Latest / Ready To Drink Podcast / Why Hemp THC Beverages Belong in Bars + Retail, Not Dispensaries | Adam Peabody of Flora + Reddi Beverage

Transcript

Why Hemp THC Beverages Belong in Bars + Retail, Not Dispensaries | Adam Peabody of Flora + Reddi Beverage · Ready To Drink Podcast

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_02: I'm Adam Peabody.
• 0:01
  SPEAKER_00: I'm the co-founder and CEO of Ready Beverage Company and co-founder of Flora.
• 0:06
  SPEAKER_00: Give me a little bit of a cloud level overview about the two the two entities and kind of how uh what they what they all do and what kind of products you guys are producing.
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_02: Ready beverage is is our manufacturing arm.
• 0:17
  SPEAKER_02: Um right now, honestly, it's probably like a you know 80-20 split between like us primarily just manufacturing flora uh and then we do a little bit of co-manufacturing and specialize in um functional beverage.
• 0:31
  SPEAKER_02: So we don't do any alcohol here.
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_02: Um and we don't really do any any uh regular NA products.
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_02: We we do a little bit of like functional mushroom stuff um and like adaptogen stuff.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but really primarily we've we've built like our whole facility around just doing THC and cannabinoid beverages.
• 0:52
  SPEAKER_02: So like we have you know in-house uh high pressure homogenization.
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_02: Uh we have um, you know, pasteurization, obviously, for NABED.
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_02: We have pasteurization tunnels.
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_02: Um we have HPLC testing in-house so we can test the potency of things in the tank before we go to run.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but that's kind of the ready beverage side of things.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_02: And then Flora is is the brand um that kind of that we built out the facility for originally.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and you know, that's uh, you know, non-alcoholic THC-infused spirits and cocktails, uh 10 milligram spirit is our kind of flagship product.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, and then we also have a line, you can actually see pretty much everything back here.
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, we have a line of uh five milligram cocktails and ten milligram cocktails.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_02: Uh and then we also do 10 milligram shots, which is just kind of like a trial version of the spirit.
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_02: Um yeah, that's that's kind of the breakdown of both of those.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_02: So, like my partner and I, we come from elk backgrounds as well on the retailer side of things.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_02: So we were both previously um just we were beverage directors for you know a group of cocktail bars.
• 2:07
  SPEAKER_02: Uh my partner ran a group of cocktail bars.
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_02: I was in the hotel business.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and you know, I I think like part of our challenge in the hemp THC space is really like, you know, how we identify the products.
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_02: And like for us, you know, we've always looked at ourselves as an adult beverage company.
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and like we've kind of we've done everything to to kind of fall in line with like alcohol, the alcohol system, as opposed to, you know, like what you know, cannabis regulations are out there.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_02: Um and like I remember even in, you know, so we've been around for a long time.
• 2:47
  SPEAKER_02: We started out in 2019 with our first CBD product, and then you know, we kind of followed the natural path of progression that like any early player did where we went like CBD in 2019.
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_02: We launched uh Delta 8, I believe, in 2020, and then you know, we moved over to Delta IX, I think, in 22.
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_00: So everything.
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_00: Uh your stuff during COVID.
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, when I started, I started getting so did you really?
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_00: I got started, yeah.
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_00: I'm I'm three years now, but I had a bunch of uh stops and starts.
• 3:15
  SPEAKER_00: And uh so I had purchased your products as well as a couple other ones uh as I was trying to get out of obviously working in the industry and trying to find my replacements.
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_02: That's super cool to hear.
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I mean that's it's yeah, it's crazy.
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_02: Like people who have like seen the brand from like day one where it's like I mean, I had I was actually going through my camera roll the other day, like looking for old photos and stuff, uh, and just like cleaning things up.
• 3:38
  SPEAKER_02: And like it's just wild because like my partner and I, we were we were bartenders.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_02: Like we eventually like all moved into like private director positions and management and all that stuff in in the hospitality space.
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_02: But um, at the end of the day, we didn't know shit about like launching a CPG product or like branding and marketing.
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_02: Like I did, I did all of our original design, I did like everything like from like the print and the marketing and all that stuff.
• 4:03
  SPEAKER_02: My partner did like all of our formulations.
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_02: Luckily, we were more on like the uh the nerdy side of creating cocktails, so we had like some knowledge of like acidifiers and preservatives and like things that we could use that like translated over to the manufacturing space.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_02: But like those original bottles were just like not meant for scaling at all.
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_02: Like the wax seal, like that was the first thing when we started moving into like major markets and we started selling like a ton of product.
• 4:31
  SPEAKER_02: We had like four pots of wax going at once.
• 4:35
  SPEAKER_00: We had somebody like literally sitting there like so popular then I understood why you did it.
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_00: I get it.
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_00: We were all doing, we were wax dipping everything back then, you know.
• 4:43
  SPEAKER_02: Well, it was like our differentiate, right?
• 4:45
  SPEAKER_02: It was like just like, oh, this is like a really cool back bar presentation, and it worked out really well when we were making, you know, five or six cases at a time in my partner's living room.
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but like we didn't really think about how that would scale to like you know, several hundred thousand bottles a year or whatever.
• 5:03
  SPEAKER_02: And we were like, like, we have to get rid of this freaking wax.
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_02: So, like when we rebranded, we were like, all right, this is an excuse to finally pull the wax seal.
• 5:11
  SPEAKER_00: I can uh I was I I actually I gotta find the old photos.
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_00: I remember I was working with a Cidery client once and we started a wax dipping uh with some of our limited release bourbon barrel-age beers, and it was just the funniest thing.
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_00: We took photos behind the scenes, like we literally pulled a crock pot from the administrative assistant's house and cooked the cooked all the wax, and we're literally cleaned the chili out before we did it, but it was yeah, it got to a point too where it's like just like there's no level of consistency there either.
• 5:39
  SPEAKER_02: So, like, because we would we would we were getting so busy and we were selling so much of it, like we had to have, like I said, like three or four pots and like three or four people doing it, and then some of them would have wax running down to like all the way on like the base of the bottle, and like some of them were like stringy, and like I'm like, dude, we have to get rid of this freaking wax.
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_02: My my come the Jesus moment on that was uh so for my hospitality sp uh background, um, I was really close with our our Beam Centauri rep.
• 6:08
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and like we were at lunch one day, it was after I already left the hospitality space, and I like I was talking about this wax seal, uh, and she was like, She's like, oh my God.
• 6:17
  SPEAKER_02: She's like, they've been trying to get rid of it at Maker's Mark for like, you know, forever.
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_02: Um and like they just uh they just like they just like people love it, like they can't get rid of it.
• 6:30
  SPEAKER_02: Um and and I was like, well, if if they can't figure out a way to to get rid of this and transition away from it, like we're completely screwed.
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_02: And they're like, it's still hand-dipped every single one to this day.
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_02: Maybe it's actually my southern rep.
• 6:42
  SPEAKER_02: I don't even know if makers market beep to Tory, but um yeah, it was it was hilarious.
• 6:49
  SPEAKER_00: What um so for you guys going through, I want to I'll I'll tell I'll tail end it with uh coming on kind of more modern stuff, but let's go back to like I enjoy with uh with everybody in these founder spaces.
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_00: Let's go back to like 18, 19 years old.
• 7:01
  SPEAKER_00: What's Adam doing?
