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A Lemonade Made for Mom: Omari Anderson on Building The Best Dirty Lemonade | Ready To Drink Podcast · Ready To Drink Podcast

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: I'm Omari Anderson.
• 0:01
  SPEAKER_00: I am the CEO and founder of the Best Dirty Lemonade.
• 0:05
  SPEAKER_01: Awesome, man.
• 0:06
  SPEAKER_01: Give every give the audience kind of a flyover on what the Best Dirty Lemonade is and where you're located as well.
• 0:12
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so we are a premium hemp infused lemonade company.
• 0:16
  SPEAKER_00: So we have seven flavors.
• 0:17
  SPEAKER_00: This is our classic lemonade, but we have classic strawberry, blue raspberry, pineapple, ginger, a mango, a grape, and a cherry limeade.
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_01: Awesome.
• 0:29
  SPEAKER_01: And then you do you still have the little shop bottles too?
• 0:32
  SPEAKER_00: We do, yeah.
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_00: We don't necessarily sell them in the state of Georgia anymore.
• 0:35
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 0:36
  SPEAKER_00: But we definitely have little shop bottles.
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_00: So 10 milligrams, two-ounce shooters.
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and we're located in Atlanta, Georgia.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_01: Awesome.
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_01: And I'll remind the audience, Amari and I have never we've met in person in casual at a convention and things like that, but we've not long-standing friends or anything like that.
• 0:52
  SPEAKER_01: So I want to remind everybody that this is about human connection and how easy it is to meet strangers while also learning somebody's story.
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_01: So Amari, really appreciate you coming on.
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_01: And I want to kind of talk a little bit too about your story because full context for everybody, we worked together the other week on a letter writing campaign for the HBA fighting for regulation, as well as the pending ban that we're looking to get reversed in the hemp beverage industry.
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_01: So talk a little bit about what that's been like for you guys as a business, and then I want to get back, I want to get over to your backstory as to how the business came about as well.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, as a business, uh, this impending hemp ban is doom, right?
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_00: So backstory a little bit.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_00: When we started this business, we started in the rec market, right?
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_00: So adult use in Massachusetts, and we were like, wow, this is great, right?
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_00: We're able to we're able to sell cannabis infused money.
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_00: This is what we wanted.
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_00: And then this hemp thing came around, and I was a little reluctant.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_00: And then once we really dove into hemp, I was like, we're gonna use this as a capital raise so we can get into more adults, adult use markets.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_00: But no, man, the hemp business was night and day.
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_00: Like the fact that we could set across state lines, the fact that we could be sold in places that weren't dispensaries are really it's really helpful for beverages, right?
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_00: People are going to liquor stores and convenience stores picking up beverages versus trying to convince somebody who's going to buy flour to purchase a beverage, and then it's a whole new form factor.
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_00: They're super reluctant.
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_00: But once they're looking for a beverage, it's easier to sell them on a beverage.
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_00: So having losing the ability to sell hemp beverages might wipe us out.
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_00: But we're hoping that that does not happen.
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_01: We're doing the best we can as well.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_01: It's for stories like yours, as well as everybody else's, to get them out there, have everybody head down to Hemp Beverage Alliance Action Center, uh, Wine and Spirits of America Action Center, anybody that's doing this advocacy work, we're all going for the same mission.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_01: And we want everybody to get on, take a few minutes.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_01: We don't need anybody's money at this point.
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_01: We need your time.
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_01: We need less than five minutes of your time.
• 3:01
  SPEAKER_01: Hop on, call your local senator, text them if you have their cell phone, email them, walk into their local offices, state, federal, everybody.
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_01: So we're just looking for everybody's time right now to make your voice heard.
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_01: Even if you're not a consumer, get out there and support your neighbor because guaranteed in your neighborhood, there's people that rely on these products for medicinal reasons as well as for recreational reasons.
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_01: So Mario, I want to talk a little bit about your story as well.
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_01: You have a very, very awesome story, and I'm I love stories where they're inspired by by parents and help and compassion.
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_01: So talk a little bit about how the lemonade originally came about and kind of where you were working the recipes and the the what was going on in your life at that time.
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 3:41
  SPEAKER_00: So I started this brand to help my mother.
