Beyond the Typical Cannabis Event: How S&C Cannabis Is Building Something That Actually Matters

In an industry often dominated by repetitive formats and predictable experiences, S&C Cannabis is carving out a distinctly different path. Founded just a year ago by husband-and-wife team Steve and Coulene Vega, who collectively bring nearly a decade of cannabis industry experience, S&C isn't just hosting events–they're crafting unique, immersive experiences.

The Vision Behind S&C Cannabis

Q: Can you tell me more about S&C as a whole? How long have you been established in the community, and what was your founding vision? 

"My wife and I have been in the cannabis industry for almost a decade working for different brands and companies," Steve explains. "One day we came together and decided to brainstorm on how we could make events different from the normal events that happen in our industry."

Their vision is straightforward: "Our goal is to entertain and change the perception of the consumer, making them feel immersed into the event and engaging them with the brands that support our events, giving everyone a relationship bond to the event that they paid to be a part of."

Nearly a decade is long enough to understand the industry's patterns, its recurring mistakes, its tendency to over-promise and under-deliver. Long enough to know that most cannabis events treat attendees like they're doing you a favor by showing up, rather than recognizing that these people are paying good money to be part of something special.

Q: What sets your elevated dining experiences apart from other cannabis-friendly events in the Valley? 

"What we offer is a little outside the box: we offer not just an event, but an experience. From check-in all the way to walking out of events, you will be immersed."

The standard cannabis event formula has become about as immersive as a Costco sample station: walk in, hit all of the booths to get your samples, and get wasted. What S&C is pitching is something closer to dinner theater meets product showcase. The kind of thing where the environment itself becomes part of the consumption experience, where the design choices and atmospheric details aren't just decoration, but actually enhance how you process both the food and the cannabis.

Q: Walk me through what a guest can expect from arrival to departure. What does the evening look like? 

"Our events change frequently. We try to switch up the theme and never try to do the same thing twice," Steve says. "Each guest will immerse in their own special experience. Depending on the theme and the elements of our events, they will be greeted at check-in and accommodated to an abundance of amenities, entertainment, networking and bonding with top brands in our industry."

He continues: "[It’s] a safe place to not only to consume cannabis, but to network with other consumers and help expand and express their experience at our event. Our goal is to help you believe in going into events again, and believing in the brands that represent the medicine our consumers take."

Creating Immersive Experiences

Q: How do you approach the theming for your events? What goes into creating an immersive experience for guests? 

"Theming our events takes a two-person team," Steve explains. "In my past career experience I worked for Disney as an imagination culinarist. They helped me open my imagination and to creating themed concepts outside the box."

Hold up. Disney? That's not on your typical cannabis industry resume. Disney doesn't fuck around with creating immersive themes. They're the company that hides all their infrastructure, makes you smell cookies when you're walking through Main Street, and choreographs every single element of the guest experience down to the background music and the texture of the walkways. When Disney says "immersive," they mean it. 

And, of course, "imagination culinarist" isn't just a chef. It's someone who understands how food exists as part of a larger narrative experience, how taste and smell and presentation work together to create memories and emotional responses. That's theme park entertainment expertise applied to food.

But it's a true partnership: "My partner–also my wife–Coulene Vega, is the secondary imagination to all our concepts. With her intuitive thought and creativity together, we create a platform of imagination and concepts that breach the barrier of reality."

The result? "We take our best concepts and we turn them into our amazing experiences. Planning an event six weeks, to sometimes months, to perfect before executing."

Q: How do you approach pairing the culinary elements with the cannabis offerings? Including flavor pairings as well as dosage for each course? 

"We approached pairing culinary elements with cannabis offerings by integrating our menus with specific cannabis brands and terpenes. Based on the menu and what we create helps us better to find what cannabis we are going to use and which terpenes will hold best for flavor, texture and construct of your meal. Also, understanding the terpene structures that will help with the product that you are creating to complement an ambience of flavors to the palate and hitting effectively the endocannabinoid system."

Unfortunately, for a lot of elevated consumption events, “pairings” consist of someone picking a strain name that vaguely relates to the food and calling it a day. Italian food? Gelato strain it is.

What Steve's describing is actually taking the chemistry of things into consideration. Terpenes aren't just smells and flavors, they're active compounds that change your experience. Limonene (citrusy, stress reducing) hits differently than myrcene (earthy, sedating), which hits differently than pinene (piney, alert). 

When you're designing food around specific terpene profiles, you're thinking about how flavors layer, how the fat in the food affects absorption, and how timing the courses might create different effects throughout the night. That's chef-level thinking applied to dosing. Not just "here's food, here's weed, have fun.”

