only when you have a good reason, and note the change on the report.
Setting your own targets
Targets are only useful if they fit your store. Start with the forecast you built for the site: expected customers by day of week, ticket and margin by category. Adjust for your market's prices, your state's taxes and your rent. After three months of results, reset targets to what the store has shown it can do, then push them up gradually.
| Factor | Effect on targets |
|---|---|
| Dense urban site | Higher traffic, often lower ticket |
| Suburban drive-to site | Lower traffic, often higher ticket |
| High-tax state | Pressure on price and margin |
| New competitor nearby | Expect a dip in traffic; protect margin |
| Delivery allowed | Add delivery share and delivery profitability |
Weekly versus monthly
Review customers per day, ticket and labor weekly, because you can act on them quickly. Margin, shrink, new customers and compliance are clearer monthly. The monthly report is where decisions get made.
Frequently asked questions
What is a good average ticket for a dispensary?
It depends on market prices and product mix. Compare against your own plan and similar stores in your market rather than a national average.
Should labor include managers?
Yes. Include all store payroll and payroll taxes so the number reflects the real cost to run the store.
How do I measure new customers?
Use your POS customer records or loyalty program to identify first-time purchasers, within your state's privacy and data rules.
What if every number is red?
Start with the leaks that cost the most: purchasing and pricing, then labor, then shrink. See our turnaround approach.
If several of these numbers are in the red at once, read about our dispensary turnaround approach. When we manage a store, this report arrives every month.
Related services and state guides
Sources
- Joint Venture Advisors operating experience and internal targets
- New York Cannabis Control Board meeting deck, July 2, 2026 (market and store sales data)
Last updated October 25, 2026. Rules change often. This guide is general information from operators, not legal or tax advice. Confirm current rules with the regulator and your attorney before acting.