• 3:43
  SPEAKER_00: She was diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer's, and as of disease regrets, she stopped eating and she wasn't sleeping.
• 3:52
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and I don't know if you've ever taken care of a loved one, but when they're not sleeping, you're not sleeping.
• 3:57
  SPEAKER_00: And so I turned to cannabis.
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_00: I was never gonna be able to get my mom to smoke weed, but I did recall some of the beverages that she would make for me and my friends as we played outside.
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_00: So we were able to infuse beverages and get her on a regimen there, and that really induced her appetite.
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_00: Really got her to eat, and it also, you know, in the evening got her to sleep, right?
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_00: But she had a really good sleep, but doctors estimate that we were able to uh extend her life by two years.
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_01: That's incredible, man.
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_01: It's uh I'll connect with you on that, man.
• 4:29
  SPEAKER_01: My mom is a uh cancer survivor, and I spent my whole life uh, you know, being an advocate and and uh and a consumer of the in the marijuana and cannabis industry.
• 4:37
  SPEAKER_01: But obviously, when I was younger, got in trouble and got reprimanded and things like that.
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_01: And a couple years ago, my mom finally started being open to it and uh she started consuming and was finally able to decrease the amount of pills she was taking, was able to sleep through an entire night.
• 4:51
  SPEAKER_01: And again, neither of us are giving health claims for anybody, so don't sue us.
• 4:55
  SPEAKER_01: These are our personal, these are our personal stories about our mothers and uh how this product has helped the quality of life increase for those stories and their personal stories.
• 5:03
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_01: When you uh when you were mixing these things through, what was uh are these the same flavors and recipes for the most part, or is a little bit of variations to get those out for scale?
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_00: Uh yeah, there's definitely some some variation to get them out to scale.
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I when we first started, we were using the same recipes, and I don't think we had more than 21 days shelf life, right?
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_00: So, you know, we then brought in commercialization experts and food scientists and really tried to hone it in.
• 5:34
  SPEAKER_00: We actually worked with a lady who worked for Snapple for like 30 years, and then she went to go work for Coca-Cola for 10 years.
• 5:42
  SPEAKER_00: So, yeah.
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_01: That's awesome.
• 5:44
  SPEAKER_01: There's uh there's a couple different lemonade types out there, but uh yours, I gotta give you, I gotta give you credit, man.
• 5:48
  SPEAKER_01: When I tried yours, do you also do I had yours uh in multiple versions and also in that slushy kind of version?
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_01: Is that something that uh you guys do at scale or is that what like uh for conferences and special events?
• 5:59
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, we typically just use that for conferences and special events and you know trying to break the ice.
• 6:05
  SPEAKER_00: Um, a lot of like consumer-facing shows if possible.
• 6:08
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that's awesome.
• 6:10
  SPEAKER_01: What uh what types of venues are you in?
• 6:12
  SPEAKER_01: And then uh what types or what states are you in as well that you can think of on the shelf?
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, on the shelf, you can pick us up in Michigan and Massachusetts.
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_00: So in Michigan, we have uh that's gonna be in dispensaries.
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_00: It's a 50 milligram.
• 6:25
  SPEAKER_00: In Massachusetts, we have a five and a 50.
• 6:27
  SPEAKER_00: And then in the southeast, like in Tennessee, in Georgia, we have our hemp-based product, 10 milligrams, and you can find us at tons and tons of smoke shops.
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, smoke shops.
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_00: Is this your yep?
• 6:41
  SPEAKER_00: Go ahead.
• 6:42
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know if you were on a call yesterday, but uh Chris mentioned at the beginning of the call that he recently saw our product in a coffee shop in Illinois, right?
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_00: And that was a great plug because I hadn't known it was there, but you know, we work with distributors who move our products around the country.
• 7:01
  SPEAKER_01: The uh yeah, that's so uh the first step is uh first question for you on that part is is this your first jump into entrepreneurship or did you have a business prior to all this?
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I'm a lawyer by trade.
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_00: I never practiced law, I sold insurance after law school.
• 7:17
  SPEAKER_00: And so while it wasn't a traditional entrepreneurship road route, it was definitely like eat what you kill, right?