Q: Do you collaborate with local chefs, growers, or other artisans? How do you select your partners? 

"For our first two events I was the culinarist and head chef," Steve shares. "For our third event, we decided to team up with a corporate franchise company called CupBop. They are a Korean Barbecue company that was invested in by Mark Cuban on Shark Tank. We were the first cannabis brand and cannabis industry event that CupBop has worked with in their history of being a company, and [they] plan on working with us with future events."

CupBop isn't some local restaurant looking for exposure; they're a corporate franchise backed by Mark Cuban with 71 locations spreading across 7 states. They have investors, shareholders, and legal teams, and they chose S&C Cannabis as their first cannabis industry collaboration. That's a legitimacy stamp that carries weight beyond Arizona's cannabis scene.

On selecting partners: "We choose our collaborations wisely by doing our homework sourcing factual information and credibility of the food. Our goal is to open new pathways and doorways that the cannabis industry has not reached out to, as cannabis and cannabis events are more integrated concepts for mainstream communities and becoming more normalized. I feel strongly that reaching outside of our cannabis realm and into other markets will help exponentially grow our industry awareness."

This is where S&C's strategy gets interesting. The cannabis industry loves talking to itself. Cannabis brands partnering with cannabis brands, events with cannabis vendors, marketing to people already consuming. It's an echo chamber that limits growth and perpetuates the sense that cannabis culture is separate from mainstream culture.

Every time a company like CupBop says yes to cannabis, it normalizes what we're doing. It shows other mainstream companies this isn't the risk they thought. This is how industries grow up. Not by staying exclusive, but by building bridges until "cannabis industry" and "regular industry" stop being separate things.

Guest Experience and Safety

People have been burned enough times by over-hyped and under-delivered events that they've become skeptical. Getting people to believe again isn't just about throwing a good party; it's about consistently delivering on promises in an industry where that's surprisingly rare.

And an emphasis on safety is important. Cannabis consumption in group settings can be vulnerable. You're altering your consciousness in public, potentially around strangers. If the environment feels sketchy or uncomfortable, that can quickly turn a fun evening into an anxiety spiral. Creating actual psychological safety–not just legal compliance, but genuine comfort–requires attention to detail that most event promoters don't bother with.

Q: How do you ensure guests feel comfortable and welcomed, especially if it's their first elevated dining experience? 

"Transparency is a very big word in my vocabulary, especially inside my company. We make sure that our marketing is up to par. We have a great marketing team, granted we may not have a huge one, but we do have a small four-man effective marketing team that makes sure that transparency is always consistent in our promotion of our events. Letting the consumers know the 'who, what, where, when, why, and how' is our staple."

He adds: "I found that if you're more open and transparent in this industry, it's easier to traverse and navigate with your consumers, and how more understanding they can be."

Transparency sounds basic, but it's surprisingly rare in cannabis event promotion. And while a four-person marketing team isn't huge, what matters is that they're consistently communicating the actual details people need to make informed decisions. This level of transparency, especially early on, is an important tool in building solid, lasting trust in the brand and the industry and helps lead the brand to becoming a true expert and role model in the field. Something it feels like the cannabis industry is lacking.

Q: What measures do you take to ensure guest safety and responsible consumption? 

"Safety measures at our event are a top priority in our company and brand. Making sure that we are compliant, not only for events compliance but the Arizona Department of Health Services (AZDHS) compliance for distribution of samples, and also how we monetize the samples and consumption at our events."

"Our goal is not to be the Errl Cup, Trap Culture, or any other huge event. Our goal is for you to enjoy your experience while consuming cannabis responsibly. That's why with all our infused meals we microdose our infusions, making sure that we limit the intake of cannabis."

Steve's explicitly saying they're NOT trying to be the mega consumption events that currently dominate the scene. Those events have their place for people who want to celebrate high-tolerance culture, but they're increasingly out of step with where the broader industry's heading as the market continues to grow and add more casual consumers.

Microdosing the infusions shows they get what a lot of brands won't admit: getting absolutely destroyed isn't always the point. Sometimes you want enhancement, not obliteration. This matters especially over multiple courses. If course one floors you, you're not appreciating courses two through five. Smart dosing creates an arc instead of a spike and crash.

"Hydration is another thing that we are strong about. Especially when you are consuming cannabis, we want to make sure that all our vendors and consumers are hydrated with water, making sure that people are maintaining responsible levels of hydration for consuming."

This might seem obvious, but I've been to enough events where water access was an afterthought to know it's not. Cottonmouth is real, dehydration affects how you process cannabis, and providing easy access to water is basic harm reduction that too many events skip.