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_00: And where and where are you geographically at that point?
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_02: Uh so I'm born and raised in Chicago.
• 7:06
  SPEAKER_02: I've always been here in Chicago.
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, you know, when you know I graduated, obviously, uh, you know, I I pursued um I pursued an education in business administration.
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_02: I didn't finish in college.
• 7:23
  SPEAKER_02: Um, so I have I do have an associate's in business administration.
• 7:27
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but I I honestly just kind of like fluttered around in odd jobs.
• 7:32
  SPEAKER_02: Uh and I would say like in when I was maybe 22, 21, 22, that's when I actually started working in hospitality and I started out just like working the door at a bar, checking IDs.
• 7:46
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and that was really where my like journey into hospitality started.
• 7:51
  SPEAKER_02: And it's kind of a wild path that I took because I ended up, like I said, just started working security, checking IDs, and I was seeing like we're together at the same time.
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, like how much how much money the bartenders were making.
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_02: And I was like, holy shit, I'm like, I want to bartend.
• 8:05
  SPEAKER_00: Um I'm making 50 bucks an hour.
• 8:07
  SPEAKER_00: If I have to arrest with this guy, I'm not I'm gonna get sued.
• 8:10
  SPEAKER_00: You know, you had a as a bartender, as a as a battery world.
• 8:13
  SPEAKER_02: First night as an ID checker, it was at a place called Fedora Lounge on Clark Street.
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I literally had a a wasted army vet who was like way bigger, way stronger than me, like just causing a freaking scene.
• 8:29
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and like he was like throwing shit, and like we had like literally wrestle my first night, we had to like wrestle this guy out of here.
• 8:36
  SPEAKER_02: He was like throwing me around, like, and I'm like, holy shit.
• 8:39
  SPEAKER_02: I'm like this, I'm like, I I literally asked the owner, I'm like, is it always like this?
• 8:43
  SPEAKER_02: He's like, no, that's actually like a very unique situation.
• 8:45
  SPEAKER_02: It just happened to be like your first night doing this.
• 8:48
  SPEAKER_02: But um, as as luck would have it, uh, you know, at that bar when I was uh checking IDs, I expressed like some interest in bartending, and they were kind of like, all right, you know, we'll keep a position open for you, uh, or we'll keep that in mind.
• 9:02
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but like the Chicago hospitality industry, it's actually, especially at like the places, like this is a very busy kind of industry clubby place.
• 9:11
  SPEAKER_02: And like it's it's actually like somewhat limited to like male bartenders.
• 9:17
  SPEAKER_02: Like, I feel like there's like a like a generally desire to like it.
• 9:21
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's abnormal in Chicago, you're right.
• 9:23
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, there's a lot of like like it's very it's hard to explain.
• 9:26
  SPEAKER_02: So, but like there is like a tendency for like these like hot places to to hire like attractive young female bartenders, right?
• 9:34
  SPEAKER_02: And like, here I am, just the ID checker security guy at the door.
• 9:38
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but as luck would have it, uh one of the the bartenders like broke her wrist scooping ice somehow in in the craziest way.
• 9:47
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, and she was out for like you know, three to four months.
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_02: And so um I was able to like work in and kind of like a temporary basis bartending, and that was where I really kind of like fell in love with making drinks, uh, and then you know, kind of just just really dove in on like my personal time and a personal level.
• 10:07
  SPEAKER_02: And this, by the way, was not like a mixology place.
• 10:09
  SPEAKER_02: This is like uh just like you know, vodka soda, beer in a shot type place.
• 10:15
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but uh I just really like wanted to be great at making cocktails, and so like I learned everything I could about it.
• 10:22
  SPEAKER_02: Uh the money was good, so um, I think that like you know made me pursue it a little bit more.
• 10:30
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and I just like kept learning and learning and learning on my free time.
• 10:33
  SPEAKER_02: I read, you know, Curious Bartender, Liquid Intelligence, like all these, you know, super crazy cocktail books.
• 10:40
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and eventually like started doing, you know, uh from there I moved into a program that had like a little bit more elevation.
• 10:49
  SPEAKER_02: Um, you know, it was mostly beer.
• 10:51
  SPEAKER_02: So like I I also pursued like beer cicerone certification.
• 10:55
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and so I started running uh the beer program at this bar, and then I moved into hotels, uh bartending and doing like some of the cocktail lists, and then eventually I moved on to beverage director, kind of doing their program.
• 11:08
  SPEAKER_02: That was like the the high-end program that I had always kind of like wanted to run.
• 11:13
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and so like that was where I really got to nerd out and was like the big outlet for like creating fancy, cool cocktails with you know, unique ingredients and like fat washing and like just doing a lot of like really interesting.
• 11:29
  SPEAKER_02: I I don't want to say innovative because I feel like everyone, you know, in that space, um like it's just it's a really good creative outfit, right?
• 11:39
  SPEAKER_02: Like I don't think it's like necessarily innovative to be fat washing things that you know, 2020, 20 like 19, 2018.
• 11:48
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but you know, it's where you get to make like really cool different drinks.
• 11:53
  SPEAKER_02: And like that was something that I always really enjoyed.
• 11:56
  SPEAKER_02: And so when we saw an opportunity to like make a CPG product, I think it was just like another challenge for us um and another beverage for us to learn.
• 12:05
  SPEAKER_02: My partner's the same way, he's he's very into like just making really cool, interesting drinks.
• 12:11
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I grew I grew up a little split life of between like outside of Philadelphia and then down in West Virginia when I was growing up.
• 12:17
  SPEAKER_00: And then in and same thing throughout my life, I've kind of bounced back and forth.
• 12:21
  SPEAKER_00: But I spent a week, uh two weeks actually down in uh in Chicago at the Siebel Institute to get my master's of beer style course back when Siebel was uh down in the basement across from Goose Island.
• 12:32
  SPEAKER_00: And um when I was down there, I was we did a lot of RD like out in the area, and at the same time when I was there, I was doing recruiting for breweries and bringing them over to Pennsylvania and setting up their distribution.
• 12:42
  SPEAKER_00: Similar thing I'm doing today, but this is back probably 10 years ago, maybe more.
• 12:46
  SPEAKER_00: Um, my point, what I'm trying to say is I loved the Chicago hospitality scene because it was like it reminded me of Philadelphia in the sense that everybody's real blue-collar and real rough, and I love that because that's my personality, but also elevated, and I don't I like that word elevated is is overused now, so I don't know why it just society just put that in my head just now, so I'm gonna blame them.
• 13:08
  SPEAKER_00: But you could go and get a refined drink and and stuff like that at a at a place like you're talking about, but you also can have just a vulgar conversation with the person next to you while you're drinking a$25 martini.
• 13:18
  SPEAKER_00: And I just loved the duality of like of that in Chicago.
• 13:21
  SPEAKER_00: So you couldn't be it couldn't be more true exactly how you described it.
• 13:25
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, man.
• 13:26
  SPEAKER_02: I I gotta tell you, I I fucking love this city.
• 13:28
  SPEAKER_02: Like Chicago, it's it's to me, I mean, it's it's not so great right now when it's you know 10 degrees outside and last week when it was minus 38.
• 13:38
  SPEAKER_02: But you know, we kind of like live for the summer here, and like the I've traveled so many places, and like everywhere I go, it's always like uh I could probably live here for a year, I could probably live here for you know two years or whatever.