• 7:24
  SPEAKER_00: And so I've never like a lot of my friends went, have these amazing corporate jobs, have these amazing like safety nets.
• 7:31
  SPEAKER_00: I don't have any of that.
• 7:32
  SPEAKER_00: I've always been a eat what you kill type of guy.
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, I've been an entrepreneur in my whole working life.
• 7:38
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I started this when I was 23.
• 7:39
  SPEAKER_01: There's days where I'm happy, and there's days where I'm like looking at the corporate job as uh a little jealousy of my friends as well.
• 7:45
  SPEAKER_00: For sure, for sure.
• 7:47
  SPEAKER_01: Every day with the 60-day lineup makes me wonder that.
• 7:51
  SPEAKER_00: I I I'm with you.
• 7:52
  SPEAKER_00: The one thing that I really like though is that I own my own time, right?
• 7:57
  SPEAKER_00: I have the ability to have a son.
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_00: I have the ability to spend time, thank you, spend time with my son, slow mornings, help my partner out.
• 8:06
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah.
• 8:07
  SPEAKER_01: When I uh I spent a good stint working for other people in an exclusive contract through the business, and I've talked about this a couple times, but I think it's important to reiterate every so many episodes.
• 8:16
  SPEAKER_01: It's one of the biggest regrets of my life, and I I try to give every lesson to every entrepreneur is those initial years.
• 8:23
  SPEAKER_01: Like I missed a lot.
• 8:24
  SPEAKER_01: I missed a ton of my kids' first 10, you know, eight, 10 years of their life.
• 8:28
  SPEAKER_01: And I tell everybody, as you're starting out, just having a kid, don't ever, I've been doing this for 18 years on my own.
• 8:34
  SPEAKER_01: Don't ever let the business take those moments because it's one of those, like now we have a great relationship and we're making up for it, but they're 15 and 14 and about to be 16 years old.
• 8:42
  SPEAKER_01: You know what I mean?
• 8:42
  SPEAKER_01: It's like now I'm on the back end counting the last five years as opposed to the first four.
• 8:46
  SPEAKER_01: So just uh everybody, uh everybody definitely don't ever fight, fight your own business and your own, I guess, internally in your head or wherever you need to go with that.
• 8:55
  SPEAKER_01: But uh how what what's a kind of what was the first feeling?
• 8:58
  SPEAKER_01: And I do sometimes ask people about feelings in contests when you when you saw that product on the shelf, you're past the labs, you're past the co-packing, you're past the distributors, seeing that on the shelf, and actually also take that example as well of knowing it's getting on the shelf without you manually having to sell it in.
• 9:16
  SPEAKER_01: So talking a little bit about the three-tier distribution and having distributors that are placing products on your behalf as well.
• 9:23
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I I love that, right?
• 9:25
  SPEAKER_00: I feel like it's a real business at that point, right?
• 9:27
  SPEAKER_00: Prior to that, it felt like I had just worked myself into a job because I had to touch everything.
• 9:34
  SPEAKER_00: Yesterday I went to visit a store in Athens, Georgia called Classics for Eva, and they had our products in glass case or like a fridge.
• 9:43
  SPEAKER_00: And the lady walked in and she was like, Yeah, I'm looking for beverages, right?
• 9:46
  SPEAKER_00: And I would just sit standing back watching her, and she gravitated to one and I asked her why, and she was like, Oh, it's a pretty can.
• 9:54
  SPEAKER_00: And then the the salesman was like, Well, you should buy his drink, right?
• 9:59
  SPEAKER_00: And so she ended buying two of mine, and I also got her to buy two of my friend's beverages.
• 10:04
  SPEAKER_00: Well, that from the hat club, and you know, it feels amazing to know that people are walking in your stores, trying your product, and then purchasing your product and following you on Instagram and sending you little like notes of keep going, the notes of encouragement.
• 10:20
  SPEAKER_00: So it it really feels warms my heart to know that people are finding our drinks, and it warms my heart even more to know that I'm not having to be the one to tell all of them.
• 10:31
  SPEAKER_01: When uh we're in the midst right now in the past two weeks with a few brands like Delta and Pharos and a few other ones where we're uh we're platforming consumer stories, and uh so I've been coming through hundreds of testimonials from different consumers.
