“Even the worst days end up being your best days ten years later,” says Beau Allulli, co-founder and CEO of Mighty Lucky. That’s essentially the reason why he and his partner, Doo Kim, decided to go into cannabis retail in the first place. Their store at 259 Bowery Street in Manhattan’s eponymous neighborhood will officially open in April, but participating in New York’s Conditional Adult Use Retail Dispensary (CAURD) license program is the culmination of many years of dreaming, sacrificing and strategizing for Beau.
What Is Mighty Lucky? The Bowery's First Licensed Cannabis Retailer
Beau and Doo have envisioned Mighty Lucky as a mom-and-pop shop, representing a vintage vibe that not only fits their neighborhood but also the things that bring them together. Beyond the usual offerings of a licensed dispensary, they will dedicate a specific area of the store to selling “Doobie’s Buds,” a curation of non-cannabis houseplants, home goods, and cute one-of-a-kind items. Customers will additionally be able to enjoy the sounds of vinyl records and gaze at rotating displays of classic decorations, a creative feast for all senses.
Who Is Mighty Lucky Co-Founder/CEO Beau Allulli?
That’s natural for the owners, who both have backgrounds in the arts and previously ran a photography studio. Beau is also an actor, which accounts for his charismatic way of storytelling. But over years in the legacy space, he feels he’s found a true calling in cannabis.
“If anybody has crossed my path between 1993 and now and smoked weed, I got them high,” he laughs.
Originally from Louisiana, the independent thinker grew up in what he describes as a blue-collar household where his parents’ stance on cannabis was “Do as I say, not as I do.” At age 15, he attended Lollapalooza with friends and had a bad reaction to a weed brownie. That might have ended his obsession with the plant, but his cousin gave him a joint two years later that would elicit a better sensation.
“It really rang,” Beau remembers. “It was something I was going to have a wonderful relationship with.”
As he got older, studying acting and moving to New York, a logical progression occurred. Between juggling his artistic career and jobs in restaurants, Beau found that people in the Five Boroughs craved good flower. In 2005, he started his own cannabis delivery service. It was so successful that at its apex, the business had over 20 employees and served 12,000-plus customers.
Who Is Mighty Lucky Co-Founder Doo Kim?
“That’s how we met,” Doo grins. “When I moved to New York about 15 years ago, I needed a weed guy. My best friend introduced me to Beau.”
“Yeah. I served her,” Beau interjects.
“Fast forward all these years, and we’re here now,” Doo continues. “He’s the love of my life, my partner. We worked together to apply for the CAURD license in September 2022, and then we heard back in April 2023. Even then, it took us about a year and a half to figure everything out. My entry into this world [of the cannabis industry] is fairly new and I’m still learning a lot. So it’s an interesting synergy we have together.”
While her other half’s experience marks him as a legacy OG, Doo has been far more subtle about her own relationship with the plant. Growing up with archetypally strict Korean parents, the entrepreneur honed her consumption habits on the sly – to date, she still hasn’t told them about Mighty Lucky.
“They’ll find out when they read this article,” she comments, joking that her mom and dad won’t be too upset once the business venture succeeds. But on a more serious note, Doo hopes that the store’s success could also help her be a role model for other Asian-Americans who want to get into the cannabis space and are dealing with similar family dynamics. Hiding the truth from her folks is “a double-edged sword,” she states. “Not being able to be transparent with my parents on such a huge achievement, but on the other hand, celebrating my partner and being able to say we’re truly doing it. But it’s interesting with Asian culture and cannabis – it’s still so underground, and yet I think we’re going to start to see a shift in that mentality. [My parents] know it’s legal [in New York]. Once it became legal, they asked me if I had heard of CBD, and they’re experimenting with that now.”
What Is The Origin Of The Mighty Lucky Name? Adventures In Legacy Cannabis
It’s likely to assume Doo never shared Beau’s cannabis arrests with her parents either. Yet the very factor that allowed Mighty Lucky to qualify for a CAURD license is the source of the business’ name.
“I can say that both times I was arrested, it affected my life in a positive way,” Beau asserts. Lest you think he’s kidding, he explains that his first run-in with police happened during a delivery where a customer held the product in plain sight of an officer. “I got taken to the precinct… and I was like, ‘Oh my God, I’ve got to stop doing this.’ And as soon as I [said that], the other guys [being held in the same area] said, ‘You don’t need to stop doing this. Just hire other people.’ That was a great idea.”