• 13:51
  SPEAKER_02: I could probably live anywhere for a year, but Chicago really does have like a unique mix of like it's a big city, but it's still a Midwest city.
• 14:01
  SPEAKER_02: So like people are still like pretty friendly, um, and like everyone's willing to kind of shoot the shit with you.
• 14:07
  SPEAKER_02: It's got like that big city New York feel, but like it's a little bit smaller.
• 14:11
  SPEAKER_02: It's got like world-class dining, you know, world-class beverage programs, um a great, a great food city because we're locked, you know, that's all we can do for you know three or four months out of the year.
• 14:24
  SPEAKER_02: So there's a lot of focus on the food over here, but I always I always joke with a friend of mine that, and she disagrees, but I always joke with a friend of mine that Chicago is like a top five city in the world.
• 14:35
  SPEAKER_02: Um and I always say top two in the United States.
• 14:38
  SPEAKER_02: I always put it sucked to New York.
• 14:39
  SPEAKER_02: I'll I'll give New York the props in terms of like food city.
• 14:43
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but uh I I love it here, and like honestly, I I can't really envision myself living long term anywhere else.
• 14:49
  SPEAKER_00: When I was there, it was uh it was the beginning of February, so I know I know the feeling you're feeling right now.
• 14:53
  SPEAKER_00: And I just remembered.
• 14:54
  SPEAKER_00: First time of year.
• 14:55
  SPEAKER_00: Exactly.
• 14:56
  SPEAKER_00: I think it was like it was maybe Manhattan Avenue or one of the places where the where the the hotel was, and it was the t the wind tunnel is going up and getting out of the out of the cab and walking up the wind and the cold.
• 15:07
  SPEAKER_02: I just it was I Michigan Michigan Avenue, big main street.
• 15:11
  SPEAKER_00: Exactly what it was.
• 15:12
  SPEAKER_00: It was it was the wind tunnel of that road when I got out every time.
• 15:15
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, you get the wind off the lake over there.
• 15:17
  SPEAKER_02: So the hotel that uh my business partner and I actually met on, uh met at was the London House, which is right on the corner of Wacker in Michigan.
• 15:25
  SPEAKER_02: So it's like a really elevated kind of rooftop experience.
• 15:28
  SPEAKER_02: It's like got probably the best view in the city.
• 15:30
  SPEAKER_02: Um, it was the number one rated hotel on TripAdvisor forever when we were there.
• 15:35
  SPEAKER_02: Um I don't know if they're still there because I haven't I haven't looked into it, but that was right on the corner of Wacker in Michigan, and like on that rooftop outside, we would run like winter activations.
• 15:44
  SPEAKER_02: I actually did like this whole series with the the chef there that was called like the Nordic event where we would do we would we would basically because the rooftop was closed throughout the winter and it was like our number one draw point to the hotel.
• 15:57
  SPEAKER_02: Um so like we would do this, we we were trying to like monetize winter and we do this event called the Nordic event where people would buy tickets.
• 16:04
  SPEAKER_02: It was like 10 seats at the bar, the chef would come up and cook.
• 16:07
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I would do like a custom beverage pairing for like each dish they put out, and like everyone would get like a fur coat and like a furry hat, and we did like some ice sculptures and stuff.
• 16:17
  SPEAKER_02: Um, it was like a pretty cool experience, but uh being on that roof in like January, February, like you really just get like unabated wind coming off the lake, and it was like blistering cold.
• 16:31
  SPEAKER_02: We would have to like like go in the back and like heat up and we like take shifts, like warming up in the back room.
• 16:37
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 16:37
  SPEAKER_00: So what when you're going through and you're you're uh you know, your director of food and beverage and you and your partner and stuff like that, paint the picture, the emotions, like what's going on, and what age are you in Chicago when you guys start, let's call it, conspiring uh while you're working together, as far as uh as what what becomes the brands that you have today.
• 16:56
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, so Danny, uh Danny and I, my partner, um we we we met at London House and we were working behind the bar.
• 17:04
  SPEAKER_02: Again, we were both like just super big beverage nerds, you know.
• 17:08
  SPEAKER_02: Like we would we would have like when we were slow, we would have like cocktail contests to like, and we would give like random ingredients like mushrooms and like like just like crazy stuff.
• 17:18
  SPEAKER_02: Um he always won, by the way.
• 17:19
  SPEAKER_02: He's he's a much better mixologist than I am.
• 17:22
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but so we would always have these cocktail contests, and I think like we we gelled really well because of that like you know, just commonality with like being just super crazy beverage nerds, and we were always like trying to think of like ways that we could go into business together, you know, in in the cocktail space.
• 17:42
  SPEAKER_02: So um initially back in 2019 when we started the company, uh it was like January of 2019, we started out um doing like premium cocktail syrups and selling mostly B2B.
• 17:56
  SPEAKER_02: So we did like some very large um hotel programs where like they wanted to maintain natural ingredients and they wanted like consistency in their cocktails, but they um they didn't, you know, they didn't necessarily have the staff for it, or they didn't want to produce, you know, they didn't have the kitchen for it, or um, they just weren't getting consistent results with their batch recipe.
• 18:18
  SPEAKER_02: So we would basically make, you know, blueberry syrup with like organic blueberries in like very large quantities, you know, 40, 50 gallons at a time for these hotel programs.
• 18:32
  SPEAKER_02: So that was like ultimately what we started out doing in you know January of 2019.
• 18:37
  SPEAKER_02: And like, you know, we obviously ran that business, but it wasn't it wasn't very scalable and it was like very messy because we were literally just making sugar syrup.
• 18:47
  SPEAKER_02: So like I would go over to Danny's apartment sometimes and like he would have you know, you you think of everything as just being like nice and clean, and like you build it in a batch and it goes in a bag.
• 18:58
  SPEAKER_02: It was like a bag in box format, and it goes in a bag, and like everything's good.
• 19:02
  SPEAKER_02: But like in reality, when you're doing these things, like you you screw up sometimes and you get you know sugar on the floor.
• 19:08
  SPEAKER_02: And if you get simple syrup or any sort of syrup on the floor, it's like it's like impossible to clean up with just one pass.
• 19:16
  SPEAKER_02: Like you'd like go into his apartment and he'd be like sticking to the floor and be like, dude, we need to mop this like three or four more times.
• 19:21
  SPEAKER_02: And we were like, you know, the syrup thing is is nice, but like I don't know if we want to like just be making cocktail 50 gallons of cocktail syrup um long term.
• 19:30
  SPEAKER_02: So that was when we started like looking for maybe other things, and um, as luck would have it, uh two things, two things unfolded.
• 19:40
  SPEAKER_02: Um, one, we brought in uh we were introduced to like uh seed lib at London House.
• 19:47
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 19:47
  SPEAKER_02: So at our bar program, we saw they brought in seed lip.
• 19:51
  SPEAKER_02: We were very close with DiAgio.
• 19:53
  SPEAKER_02: Um this is like I think like right around the time they bought them and they introduced Seedlip to us, and we were like, oh, this is cool.
• 19:58
  SPEAKER_02: Like you can make non-alcohol cocktails um for people.
• 20:02
  SPEAKER_02: But we were like, where's the functionality?
• 20:05
  SPEAKER_02: You know, like it's really just a placebo and like not to knock seed lip or or any other brand.