• 10:43
  SPEAKER_01: Talk a little bit about maybe one or two that have really, whether it's emotional or just inspirational, that have kind of you know hit you in the heartstrings as far as that goes, of your consumers and how your products have changed their life or just improved their lives, you know?
• 10:57
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 10:57
  SPEAKER_00: You know, it's oftentimes that I find people in in recovery, right?
• 11:01
  SPEAKER_00: Who still want to be social, still want to be able to drink something but have given up on alcohol.
• 11:07
  SPEAKER_00: And it's those people who, you know, are also willing to drink something that's a bit more full flavored, right?
• 11:14
  SPEAKER_00: We uh at the Best George Eliminate, we aren't a zero calorie, zero sugar type drink.
• 11:19
  SPEAKER_00: We're full flavored.
• 11:20
  SPEAKER_00: And it's like if it's for you, it's for you.
• 11:23
  SPEAKER_00: People love it.
• 11:24
  SPEAKER_00: If not, then you know you have bad taste and I just hold it against you.
• 11:28
  SPEAKER_01: Bob personally, we don't we don't typically do reviews, but I'll tell everybody I've had it and it was it's good stuff, man.
• 11:33
  SPEAKER_00: I love it.
• 11:34
  SPEAKER_01: And I've tried a lot.
• 11:36
  SPEAKER_00: I love it, thank you.
• 11:37
  SPEAKER_00: But um, you know, so if it's those people who are in recovery who can still be social, that warms to my heart, right?
• 11:43
  SPEAKER_00: Because that's not something that I was thinking about as we were commercializing.
• 11:47
  SPEAKER_00: It's I was really thinking, you know, I make a lemonade that helped my mom, my friends liked it, so maybe we can just make a few dollars.
• 11:55
  SPEAKER_00: When we initially started, I was thinking, cool, I could do this over the summer, right?
• 12:00
  SPEAKER_00: And here we are.
• 12:01
  SPEAKER_00: Having people who are in sobriety reach out and they feel like, you know, my products able to give them a sense of being social again, where they're able to, you know, have a drink in their hand as their counterparts have alcoholic beverage and they don't feel awkward about it.
• 12:16
  SPEAKER_00: You know, they love that.
• 12:17
  SPEAKER_00: And that's something that I didn't even think or forecast was gonna be one of our, you know, main consumers, right?
• 12:24
  SPEAKER_00: People in recovery.
• 12:25
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, I thought we were just gonna sell lemonade for summer, and here we are five years later, still selling lemonade.
• 12:32
  SPEAKER_01: That's awesome, man.
• 12:33
  SPEAKER_01: I'm I'm one of those consumers for you, man.
• 12:35
  SPEAKER_01: It's uh I'm coming up on four years in December, a sobriety with alcohol, even working in the industry the past 22 years.
• 12:40
  SPEAKER_01: I unfortunately being in Pennsylvania, we can't sell it in bars, restaurants, or anything like that.
• 12:45
  SPEAKER_01: But every, you know, it's one of those things where there's state where I can, I get to experience that what that's like.
• 12:50
  SPEAKER_01: And that's my dream in Pennsylvania is the photo of a hemp can and a and a pint of beer, and it's me and one of my buddies like just and I go out and stuff like that, but you know, the sodas and the teas, it gets old, you know what I mean?
• 13:00
  SPEAKER_01: And I sneak in the uh whims and the snaps every once in a while, you know.
• 13:04
  SPEAKER_01: But it's uh it's it's a it's some people look at it like a crutch.
• 13:08
  SPEAKER_01: And I I I try to say it this way, and I I do talk about sobriety a good bit on the show, but I want to be clear that like sometimes I get feedback from people in AA where it's like, it's the gateway, it's the gateway.
• 13:18
  SPEAKER_01: One of the things is for everybody, there's nothing wrong with either way that people choose sobriety, it's how they choose sobriety.
• 13:22
  SPEAKER_01: And I chose mine, and and I'm coming up on four years of of consistency in the journey, and that's important for me, and that's okay with me because I tried five times prior and it never worked past six to ten months.