The second arrest occurred within the same year, when the super of a building where Beau was doing business tipped off the cops. “They came in, looked at my bag. It had the freshest Sour Diesel, like the stinkiest weed ever. What you hear is, if a police officer asks to see your bag, just tell them they don’t have permission. I tried – it didn’t work… And both times I was arrested, the detectives said to me, ‘Don’t worry, this will be legal in a few years.’ I said, ‘Why not just let me go, then?’ But they didn’t see it that way.” He notes that both arrests happened on Friday the 13th as well. Mighty Lucky, indeed.
“There’s more to the name than that,” Beau admits. For years, his delivery service used the Mighty Mouse theme song as an outgoing voicemail message, and then the photo studio he operated under the same name was in Chinatown. “The ‘Lucky’ was a dual nod. A nod to the neighborhood, and to the fact I ran the delivery business out of the studio.”
Why Is The CAURD License Important For Mighty Lucky?
Transitioning legacy to legal, however, was an emotional decision for the artist. “If you were in the delivery business by April 2021, you knew what was happening, and it was not good. It was the change of everything we had. When these [illicit] shops popped up… it was so vastly different from anything that had happened, it destroyed the regular delivery market. The fact that I was arrested twice gave me the amazing opportunity for the CAURD license. Without that, I would have seen my business that I built diminish completely… I was out there doing deliveries for 15 years. My service got robbed 30 times. It was a stressful thing for many years. CAURD honestly saved me.”
Looking toward the future as Mighty Lucky prepares to open, Doo is thrilled to get to know the cannabis community in depth for the first time. “That’s really important to both of us. Being in this location on Bowery, there’s so much history and creative development that both he and I can relate to. It’s exciting just being able to create a piece of history within a neighborhood that already has such a great reputation. For me, community is such a large part of how we relate to everybody around us… It’s getting to now our neighbors, but also being able to spread the love of Mighty Lucky, and starting new and fresh [after] all the hardships that we’ve both gone through to get to this point. Being able to finally come into the light, and being able to celebrate that for Beau specifically because he’s been in the dark for so long. I never experienced that because I was in a whole different world. Being able to be truly transparent… that’s the exciting piece.”
How Will Mighty Lucky Educate Consumers And Staff Alike About Cannabis?
Beyond functioning as the neighborhood’s quirky, vibrant retailer, the owners intend for Mighty Lucky to have be a genuinely educational experience as well. They have a longer-term plan to put their budtenders through ganjier training programs, and want consumers to know their trips to the store will be marked by a focus on customization.
“Education is a very important piece of our launch,” Doo affirms. “It’s such a big part of our customer service and ethos. [We want] people to get the right information that’s tailored to the individual, because everybody’s different. Why does somebody consume vodka over gin, or prefer chicken to beef? It’s getting to know the individual, learning about who they are and what their history of consumption is, and also education around the licensed farmers and processors. We plan on holding educational events and seminars.”
And as the cherry on top, the pair is eager for their mom-and-pop shop to welcome creative minds of every variety, both as customers and as employees. Fueling artistry with plant medicine is a common practice for Beau and Doo, as the former reflects, “I think we’re most creative when we get out of the way of our impulses and intuition. And I think cannabis allows me to be out of my way more… For me [as an artist], I was happiest when I [had a job that] paid my bills, and I also had time to continue pursuing my creative endeavors. That’s exactly what I’m trying to set up here. There will be career people here, but I think we’ll round it out with people who are happy to come in here, make good money, have positive exchanges with customers, work for people who are fun and caring, and then [follow their passion] in life.”
“I come from the hospitality industry,” Doo says. “One of the joys is making somebody’s day.”
So keep your eyes on the Lower East Side, all you creative folks. In just a few short weeks, you’ll find your joy, blessed by the loving vibrations of Mighty Lucky.
Mighty Lucky, located at 259 Bowery Street in New York City, will open in April 2024. For more information, follow @mightyluckynyc on Instagram.
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Written By:
Jaime Lubin is Honeysuckle's Editor-At-Large. Her writing has appeared in HuffPost, Observer, Billboard and more. Also an actress and singer, she can be found on Twitter and Instagram.
@jaimelubin (IG)
@jaimelubin (Twitter)
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Featured image: Mighty Lucky owners Beau Allulli and Doo Kim (C) Mighty Lucky