• 20:10
  SPEAKER_02: Um, there's obviously a place for those things in the world, but what we saw in 2019 is we were like, well, more people are drinking mocktails, like we can see that very clearly from behind the bar.
• 20:21
  SPEAKER_02: You know, the people are are answering like the sophistication and creating like seed lip to like, you know, make uh a product that still has kind of like cocktail flavor uh without the alcohol, but like nobody has really addressed like the functionality or the buzz.
• 20:41
  SPEAKER_02: And that was something that we we spotted right on is we were like right away, we were like, well, this is this product doesn't really have an effect, it's just a placebo.
• 20:51
  SPEAKER_02: And and the next thing that happened was through our syrup business, we were contracted to do a THC-infused simple syrup.
• 20:59
  SPEAKER_02: And like this is late 2019.
• 21:05
  SPEAKER_02: Like nobody knows really about hemp drive stuff, uh, except for this one person who contracted us to do to do the simple syrup.
• 21:12
  SPEAKER_02: And so we were like, How are you doing this?
• 21:14
  SPEAKER_02: And that's when they explained to us the 2018 farm bill, um, and and all you know the legalities behind that.
• 21:20
  SPEAKER_02: And we were like, holy shit, this is this is like exactly what we were looking for.
• 21:25
  SPEAKER_02: This is like the perfect thing.
• 21:26
  SPEAKER_02: So we we got started, um, we got started formulating at first we started with C B D because we weren't sure about the THC stuff.
• 21:35
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, we were like, all right, you know, maybe you do it, but like we're not trying to go to jail.
• 21:41
  SPEAKER_02: And so we started with the C B D stuff and we were like, this is like a cool functional ingredient that we can add.
• 21:46
  SPEAKER_02: And then ultimately, you know, story basically we progressed in the THC.
• 21:52
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, you know, maybe about a year later, after we saw kind of like, you know, this person was doing it and like nothing was happening and like what they were saying was true.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_02: So, yeah, that was kind of like the the origin story of Flora.
• 22:04
  SPEAKER_02: I know it's a mouthful.
• 22:05
  SPEAKER_00: No, no, no.
• 22:06
  SPEAKER_00: That's perfect.
• 22:06
  SPEAKER_00: And I love I love it.
• 22:07
  SPEAKER_00: What what um how many states are you guys currently in?
• 22:11
  SPEAKER_00: And I mean that in a in a wholesale direct kind of way, not DTC shipping or anything like that.
• 22:16
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, we're uh we're currently in 11 states.
• 22:20
  SPEAKER_02: Uh we're launching Texas next month.
• 22:23
  SPEAKER_02: So we're in 11 states.
• 22:25
  SPEAKER_02: Uh we've had to, you know, go in, go out, like we've we've done the rigor morale with everyone.
• 22:31
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, we're in 11, 11 markets right now.
• 22:33
  SPEAKER_02: We're excited to launch, launch Texas.
• 22:36
  SPEAKER_00: Are you um are you guys uh when you guys go through these things, like what are what are some of your without giving away your secret sauce, like because you guys have been doing this, and if you're in 11 states, you've seen 11 different cultures, 11 different societies, 11 different markets.
• 22:51
  SPEAKER_00: What are some of the ways from an agility standpoint?
• 22:54
  SPEAKER_00: I want to give context to this is I interview uh hundreds of founders on this show and the other one we have, uh, the Leaders Arena.
• 23:01
  SPEAKER_00: And I think a lot of times brands, you coming from the retail side of things, you have that good inspiration or not inspirational experience that you had where you understood what's on the reverse side.
• 23:12
  SPEAKER_00: You understood how consumers digest your product, and I don't mean literally, I mean conceptually, visually, all the sensory gastronomic gastronomy that goes, neuro gastronomy that goes along with it.
• 23:22
  SPEAKER_00: How did you guys, you know, go to market differently than maybe some other brands do because of the fact that you guys have the back end knowledge going into it, as opposed to just a couple guys that, you know, some other stories we heard, you know?
• 23:36
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I mean, I think for us, it's always been about um translating like the bar experience into a packaged product.
• 23:45
  SPEAKER_02: So, like, we to be to be perfectly transparent.
• 23:48
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, like, we don't have marketing backgrounds, we don't have like CPG branding backgrounds.
• 23:52
  SPEAKER_02: Now we have like, you know, some agencies and people who help us with that stuff.
• 23:56
  SPEAKER_02: But um, you know, at our very core, we were just bartenders, right?
• 24:01
  SPEAKER_02: Like, we wanted to make like a cocktail experience in a non-alcoholic product.
• 24:06
  SPEAKER_02: Excuse me.
• 24:07
  SPEAKER_02: So like that has really always kind of been our our driving ship.
• 24:10
  SPEAKER_02: And and we like making things.
• 24:13
  SPEAKER_02: So like the manufacturing side of things, like we built this whole entire, you know, 11,000 square foot manufacturing facility dedicated to these product products, which like maybe maybe wasn't always the best use of like our capital.
• 24:27
  SPEAKER_02: Maybe like it would have been better to go and and copack and market it, but like that's that's the part of the business that we really enjoy.
• 24:33
  SPEAKER_02: So like we we have always looked at building products from like the liquid first approach, and we've always um really focused on like what what was in the can, in the bottle, um, and kind of worried about you know the outer packaging and stuff like that.
• 24:52
  SPEAKER_02: Um, second.
• 24:54
  SPEAKER_02: So like that's why we we insist on doing all the things ourselves because we don't we don't trust anyone else to do them.
• 25:02
  SPEAKER_02: Uh so like we want control over all the things.
• 25:05
  SPEAKER_02: Like the only thing we don't do here is grow it.
• 25:07
  SPEAKER_02: So like we emulsify here, uh we obviously you know batch here, mix and fill, label, and we do all the things here.
• 25:15
  SPEAKER_02: Um and like that's something that we've always wanted to have control over and something that we've always really enjoyed.
• 25:20
  SPEAKER_02: So like I would say that's that's like the biggest thing, you know.
• 25:24
  SPEAKER_02: To answer your question, I'm not sure if we've really I'm not sure if we really considered like how it appears on the back bar as much as like maybe we should have.
• 25:32
  SPEAKER_02: We've always just been more so like like we just want to make cool fucking drinks.
• 25:36
  SPEAKER_02: Like we just want to make like good stuff.
• 25:38
  SPEAKER_02: We want to make cool drinks, we want to make a really great product.
• 25:41
  SPEAKER_02: And like that has always been like the the main number one focus of us for us.
• 25:47
  SPEAKER_00: Now I know this not always is your favorite product, but like what's your kind of what are your top two sellers right now from dosage and flavoring right now?
• 25:55
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, so we actually aren't uh we aren't live with the 10 milligrams yet in any markets except Texas.
• 26:02
  SPEAKER_02: They're going live February 3rd.
• 26:03
  SPEAKER_02: We're launching with uh with Specs, so it's big, big retailer out there.
• 26:07
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, very nice.
• 26:08
  SPEAKER_00: That's a nice rollout.
• 26:09
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 26:10
  SPEAKER_02: That's yeah, it's a good coming out party for the brand.
• 26:12
  SPEAKER_02: Um, you know, I I tend to drink the five milligram cocktails because I come from the bar business and I'm a THC lightweight.
• 26:19
  SPEAKER_02: I really enjoy the passion fruit margarita.
• 26:21
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, it's not our top-selling product.