• 13:33
  SPEAKER_01: So whatever I'm doing is working, and I'm gonna, I mean, you know, if it ain't broke, don't fix it.
• 13:37
  SPEAKER_01: And I don't look down on other people about how they do it, but I just want to reiterate every once in a while to the audience that me telling my story of sobriety, you telling other people using hemp beverages, that's not us telling people that's the path, it's it's whatever path you want.
• 13:48
  SPEAKER_01: And that's the joy of what that is, is make it yours, you know.
• 13:51
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely, absolutely.
• 13:52
  SPEAKER_00: And listen, man, congrats to you for making it four years, man, and keep on.
• 13:56
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks, man.
• 13:56
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks, man.
• 13:57
  SPEAKER_01: People think I'm people think I'm absolutely crazy because I spend every day in a brewery, restaurant, I drive around in uh art.
• 14:02
  SPEAKER_01: I got canned cocktails in my car all day long.
• 14:04
  SPEAKER_01: I'm like, that's part of the joy, man.
• 14:06
  SPEAKER_01: I like to face my demons, you know.
• 14:07
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I like to keep them on a leash right behind me, you know.
• 14:09
  SPEAKER_01: Let them know that they're for sure.
• 14:12
  SPEAKER_01: Excellent, man.
• 14:13
  SPEAKER_01: Well, tell me a little bit about some entrepreneurial lessons, man.
• 14:16
  SPEAKER_01: Like what, you know, coming from being, you know, doing practicing law to consumer package goods.
• 14:21
  SPEAKER_01: I know you probably got a scroll of lessons you've learned over the past couple of years.
• 14:26
  SPEAKER_01: But like, what are a few other than other than stay away from hemp for the next 60 days until we have some clarity if somebody's looking to start a new brand?
• 14:33
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, man.
• 14:34
  SPEAKER_00: I've been getting I've been getting beat up in this industry.
• 14:37
  SPEAKER_00: There's been so many lessons.
• 14:38
  SPEAKER_00: I think one lesson that I I really want to harp on is make sure you have SLPs, right?
• 14:43
  SPEAKER_00: And you know how to do something, right?
• 14:46
  SPEAKER_00: But without SLPs, you then have to do it all the time.
• 14:49
  SPEAKER_00: And then silent, silent expectations are killers, right?
• 14:53
  SPEAKER_00: And it's both in the relationships and in business.
• 14:56
  SPEAKER_00: So if things are written down and things are spelled out, there's no reason why people can't, you know, figure things out because we have a clear expectation and this is the process for how we do it.
• 15:06
  SPEAKER_00: You know, we haven't raised any money over here yet.
• 15:08
  SPEAKER_00: And now with this hemp band, we're doing very short runs.
• 15:12
  SPEAKER_00: I have another run that we're doing next week, and half of my team thinks I'm crazy.
• 15:17
  SPEAKER_00: We'll have 35,000 cans in-house in about 10 days.
• 15:23
  SPEAKER_00: And so now we're trying to sell that out before December 12th, right?
• 15:28
  SPEAKER_00: So the race is on to sell as much lemonade as we can.
• 15:33
  SPEAKER_01: The uh the best advice is right off the bat that I give every every client that signs on with us is run your business like you're gonna get hit by a bus tomorrow.
• 15:41
  SPEAKER_01: And they're like, what do you mean?
• 15:43
  SPEAKER_01: I'm like, literally, run your business like you're you're incapacitated, in a coma, like you know, that everybody that the business can continue on without you.
• 15:52
  SPEAKER_00: Wow.
• 15:52
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that that makes a lot of sense.
• 15:54
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I don't know what would happen if something happened to me right now.
• 15:57
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know that we have enough in place for my team to pick it up and and run, right?
• 16:06
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 16:07
  SPEAKER_01: It's something that people don't want to face sometimes.
• 16:10
  SPEAKER_01: And I think certain people that whether it was through working with you know your mom through through her what she was dealing with and and at the tail end there and everything like that, when you see death, you see things a little differently.
• 16:20
  SPEAKER_01: And I think when you see death in your life with your family, you look at everything in life.
• 16:24
  SPEAKER_01: And that's people sometimes get taken back when I say that as my lesson, and they're like, Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
• 16:29
  SPEAKER_01: I'm like, this is a reality.
