MenuGuard · Purchasing Intelligence
Better information.Better buying.
A buyer guide for faster research, smarter purchasing, and stronger menus.
Built by a buyer. For buyers.
Built by a buyer. For buyers.
Most cannabis buyers are still doing competitive research manually. Opening menus one by one. Searching vendor catalogs. Checking pricing changes. Trying to remember what changed since last week.
The goal isn’t to let AI make the buying decision for you. The goal is to get to the useful information faster, so you can spend more time actually evaluating the business.
See the 5 promptsBuilt for
- Purchasing
- Merchandising
- Category Management
- Retail Operations
5 Prompts Every Cannabis Buyer Should Save
Real prompts. Real workflows. Built for cannabis buyers.
- 01
Competitor Menu Audit
Use this when you need a fast read on a competing menu.
Compare pricing, discounts, category depth, and assortment gaps before making pricing or purchasing decisions.
- 02
New SKU Discovery
Use this when you want to find products you do not currently carry.
See what a vendor or competitor has that you may want to test, replace, or review.
- 03
Vendor Catalog Audit
Use this before assortment reviews and vendor meetings.
Get a clean picture of a brand’s current lineup, formats, and new-release opportunities.
- 04
Price Change Monitor
Use this to track meaningful competitor pricing changes automatically.
Stay on top of price moves, discounts, and availability changes without checking menus manually.
- 05
Menu QA
Use this to catch customer-facing ecommerce issues.
Find duplicate products, missing prices, broken links, and other menu problems before they hurt the shopper experience.
The buyer workflow
01
Collect
Crawl, monitor, or scan to gather the external facts.
02
Normalize
Clean names, sizes, categories, pricing, and availability.
03
Compare
Bring in your catalog, sales, inventory, POs, margin, and age.
04
Decide
You evaluate the tradeoffs and make the purchasing decision.
05
Monitor
Keep watching the parts of the market that can change your next move.
Buyer rule: Facts first. Assumptions labeled. Missing data stays missing.
Inside theBuyer Guide
5 Prompts Every Cannabis Buyer Should Save
Prompt 01 · Competitor Menu Audit
Prompt 02 · New SKU Discovery
Prompt 03 · Vendor Catalog Audit
Prompt 04 · Price Change Monitor
Prompt 05 · Menu QA
Want the full Buyer Prompt Guide?
Better buying. Stronger menus.
The full guide goes further
- Promotion Monitor
- Brand Launch Monitor
- Category Audit
- Pricing Matrix
- Market Scan
- Strain / Product Research
- Technical Site Investigation
Want the full Buyer Prompt Guide?
These five prompts are just the starting point. Buyers should spend less time hunting for information and more time using it. Download the full guide free — no sign-up.
- 12 copy-and-paste prompts
- Decision use for every prompt
- The Collect → Monitor buyer workflow
About me
Built by a buyer.
I’m John Hirsch.
Director of Purchasing · 20+ years in cannabis
I lead purchasing and vendor strategy for Sociale Dispensary in Park Ridge, IL, where the focus is simple: build a disciplined, profitable menu that customers trust and vendors want to be part of.
With 20+ years in cannabis across retail, delivery, and leadership, I’ve worked every side of the equation, from founding and scaling Irie Care Delivery in California to overseeing purchasing in one of the most tightly regulated markets in the country.
My work sits at the intersection of merchandising, data, and relationships. I specialize in curating high-performing assortments, negotiating meaningful vendor partnerships, and aligning purchasing decisions with margin, velocity, and long-term brand health.
I believe strong buying is not just about price, but about consistency, trust, and execution across teams. ProcureCulture and MenuGuard are where I share the workflows behind that work.
How I work
- Buyer-first: Written from the purchasing desk, for people responsible for assortment, pricing, and menu health.
- Facts first: Confirmed information stays separate from marketing language, and missing data stays missing.
- You decide: The tools gather information. The buyer makes the decision.
Services
Work with me
Want this done for your store, or your team trained to do it? Here’s how I can help.
01
Competitive Menu Audits
I audit competitor menus in your market and deliver a clean read on pricing, discounts, category depth, and assortment gaps before your next pricing or purchasing decision.
02
Purchasing & Assortment Consulting
Vendor prep, category reviews, and assortment planning from a working buyer: what’s genuinely new, what fills a gap, what overlaps, and what deserves a test.
03
Menu QA & Monitoring Setup
I audit your customer-facing menu for duplicates, missing prices, broken links, and misplaced products, then set up monitoring for the price and promo changes that actually matter.
04
Buyer Training & Workshops
Hands-on sessions that teach your buying team the research and monitoring workflows in the guide, so they spend less time hunting for information and more time using it.
Better information. Better buying.
Download the Guide