• 26:23
  SPEAKER_02: The blueberry mules are top-selling five milligram.
• 26:26
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but I like the passion fruit margarita.
• 26:29
  SPEAKER_02: I really like like that tropical, uh kind of juicy flavor.
• 26:34
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and like that's that's what I think is one of the differences of our products is again coming from a bar background, like they are a little bit more juice forward.
• 26:42
  SPEAKER_02: They are a little bit more like viscous, they're a little bit more like drinking a cocktail as opposed to drinking a seltzer.
• 26:50
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but yeah, passion fruit margarita all the way for me.
• 26:53
  SPEAKER_00: That's I love that's again what I expected you to say in the sense that not the exact thing, but the the different recipes that you guys have.
• 27:00
  SPEAKER_00: So kind of walk me through the different uh the different cocktail concoctions that you guys have and stuff like that.
• 27:06
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, so our five milligrams, uh, we do blueberry mule, we do passion fruit margarita, and we do spicy mango margarita.
• 27:15
  SPEAKER_02: Um little little teaser for the 10 milligrams, even though they're not live yet.
• 27:19
  SPEAKER_02: We did uh pineapple guava, they're all highballs.
• 27:23
  SPEAKER_02: We did pineapple guava highball, we did uh blackberry lemon highball, and then we did uh grapefruit ginger highball.
• 27:31
  SPEAKER_02: Um and we did that very intentionally.
• 27:34
  SPEAKER_02: Like most brands, like they take just like their their you know, fives and then they replicate the same flavors in like a 10 and a two and a half.
• 27:42
  SPEAKER_02: But again, like we we like making drinks.
• 27:44
  SPEAKER_02: So like we wanted to do something different.
• 27:46
  SPEAKER_02: And again, even though it's not maybe the best thing from a business perspective, like it's we don't really care.
• 27:51
  SPEAKER_02: Like we we want to make we want to make different shit.
• 27:54
  SPEAKER_02: Um, so we we really like you know, it's it's double the storage space and it's you know basically double everything.
• 28:03
  SPEAKER_02: But you know, we wanted to formulate something new because it's like what drives us and what keeps us interested in the business.
• 28:09
  SPEAKER_02: So like we we went with three different flavors for our 10 milligrams.
• 28:12
  SPEAKER_02: Um not even not even being biased, like they're all fantastic drinks.
• 28:17
  SPEAKER_02: Danny made them and they're I mean, they're they're outrageous, they're so good.
• 28:21
  SPEAKER_02: Um so like yeah, I mean I I could drink like any of the honestly, the 10 milligram flavors are all like fucking awesome.
• 28:30
  SPEAKER_02: Like people haven't had a chance to try them yet, but the 10 milligram flavors, like I could drink, if I could handle a 10 milligram dosage, like those would probably be like one, two, and three, and then like passion fruit margarita four, blueberry mule five, and spicy six.
• 28:47
  SPEAKER_00: The the fact that you know you're very humble in the way you say this, but I want to give you credit in somebody that's been in this industry, the adult beverage industry for 20 years, you did do something different because everybody else wanted to come out with seltzers.
• 28:59
  SPEAKER_00: And everybody else wanted to chase the RTD tround in the seltzer realm.
• 29:03
  SPEAKER_00: And you didn't, you did something unique.
• 29:05
  SPEAKER_00: And I I I go back to one of the first episodes a couple years ago was uh was uh Rebecca uh Stin from uh Blind Tiger or Mocktails, and she's not in the hemp space, but she's in she's in the mocktail space, and she was doing that uh you know before COVID, I think, and and stuff like that.
• 29:22
  SPEAKER_00: And the day's coming from the business standpoint where you your your rewards will be reaped for what you guys are doing.
• 29:30
  SPEAKER_00: At the moment, everybody's chasing seltzers and all the other stuff, but I have a feeling what's going to happen is the more normalization that we bring to this, the more people will see us as interchangeable.
• 29:39
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so one of the things from an education standpoint we're doing with our campaign in Pennsylvania for the law passing this year is uh is going for comparisons and showing people, you know, five milligrams like a pilsner, you know, 10 milligrams is an IPA-ish.
• 29:52
  SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
• 29:53
  SPEAKER_00: You get to 20s and 50s, you're getting to the shot and the bourbon kind of thing.
• 29:56
  SPEAKER_00: And I think that the more we normalize the universalness of it, I also respect, and I gotta say this is because I'm a big advocate of the entire industry, but I'm also a realist on understanding that the beverage is not the same as the edibles and the flour.
• 30:10
  SPEAKER_00: And the beverage is not the same consumer either.
• 30:13
  SPEAKER_00: It's not a dispensary product.
• 30:15
  SPEAKER_00: It's a product that actually what people need to realize is it can be the lost leader, so to speak, to bring people into the entire industry, but they can't stand together because it's convoluted.
• 30:25
  SPEAKER_00: And you overwhelm the consumer and they they go, Whoa, that's too wild.
• 30:28
  SPEAKER_00: Gummies, I'm not into that.
• 30:30
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, you got to separate yourself because it's all about the consumer journey, and there needs to be an entry point, discovery point.
• 30:38
  SPEAKER_00: Is beverage.
• 30:39
  SPEAKER_02: I agree, uh a hundred percent.
• 30:41
  SPEAKER_02: And like now we're getting to like controversial territory.
• 30:44
  SPEAKER_00: I actually don't care because I'm very public about my feeling is acting like you and I'm gonna be.
• 30:47
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, me too.
• 30:48
  SPEAKER_00: I don't I don't care, but I mean I'm sure we'll piss off a lot of people by saying it.
• 30:52
  SPEAKER_00: Messages, don't worry.
• 30:53
  SPEAKER_02: Like this this kind of goes back to like the top of the call.
• 30:56
  SPEAKER_02: We've always we've always aligned ourselves with adult beverage.
• 30:58
  SPEAKER_02: Like, we we do believe that there's honestly more commonality between hemp beverage and alcohol than there is between hemp beverage and like cannabis.
• 31:09
  SPEAKER_02: The drinkable element is such a differentiator.
• 31:12
  SPEAKER_02: Like, you're never gonna get cannabis smoked in a bar or restaurant.
• 31:15
  SPEAKER_02: Like, you're never gonna get that.
• 31:16
  SPEAKER_02: It's not a thing.
• 31:17
  SPEAKER_02: So, like, my when I talk to dispensary folks from the regulated space, you know, Illinois is a recreational market.
• 31:24
  SPEAKER_02: We know a lot of them.
• 31:25
  SPEAKER_02: Um, you know, I always kind of say, like, beverage to your point is like the best point of discovery you can possibly have.
• 31:32
  SPEAKER_02: And like I use my my 65-year-old father as an example.
• 31:35
  SPEAKER_02: Like, this man lived through the 60s and 70s, never touched any THC product his whole entire life, or at least that's what he's told us.
• 31:44
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but he uh he started drinking flora to like support my business and like curb his drinking a little bit.
• 31:52
  SPEAKER_02: And then, like, you know, about maybe seven or eight months ago, I talked to him and he's like, Oh, he's like, Do you know that they have a a dispense uh a seniors discount at the dispensary?
• 32:02
  SPEAKER_02: And I'm like, what are you doing in a dispensary?
• 32:03
  SPEAKER_02: And he's like, Oh, he's like, I wanted to like try out some other stuff, and like now, now he doesn't drink flora anymore.