• 16:31
  SPEAKER_01: The reality is that like it could be anything, it could also be that tomorrow morning you get a call from some company that says, Hey, I want you to run this business for a million bucks, and it might not even be that you need to leave, but you got to leave, and then you got to leave this behind because of conflict of interest, and you need to be able to turn on a dime.
• 16:46
  SPEAKER_01: There's a million ways, it doesn't have to be always death, but I think for certain people, when death affects you in different ways, you look at you look at everything really differently, and not in some negative dystopian way, but really in a preparation way, and a preparation way that you departing is one thing, and you or you being incapacitated and busy is another thing because they're the same, you know, in certain ways when it comes to people needing to know how to be led.
• 17:09
  SPEAKER_01: That's something on on another show I have uh with a former UFC fighter uh named Clifford Starks.
• 17:14
  SPEAKER_01: It's called the Leaders Arena, and we talk a lot about being a leader, and it's like we run these businesses, whether like myself as a solopreneur or other people that have teams and infrastructure.
• 17:23
  SPEAKER_01: You gotta like for me, it's the same.
• 17:25
  SPEAKER_01: I don't even have any, I don't even have an infrastructure.
• 17:27
  SPEAKER_01: Like I gotta hope that I gotta hope my girlfriend knows which drawer has the SOPs in it so that she can pull it out and figure out what to do, you know, and so everybody, you know, so people get going.
• 17:36
  SPEAKER_01: And I think it's something we over overlook in business because we are so busy and we get so inundated, especially in this category with beverage.
• 17:45
  SPEAKER_01: We have I got into this really fullbore a couple years ago, but especially in the last year when the band came through, I very much accelerated what I was doing.
• 17:53
  SPEAKER_01: And the amount of I've talked to probably 200 people in this industry so far in the past year in these interviews, and that's what it is.
• 18:01
  SPEAKER_01: We're just trying.
• 18:01
  SPEAKER_01: Everybody's in survival mode, and everybody's just fighting for their passion, fighting for why they did this.
• 18:06
  SPEAKER_01: That god forbid something does happen to any of us or or something distracts us and and or derails us.
• 18:13
  SPEAKER_01: I know I'm not gonna share the name, but you know, there's other some people who have come clean publicly on LinkedIn and other things that you know substance abuse in the during the over the last year has gotten them.
• 18:22
  SPEAKER_01: You know, it's uh people are being very open in the past couple weeks.
• 18:25
  SPEAKER_01: I saw two people that were like, hey, I've I've been a little bit detached because this has been a lot.
• 18:29
  SPEAKER_01: And this this this impending ban has been a lot, these off and ons, these, these gray moments.
• 18:34
  SPEAKER_01: I just can't, I couldn't handle it and I disappeared from public life.
• 18:37
  SPEAKER_01: And those moments really hit me because I did that for myself.
• 18:40
  SPEAKER_01: And I wanted to ask you, like, what what do you see?
• 18:44
  SPEAKER_01: Like, what if let's say the ban goes away and it gets reversed and one of the seven to nine bills that are sitting out there right now get pushed forward?
• 18:51
  SPEAKER_01: Where do you want this to be in five years?
• 18:53
  SPEAKER_01: Do you have you know, is there a vision for uh in a green light, you know, scenario that that you see for this business?
• 19:00
  SPEAKER_01: So that is it more states, more people going deeper, going wider.
• 19:03
  SPEAKER_01: What's the kind of the strategy for you guys?
• 19:05
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I think it's for us to go wider, right?
• 19:08
  SPEAKER_00: You know, bring on more distributors in more states and really take a lot more of the work off our shoulders, right?
• 19:17
  SPEAKER_00: That's in an ideal world.
• 19:19
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but there's a lot of products out there, a lot of other brands.
• 19:22
  SPEAKER_00: So, you know, it's a very crowded field.
• 19:26
  SPEAKER_00: We recently won Best in Grass in Massachusetts, meaning the best tasting cannabis-infused beverage, right?
• 19:32
  SPEAKER_00: And we've just been riding that type of wave or that notoriety.
• 19:36
  SPEAKER_00: We won second place the year before that in Massachusetts.
