Delivery App Battle Royale: CULTURE puts the new crop of cannabis apps through the ringer

Medical
cannabis patients face a dizzying array of new options for home delivery—even a
house visit from a doctor—thanks to a new crop of mobile phone apps. Apps like
Eaze and Meadow are generally still too hot for Apple’s App Store and Google
Play (Android). So they’re designed to run inside a web browser on a mobile
phone. Simply sign-up, verify you’re a patient and off you go. We tested all
the apps in a five-way Battle Royale for supremacy. It’s clear each has
different strengths.

RAPID FIRE

Eaze

Service Area:
San Francisco, San Jose, parts of the East Bay.

Description:
The closest we have to an “Über for marijuana.”

Details: San
Francisco-based start-up only partners with elite clubs to power their
deliveries, starting with SPARC and Cookies Co.

Special
Powers: Eaze promises medical cannabis in under 15 minutes. We’ve gotten drops
in as little as four minutes.

Vulnerability:
Menu limitation. With fewer partners comes potentially fewer product options.

Cost: $-$$$$—By
harnessing efficiencies of call volume, Eaze hopes to drive the cost of a
minimum order down to as little as a $5 pre-roll.

Final Score:
8/10

MEGA-MENU

Meadow

Service Area:
San Francisco, East Bay, North Bay and South Bay Area.

Description:
More like the Eat24 or GrubHub of cannabis.

Details:
Meadow’s the first Y Combinator-backed pot startup. The San Francisco company
partners with a large number of dispensaries (The Apothecarium, The Bloom Room)
and collectives to power their order fulfillment.

Special
Powers: Physician on-call for house calls; in-store express pick-up at
participating dispensaries.

Vulnerability:
Potentially slower response time, depending on specific provider. Expect 30
minutes to an hour.

Cost: $$-$$$—Meadow’s
diverse partners offer lots of bargains at different price points.

Final score:
8/10

EXPERT-CURATED

Marvina

Service Area:
San Francisco and San Mateo County.

Description:
Akin to a Wine-of-the-Month Club

Details:
Marvina surprises patients with a monthly box of curated sativas or indicas,
elegantly packaged with strain information.

Special
Powers: Class. Marvina stunned us with its up-scale packaging.

Vulnerability:
Price. Patients who like their cannabis picked out for them tend to be
price-sensitive.

Cost:
$$$-$$$$—Marvina’s seven-gram boxes go for $90, which is about average.

Final score:
7/10

ECO-CENTERED

Flow Kana

Service Area:
Bay Area.

Description:
The Birchbox of cannabis. Outdoor organic top-shelf flowers delivered from the
farm to the coffee table.

Details: Flow
Kana aims to cut out the middlemen and support small, organic growers amid
commercial legalization.

Special
Powers: The Flow Kana network of artisanal Northern California growers are
second to none.

Vulnerability:
Price. This is Whole Foods quality at Whole Foods prices. And sign-up was
glitchy.

Cost: $$$$

Final score:
7/10

NO FRILLS

CleverTree

Service area:
Sacramento, San Francisco.

Description:
The more home-spun dispensary delivery app

Details:
CleverTree just launched in the February of the Sacramento area and expanded
into San Francisco in March, with a less flashy user interface and on-trend
bud.

Special
Powers: Affordability. CleverTree focuses on patient value.

Vulnerability:
Lack of Polish, Limited Menu. Web app worked fine, but pictures loaded slowly,
and design was underwhelming.

Cost: $$—Very
reasonable $45 eighths with tax included.

Final score:
6/10

CROSSFADED

NestDrop

Service Area:
Los Angeles.

Description:
A Pink Dot with “pot.”

Details:
NestDrop started as a Pink Dot clone—home-delivering convenience store alcohol.
Then they branched out into medical cannabis and received an injunction from
the Los Angeles City Attorney.

Special
Powers: also delivers alcohol.

Vulnerability:
Spotty service. We can’t get NestDrop to drop cannabis in SF, downtown Los
Angeles or even in Venice Beach.

Cost: N/A.

Final score:
5/10