• 32:08
  SPEAKER_02: Now he's just like, you know, 100 milligram chocolate bars.
• 32:12
  SPEAKER_02: Um, so like that's that's where I think the journey is, and I think that's like where people in the recreational space are missing, like everyone's just looking at like potency and being like, oh, I think I think there's a lot of business challenges in the recreational space that they're now, you know, they're they're experiencing a little bit of a pullback and like the market's not as as bullish as it once was.
• 32:36
  SPEAKER_02: And I think like everyone's kind of looking for somebody to blame, but I I think if they were to flip their perspective on it and see this is a way to like actually drive awareness, like the problem I see in the dispensary channels is like there are people interested in THC who would never set foot into your into your dispensary, like my dad.
• 32:56
  SPEAKER_02: Like he would have never walked into a dispensary a day in his life if he didn't discover the product through Flora first.
• 33:03
  SPEAKER_02: And like the more the more availability that you have for beverage, and if you silo all the other stuff into dispensaries, that drives traffic to dispensaries.
• 33:16
  SPEAKER_02: That's I mean, that's your point of discovery.
• 33:17
  SPEAKER_02: That's where consumers are are normalizing things, is in America's bars and restaurants.
• 33:22
  SPEAKER_02: Um, so yeah, I'm I'm a firm believer that like, you know, hemp beverage, THC beverage, intoxicating beverage belongs in adult beverage channels and you know, the smokables, even even the edibles.
• 33:36
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, I think you can make, I think like the you know, five, 10 milligram gummies are kind of like the middle ground there.
• 33:41
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but like, you know, let like the dispensary guys can make make their money on the you know, the smokables, the edibles.
• 33:49
  SPEAKER_02: I don't think dispensary people have like a huge desire to sell even moderately dosed hemp beverage.
• 33:54
  SPEAKER_02: Like I just think it's it takes up too much space in their vault.
• 33:58
  SPEAKER_02: Like, I don't you I don't know what the the status is in Pennsylvania with like recreational.
• 34:02
  SPEAKER_02: I do you guys have it or no?
• 34:04
  SPEAKER_00: We don't have recreational, we just have medical.
• 34:06
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but then we have like in Maryland, it's recreational, and then the hemp products are only in certain areas.
• 34:11
  SPEAKER_00: Um so right now we have the opposite, which is what our bill is.
• 34:14
  SPEAKER_00: So it the only law that exists is it cannot sit in the same premise and be served in the same premise as alcohol.
• 34:19
  SPEAKER_00: So our bill is just flipping the script um and allowing a hemp beverage permit license uh to be bolted onto an alcohol license for distribution, for retail, as well as for manufacturing.
• 34:31
  SPEAKER_00: The other thing is that then vape shops, coffee shops, anybody like that can also buy a hemp beverage permit.
• 34:36
  SPEAKER_00: And then under that is going to be called the Keystone Cannabis Board, which is the regulatory arm of those permit holders.
• 34:43
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so that's how we're organizing it to go through.
• 34:46
  SPEAKER_00: And I want to remind people before you jump in is this is back 15 years ago when we were all in the craft beer industry and we were all villainizing Goose Island and Blue Moon and all this stuff.
• 34:55
  SPEAKER_00: I was one of the only ones on the island being like, we need them because one, they have the money to educate the consumer on craft beer, and two, it's an approachable commoditized product that is an entry to the journey.
• 35:06
  SPEAKER_00: And if you want them drinking your, you know, your surleys and your revolution and all these other things, you need to have these guys on the front end.
• 35:14
  SPEAKER_00: And I can't tell you how many family members and friends and all this stuff.
• 35:17
  SPEAKER_00: I was in charge of the craft beer and business development for a$50 million wholesaler.
• 35:22
  SPEAKER_00: And every day I would still serve somebody a blue moon if they asked me about what it is I do.
• 35:25
  SPEAKER_00: The first drink I would give them would be a blue moon.
• 35:27
  SPEAKER_00: And then they go, okay, I can do that.
• 35:28
  SPEAKER_00: And then the second drink would be a little bit of a more obscure drink.
• 35:31
  SPEAKER_00: And then it would go because it's a journey and it's a journey with steps, and you can't go to step seven without going to step one.
• 35:37
  SPEAKER_00: So now, some people, yeah, they'll jump in, they'll cold plunge themselves right into an IPA or a triple IPA on the first jump from another light.
• 35:43
  SPEAKER_00: But most people, that'll turn you off.
• 35:45
  SPEAKER_00: And that's what we don't realize is when you don't allow that journey to flow correctly and you turn them off too early, they're gone from the entire industry.
• 35:53
  SPEAKER_00: And I think that's where we're the industry looks short-sightedly is that we need it out there alone and and and in the approachable commoditized shell.
• 36:01
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, there's a there's a a component of of like normalization here too with beverage is like there's just like a like a destigmatization of the category through beverage.
• 36:11
  SPEAKER_02: We're like and it's comfort, you know.
• 36:13
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, like like bars and restaurants, like seeing something at a bar and restaurant, it makes it it makes it normal.
• 36:20
  SPEAKER_02: It makes it part of everyday life.
• 36:21
  SPEAKER_02: Like a dispensary.
• 36:23
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, even though it's legal here in Illinois, it's still like a very clandestine feeling experience.
• 36:28
  SPEAKER_02: Like you walk into like a double lock, like you know, you have your idea.
• 36:36
  SPEAKER_02: No, for sure.
• 36:36
  SPEAKER_02: It does.
• 36:37
  SPEAKER_02: It it feels like your brain, and like I'm somebody who I I don't I don't care.
• 36:42
  SPEAKER_02: Like, I'll go in, I'll go out, but like it's still, even for me, like it feels like very like I'm doing something wrong.
• 36:50
  SPEAKER_02: Like going into a dispensary, it's still, even though I know I'm not, like, it's still like I can't get my brain over the feeling that like this just feels like illegal.
• 36:59
  SPEAKER_02: And like when I'm in a a bar, like you know, one of the bars down my house, like they serve flora, um, and they serve they serve a number of other hemp beverages, right?
• 37:08
  SPEAKER_02: Like, um, and like when I'm there and like somebody orders a wink next to me or somebody orders a flora next to me, like it doesn't feel wrong, right?
• 37:18
  SPEAKER_02: And like that's that's I think like the biggest hurdle that's like not super quantifiable, but that's like the biggest hurdle that I think the regulated space is trying to overcome.
• 37:28
  SPEAKER_02: And that's like the biggest solution to like this dip in revenue and dip in profits that they've seen over the last you know five to ten years.
• 37:37
  SPEAKER_02: You know, I I I think that there is, and I think all my conversations with with most of my conversations, 95% of my conversations with people in the regulated space are are kind of you know pragmatic, like, you know, back and forth conversations where they express their views and I express my views, and like we can I always kind of like come to some sort of like middle ground.
• 38:00
  SPEAKER_02: So I mean I don't I don't really look at anyone, I don't really look at anyone as an enemy.
• 38:05
  SPEAKER_02: I look at people as like needing to be informed about why this is why this is and that's the piece.
• 38:12
  SPEAKER_02: Why this is the best for everyone.
• 38:13
  SPEAKER_00: That's exactly it.
• 38:14
  SPEAKER_00: And that's what I it's my opinion, and it's but it's based on experience.