• 19:39
  SPEAKER_00: And so that tells me that consumers do like our flavors, right?
• 19:44
  SPEAKER_00: That we do have a great tasting product.
• 19:48
  SPEAKER_00: One of the rules that has really bothered me, one of the proposed rules, is that we have to go to a three-tier system.
• 19:57
  SPEAKER_00: Because prior to this, I've been against it, right?
• 19:59
  SPEAKER_00: I saw what the three-tier system has done for the craft beer industry.
• 20:04
  SPEAKER_00: It pretty much wiped it out, right?
• 20:07
  SPEAKER_00: But if that's what we have to do to stay in business, then we will, right?
• 20:13
  SPEAKER_00: You know, somebody else has to have to relinquish a little control, right?
• 20:18
  SPEAKER_00: And work with others, then we will.
• 20:20
  SPEAKER_00: So if this all goes well, we hope to bring on a lot of this, a few distributors, right?
• 20:26
  SPEAKER_00: Key major distributors who care about us and let's sell some lemonade.
• 20:30
  SPEAKER_01: I think it's so I spent I spent many years in in that world as a in the brand management side and the wholesale side.
• 20:36
  SPEAKER_01: And I differ from a lot of people in the industry because I believe in the three-tier system as a whole is a concept, but I don't believe in the franchise laws that you're referring to.
• 20:44
  SPEAKER_01: And those franchise laws, that's what holds everything back.
• 20:47
  SPEAKER_01: Sometimes it gets confused with Tidehouse laws.
• 20:49
  SPEAKER_01: That's a different thing, but the franchise laws where you get held into perpetuity regardless of the performance of the distributor.
• 20:55
  SPEAKER_01: That is the one key point that I do not agree with anybody on.
• 20:58
  SPEAKER_01: And I think that, you know, where it is that the exceptions get made, like Red Bull, for example.
• 21:04
  SPEAKER_01: Red Bull for us was an annualized contract, and it was a market investment requirement to keep the brand within the annualized contract.
• 21:12
  SPEAKER_01: That's where I want to see the law going personally, because I've lived in that and I've I've managed 40 different craft breweries.
• 21:19
  SPEAKER_01: All of them got screwed when everything shit to bed.
• 21:22
  SPEAKER_01: When everything shit to bed, they had to buy themselves out.
• 21:25
  SPEAKER_01: They didn't have the money because the alcohol, everything was already declining.
• 21:28
  SPEAKER_01: And I on the outside was not in the industry anymore.
• 21:30
  SPEAKER_01: And it it tore me up like to watch these guys, and and I still hung out with them and I still saw them, and and they told me like the the struggles and the lawyers fees and all the stuff that they, you know, some of these guys were were being asked to buy back brands at a valuation that's more that was worth more than the asset that they had as the entire business.
• 21:47
  SPEAKER_00: Boy.
• 21:48
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 21:49
  SPEAKER_00: Because if it's just an arbitrary number, right?
• 21:52
  SPEAKER_00: They're saying, you know, three or five times annual sales.
• 21:57
  SPEAKER_00: And if you want to get out of here, what?
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and especially when you're asking it when the industry's plummeting and you're not looking at last three year sales in an annualized rolling, you're looking at the forward based on what you expected, and it's all bullshit.
• 22:09
  SPEAKER_01: And uh I I tell them I I've written about it and I get in these meetings, and everybody knows where I stand on it, and and it's because I've experienced it, and I've experienced the heartache with dozens of different craft breweries that got stuck in those contracts.
• 22:20
  SPEAKER_01: So, my advice to anybody out there, and I don't see anything with the franchise loss, is get into business contracts.
• 22:25
  SPEAKER_01: And I know one of the things we talked about with on another episode was um I didn't realize until this episode last week was um that some people were asking for equity of brands prior to like a couple of years, a year or two ago.
• 22:37
  SPEAKER_01: If you wanted to be in a retailer or distributor, they were like, Yeah, we'll carry you, not a distributor, but a retailer was the example he used.
• 22:43
  SPEAKER_01: Retailers asked for actual like cuts of the business for the sales of that entire market.