Q: Do you accommodate dietary restrictions or special requirements? 

"100% we accommodate dietary restrictions, special requirements and sensitive needs. At our last event, we had quite a few special restrictions and dietary needs that we had to accommodate and we did. And from what I took from those accommodations, they were very pleased. The whole thing about hospitality is accommodating the people that are paying money to come see all your hard work."

This is such a simple statement. How many times have you seen "no dietary accommodations available" on event listings? How often have accessibility needs or sensory sensitivities been treated as unreasonable requests rather than basic hospitality? In an industry that originated as medical only, it strayed too far from making accommodations and leaned into allowing them to be an afterthought instead of a priority. The fact that they've already made accommodations shows that it's something the community wants, but from what I've observed, most events do not take into account. 

Q: What's been the most surprising or memorable guest reaction you've witnessed at one of your events? 

"Over the past year of running my own brand and doing events I've seen a lot of surprising and memorable reactions. I've had the blessing and pleasure to have Frosty Fresh, a huge glass maker in the industry, and Level Up Smoke Shop and Spaceman and Bongs Head Shop sponsor me with amazing glass pieces that they've created or donated. Our past three events, they have [collectively] donated over $13,000 worth of glass products."

"Our last event, our Haunted Halloween, a $5,000 rig was given away to a person in the industry that's never won anything ever, and to see their face light up like a little boy on Christmas was the best reaction that I could receive as an event holder."

This kind of generosity isn't scalable, isn't strategic, and doesn't maximize ROI, which is exactly why it matters. S&C is building community rather than just audience by creating loyalty through actual care rather than calculated brand positioning. The fact that sponsors keep returning with $13,000 over three separate events means they're seeing value in the partnership as much as the community is.

Looking Ahead

The cannabis industry has a problem with people getting taken advantage of. It's built by outsiders and risk-takers, which attracts both genuine entrepreneurs and straight-up predators who see opportunity in chaos. The community's vocal about calling out brands worth watching, both good and bad. 

Q: Reflecting on the events you've hosted this year, what elements have resonated most with guests? Were there any learning moments or things you'd approach differently? 

"There's definitely a lot to take away over the last year of doing events and hosting events. Give the people what they're looking for and they will support you no matter what. My learning moments and all this would be don't be so hard on yourself, know what you're worth. Don't let people take advantage of you or your good name. Never stop believing. I would not do anything differently. If I wanted to do things differently then it would have been a different experience. Half the journey is learning on the way."

In a small industry where word travels fast, your name is currency. Once you're known for delivering quality, you can leverage that. But if you let others use your credibility to prop up their garbage, you're diluting your own value. There's a learning curve to understanding that saying yes to everything doesn't help if those opportunities devalue your work or compromise your vision.

Q: Can the community expect these to become regular events, and what's your vision for S&C over the next year or two? 

"Yes the community can expect our events to become regular events as we are expanding and growing. Our goal is to keep our word and change the game. Be the outside of the box company that continues to give experiences to our cannabis community. As long as a community wants this unique entertainment we will provide it."

Q: Do you have a dream theme or collaboration you'd love to bring to life in a future event? 

"My dream event and theme would be to do a Fan Fusion or Comic-Con 420 event where we can take the best of all different genres and crown them together in a 420 environment."

It's an ambitious vision that perfectly captures what S&C is trying to do: blend mainstream entertainment with cannabis in a way that feels natural instead of forced. Imagine the production values and immersive theming of a major pop culture convention, but with cannabis as the social lubricant instead of overpriced convention center beer. 

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In just one year, Steve and Coulene Vega have built something that deserves attention. Not because it's perfect, but because it represents a genuine attempt to elevate what cannabis events can be. They're applying professional entertainment production methodology to cannabis experiences, they're building bridges to mainstream brands and legitimizing the industry through strategic partnerships, and they're prioritizing safety, transparency, and community building over pure consumption culture.

Most importantly, they're treating attendees like guests who deserve quality experiences rather than consumers to be extracted from. Whether S&C Cannabis becomes the model for how cannabis events should operate, or remains a boutique operation serving a niche audience, the attempt itself matters. They're proving that it's possible to bring Disney-level production values to cannabis experiences, that mainstream corporate partners will engage with well-run cannabis brands, that responsible consumption and elevated experiences aren't mutually exclusive.

As Steve puts it, their goal is to help people "believe in going into events again." After a year of execution that includes partnerships with Shark Tank-backed franchises, five-figure glass giveaways, and successful accommodation of diverse community needs, they're well on their way to achieving that vision, and I can't wait to see what they're bringing to the table next–literally.