• 38:17
  SPEAKER_00: But also it's like I asked one simple question when I face face opposition sometimes, and it's like if all you sell in in is in dispensaries, then all you are consumed at is at home.
• 38:29
  SPEAKER_00: And when you and I paused, and and then people will be like, Well, what do you mean?
• 38:32
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm like, you create a social product, but you're creating an isolationist experience.
• 38:40
  SPEAKER_00: And until you realize and release the reins of that control and allow your product to live in public, it will never be socially normalized and accepted at scale.
• 38:48
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, there's like no, I mean, there's like an awareness element to all that, right?
• 38:52
  SPEAKER_02: Like, I mean, even though, you know, like the person drinking, you know, a flora or a wink or nowadays or whatever it might be, like the person drinking that product at at a bar, even they're not selling, they're not actively selling the product to their friends.
• 39:09
  SPEAKER_02: Like if they're in a group of five or six people, like they're not sitting there.
• 39:12
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, sometimes they are.
• 39:14
  SPEAKER_02: I actually overheard somebody being like, oh, you should really try one of these or THC beverages.
• 39:18
  SPEAKER_02: Like, you should have one.
• 39:19
  SPEAKER_02: So like it does happen here and there, but like, even just like that presence of having it in their can and like prompting people to be like, what is that?
• 39:27
  SPEAKER_02: Um, you know, it it just drives awareness.
• 39:30
  SPEAKER_02: Like, and I think awareness is really like the is really kind of like the the cornerstone of like, you know, in in any any category, any industry, right?
• 39:42
  SPEAKER_02: Like it's just like un it's free awareness.
• 39:45
  SPEAKER_02: And I think those those things are I think free awareness is very difficult to come by in this day and age.
• 39:50
  SPEAKER_00: It you nailed it right there.
• 39:52
  SPEAKER_00: That's exactly it.
• 39:53
  SPEAKER_00: And and and and again, it's not for anybody listening and watching, I'm not speaking ill about anybody and I'm not it's it's a it's yeah, me neither.
• 40:00
  SPEAKER_00: It's just one different angle to look at it.
• 40:02
  SPEAKER_00: And I think the big picture is right now we're short-sighted and we need to look at the long-term sustainable sustainability of things, and it's just a necessity.
• 40:10
  SPEAKER_00: So I don't want to harp on it too much, but I appreciate what you're saying with it because like because it's just it's vital to how we how we do this.
• 40:17
  SPEAKER_00: It's it makes the difference of where we are now on a sales standpoint to where we can be as a mature industry.
• 40:23
  SPEAKER_02: And like I speak also in in Illinois from the perspective of like a recreational market too.
• 40:29
  SPEAKER_02: Like we're this is a recreational market.
• 40:31
  SPEAKER_02: So like we had some um potential ordinances from the city of Chicago to be um, you know, to like a ban bill that came up.
• 40:40
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and like a lot of you know, the people selling the THCA flour and selling the vapes and selling, you know, edibles, um, they were up in arms when we introduced a beverage carve out and they were like, well, what about us?
• 40:53
  SPEAKER_02: And it's like, well, I mean, there are, you know, I don't want to see anybody's business fail.
• 40:57
  SPEAKER_02: I'm a small business owner.
• 40:58
  SPEAKER_02: We built this from from scratch, but at the end of the day, like there are profitable regulated channels here in Illinois that allow those products in in dispensary channels.
• 41:09
  SPEAKER_02: And I do, and I have no problem saying it out loud, like, I do believe that like high potency, like very concentrated things do belong in dispensary channels.
• 41:19
  SPEAKER_02: You know, uh a vape cart of isolate is like 90% THC.
• 41:24
  SPEAKER_02: Like that probably belongs in a dispensary and a regulated channel.
• 41:28
  SPEAKER_02: Like that that regulatory system, odd as it may be, and we know there are flaws with it, that was designed for those products.
• 41:36
  SPEAKER_02: Beverage was not really a thing when they they made the regulations for for cannabis in almost every state.
• 41:43
  SPEAKER_02: So, like those those regulations were not designed to move, you know, a low-dose, heavy, high volume product, like volume in terms of like you know, the can size.
• 41:56
  SPEAKER_02: Um, so like the the laws just weren't written for it.
• 41:59
  SPEAKER_02: So, like to argue that you know, beverage belongs in a dispensary channel, in my opinion, is pretty much arguing that it shouldn't exist because there's really no economic incentive for anyone to do that.
• 42:10
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I can I can I can come back without opinion and come with data, is I I welcome any brand that's in the beverage space, because I've interviewed a lot, that hasn't been in the dispensary channel and had to pull out because of zero sales.
• 42:22
  SPEAKER_00: And I think for people to realize it is a five milligram can of flora, in order to compare that to a joint, that's 30 cans of flora.
• 42:30
  SPEAKER_00: There's 150 milligrams in a joint.
• 42:32
  SPEAKER_00: So it's not the same experience and it's not the same type of thing.
• 42:36
  SPEAKER_00: And the the part that does from a what place frustrate me is that that that's just a simple fact.
• 42:41
  SPEAKER_00: The data doesn't lie.
• 42:42
  SPEAKER_00: You look at every brand that goes through dispensaries, they have to pull up because there's no sales.
• 42:46
  SPEAKER_00: Because exactly all the reasons we just talked about, and then some.
• 42:50
  SPEAKER_00: So we're at a point now where there is enough data, both anecdotally because of the size of the industry, is actual industry data that shows it's not working.
• 42:58
  SPEAKER_00: So anybody that says, well, no, you need to be in dispensaries, you're just being selfish.
• 43:02
  SPEAKER_00: I'm sorry to say that, but it is because you have a regulated system, you have retail, you're good like your green light go, you've got everything you've been fighting for, but you want to increase your volume and you want to increase your foot traffic, you don't get that by continuing the same way.
• 43:15
  SPEAKER_00: You have to have a carrot outside of the building that's going to draw people in the building.
• 43:18
  SPEAKER_00: I go back to like um beer companies back in the day, and I think some of them do.
• 43:22
  SPEAKER_00: I'll give Trogues out of Harrisburg, Hershey, Pennsylvania, a good plug here.
• 43:26
  SPEAKER_00: You know, you get the six-pack and you flip up the bottom of the six-pack, it's a it's directions to the brewery.
• 43:33
  SPEAKER_00: And I and that's what I tell people too is like, is like that's the way to do it is use your package, let it go outside the building, but let it draw people into the building if they want, if they want to take that next step and that next initiative to experience your brand in person.
• 43:46
  SPEAKER_00: Let's think about that same thing from that from that aspect.
• 43:49
  SPEAKER_00: It's like check out, you know, support your local dispensary, but buy this in the liquor store.
• 43:52
  SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
• 43:53
  SPEAKER_00: Like let's let's think about some sort of collaboration where they feel love and and they get the they get the presence and the traffic.
• 43:59
  SPEAKER_00: Cause I don't mean this.
• 44:00
  SPEAKER_00: Ill about them.
• 44:00
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not speaking badly as much as I am.
• 44:02
  SPEAKER_00: It is very frustrating to not see that five years from now, if it if that product is not sitting outside of the dispensary, the end that category, the industry will might not exist in the way we see it today.
• 44:14
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 44:14
  SPEAKER_02: And I mean, honestly, like I can I can speak about it transparently and and pretty frankly, because like it it's I believe that ultimately like having beverage in adult beverage channels is is what's best for dispensaries.
• 44:28
  SPEAKER_02: So like, you know, I don't I don't really feel bad saying that or feel like I'm like, you know, uh losing sight of anyone's interest.
• 44:36
  SPEAKER_02: Like I genuinely believe in my heart that like that is that is the best outcome for us, and that is the best outcome for them.
• 44:41
  SPEAKER_02: So yeah.
• 44:42
  SPEAKER_02: That's all I'll say on the matter.
• 44:43
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, exactly.
• 44:44
  SPEAKER_00: I'm sorry.
• 44:44
  SPEAKER_00: I got I'll I'll uh I'll hop off of that soapbox there.
• 44:47
  SPEAKER_02: No, no, no, it's all good.
• 44:48
  SPEAKER_02: I could I could just rant about that forever.
• 44:50
  SPEAKER_00: I I could, and and I obviously we do it, we do it on a weekly basis with the with everybody.
• 44:55
  SPEAKER_00: So um I I'll close it out with a with a couple other things.
• 44:58
  SPEAKER_00: Uh I want to uh I want to let you know I'll probably reach out to you and see if uh we might be able to get you on camera for the I Want My THC campaign just saying the saying the phrase and helping us drive traffic down for the signatures.
• 45:09
  SPEAKER_00: I'm sure that's not something I'm sure that's something you'd be willing to do, absolutely.
• 45:12
  SPEAKER_00: And then um as we get this law passed, I'll definitely talk to you about getting these products down in Pennsylvania because I think uh right now our current market is full of seltzers and and things like that.
• 45:21
  SPEAKER_00: And I think uh specifically for us, between you and uh a recent guest was uh Gordon over at uh uh Float House up in Connecticut.
• 45:30
  SPEAKER_00: So they do Yes, exactly.
• 45:35
  SPEAKER_02: There's certain kinds of things.
• 45:36
  SPEAKER_02: That is the the only non-alcoholic beer from somebody who who went through Cicerone.
• 45:43
  SPEAKER_02: Like that beer is phenomenal for like a non-malt, non-fermented, non-alcoholic beer.
• 45:49
  SPEAKER_02: Very good product.
• 45:50
  SPEAKER_00: I did a I did a post about it uh that it actually I've always missed that in three years of being sober.
• 45:56
  SPEAKER_00: I missed the enamel being pulled off my teeth.
• 45:58
  SPEAKER_00: And and I really just missed that bite of the IPA.
• 46:01
  SPEAKER_00: And uh I actually got choked up on Christmas Eve.
• 46:03
  SPEAKER_00: Christmas more Christmas Eve morning, the the package landed from Gordon and Jerry.
• 46:07
  SPEAKER_00: I pop the first within minutes I pop open that double IPA and actually broke a tear because they actually nailed it and they brought back that feeling where I had no guilt, you know what I mean, no alcohol, but I get to have that that certain sensory uh reaction that I wanted.
• 46:23
  SPEAKER_02: But yeah, it it tastes like a beer.
• 46:25
  SPEAKER_02: I don't know if I've had their IPA, but I've had their their lager style product.
• 46:28
  SPEAKER_02: I tried it at the hemp beverage expo down in Georgia, and I was like blown away.
• 46:32
  SPEAKER_02: I feel like I'm always like, oh, here we go.
• 46:34
  SPEAKER_02: When I try like a malt um um like a malt base alternative.
• 46:39
  SPEAKER_02: The ones that are fermented and alcohol removed are typically pretty good, but like the ones that have because obviously we can't do that with hemp because of TTB stuff.
• 46:47
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but like they they did a really great job.
• 46:49
  SPEAKER_00: So uh far from the biscuit bombs that I'm used to trying off the shelf.
• 46:54
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 46:55
  SPEAKER_00: Perfect.
• 46:56
  SPEAKER_00: Well, Adam, I will uh I'll close out.
• 46:58
  SPEAKER_00: And uh if there's any uh let people remind people name of the business, kind of where to find you on uh LinkedIn, handles, everything like that, and and follow the business and tell people to hop hop online.
• 47:08
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, so you can uh follow us on Instagram at drink.flora.
• 47:12
  SPEAKER_02: Uh you can find our website at www.drinkflora.com.
• 47:17
  SPEAKER_02: Uh and you can find me on LinkedIn at Adam Peabody.
• 47:21
  SPEAKER_02: Excellent.
• 47:22
  SPEAKER_00: Well, hey, I just I'll close out and remind everybody, uh, you know, Adam, there's no script, there's no prep.
• 47:27
  SPEAKER_00: Uh Adam and I do not know each other.
• 47:28
  SPEAKER_00: We've never met, we've never shaken hands, we've never started drink together at a bar in Chicago.
• 47:32
  SPEAKER_00: Um we will soon.
• 47:33
  SPEAKER_00: Well, exactly.
• 47:35
  SPEAKER_00: We will be soon though.
• 47:36
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but this is how you connect with people.
• 47:38
  SPEAKER_00: This is uh there's no script and there's no agenda and there's no sponsors intentionally.
• 47:42
  SPEAKER_00: Um this is an organic conversation, and this is the one of the realest things on the internet.
• 47:47
  SPEAKER_00: And I want people to take away not only the conversation about MTHC beverages, but the fact that when you open up and you're vulnerable with other people, you can really connect and find common ground.
• 47:56
  SPEAKER_00: And I think that's something in 2026 we all need to realize is that uh we're all in this beautifully destructive life together, just trying to figure shit out.
• 48:03
  SPEAKER_00: So uh as I as I close out, I'll remind everybody to uh please look people in the eye as you're walking down the street, say hello to a stranger, pause before you answer and actually listen to what they say when you ask them how they're doing.
• 48:15
  SPEAKER_00: Give a shit about your neighbors and uh hold a door for somebody, male, female, it doesn't matter.
• 48:20
  SPEAKER_00: Even if it's a even if it's a little German Shepherd, just put some positivity out in this crazy fucked up world sometimes.
• 48:26
  SPEAKER_02: I'll I'll hold the door for the German Shepherd be hard before I hold the door for any human being.
• 48:34
  SPEAKER_02: Well, hey, Adam.
• 48:35
  SPEAKER_02: Well, that's a great closing.
• 48:36
  SPEAKER_02: That is a great closing.
• 48:38
  SPEAKER_00: I I you're good, man.
• 48:39
  SPEAKER_00: You have a good rest of your day.
• 48:41
  SPEAKER_00: And I uh I want to thank you as I close out.
• 48:43
  SPEAKER_00: The last piece is there were no questions and the courage that for you to hop on and be vulnerable with me for an hour and get to know me as well as allow me to get to know you.
• 48:52
  SPEAKER_00: That's a unique personality type, and I need to publicly acknowledge that and thank you for for taking the chance and the courage and and hopping online and telling your story.
• 49:01
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, absolutely, man.
• 49:02
  SPEAKER_02: Anytime.
• 49:02
  SPEAKER_02: Thanks for having me.
• 49:03
  SPEAKER_02: We'd love to we'd love to do it again sometime.
• 49:05
  SPEAKER_00: We definitely will.
• 49:06
  SPEAKER_00: Adam, you have a good rest of your day, buddy.
• 49:07
  SPEAKER_00: Take care.
• 49:07
  SPEAKER_00: You too.
• 49:08
  SPEAKER_00: Take care.