• 22:49
  SPEAKER_01: And some brands signed on for it, and that blew me away at like how ill-advised they must have been, or they were trying to go into everything as fast as possible and thought that was the only option.
• 23:01
  SPEAKER_01: Because that's that's where this is where we get into this thing where it needs to just be a traditional business relationship, a traditional service contract, whether it's annualized or it's every five years, but perpetuity is bullshit because nothing is nothing is guaranteed in this life, nothing is linear in this life.
• 23:18
  SPEAKER_01: And if anything tells you what the way the society is in 2026, nothing is nothing makes sense sometimes.
• 23:24
  SPEAKER_01: And how can you even hold yourself to a perpetuity contract?
• 23:26
  SPEAKER_01: We have a 50% plus divorce rate in the United States.
• 23:29
  SPEAKER_01: You really think perpetuity contracts and business make sense in consumer package goods?
• 23:34
  SPEAKER_00: Right, right, absolutely, for sure.
• 23:37
  SPEAKER_00: But but you know, it's it's not enough brands are willing to take a stand on this, right?
• 23:42
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's everybody's like, listen, this is the only way, so I'll sign a bad contract knowing knowing I'm finding a bad contract just to get out there.
• 23:53
  SPEAKER_01: Yep, that's the it's the survival mode that I don't I don't I don't uh disparage them on it, and I I I know why they made those decisions, but my biggest thing is being as vocal as possible moving forward, and especially if the if we get a green light and this band gets reversed, good lord, everybody, don't sign those things.
• 24:11
  SPEAKER_01: Like, know that you have the leverage, and that's it for everyone in the audience as well that's listening.
• 24:15
  SPEAKER_01: If you're a hemp beverage brand and this thing does go green light, come December 12th, December 11th, you have the leverage.
• 24:21
  SPEAKER_01: If you have distributors calling you and they're offering your perpetuity contracts, look at it.
• 24:25
  SPEAKER_01: Franchise laws are for alcohol only at this moment.
• 24:29
  SPEAKER_01: Depending upon what happens with this law, I might eat my words and they get it in the law.
• 24:32
  SPEAKER_01: But as of right now, everything that's non-alcoholic is falls outside of franchise laws.
• 24:38
  SPEAKER_01: So if anybody tells you this is how we do it, this is how we do it with the breweries, yeah, they do because that's the way the law is.
• 24:43
  SPEAKER_01: But that doesn't have to be the case for non-alcoholics.
• 24:45
  SPEAKER_01: So that is legally your define.
• 24:46
  SPEAKER_01: I'm not a lawyer, I only play one on TV, but at the same time, you got to remember that's the difference.
• 24:51
  SPEAKER_01: So anybody that's listening, that's your free advice.
• 24:53
  SPEAKER_01: And uh send us the you can send me an Amaria commission check later.
• 24:57
  SPEAKER_00: We'll we'll gladly pass it, and it'll be much less than than what these distributors are getting you for.
• 25:04
  SPEAKER_01: And I and I want to close out on that topic is reiterating Dave with all the distributors, because I know they do listen, is that the three-tier system does work and it does work when it needs to work, but that is my one sticking point is is that piece of paper, it it is it is too valuable to uh to be overlooked when it comes to that specific topic.
• 25:20
  SPEAKER_01: Uh those sales reps that are out on the street, the merchandisers, the accounts payable, the the volume of resources that you get with them, you can activate that inside of there, and and that is that is where brands really get to scale.
• 25:33
  SPEAKER_01: And I want to tell everybody too, while we're talking about the three-tier system, is when this specifically in the hemp business, have monthly meetings with your distributor.
• 25:39
  SPEAKER_01: If you're not having a monthly business planning meeting with those distributors, you're not utilizing your distributor the fullest.
• 25:45
  SPEAKER_01: And they have so many brands on their plates that they're not going to go looking for you because you're below the middle line.
• 25:51
  SPEAKER_00: For sure.
• 25:52
  SPEAKER_01: For sure.
• 25:53
  SPEAKER_00: And and and it's I I oftentimes tell people, you know, it's still our job to make sure that the product moves, right?
• 26:02
  SPEAKER_00: So you still have to market, right?
• 26:03
  SPEAKER_00: You still have to reach out to stores, right?
• 26:06
  SPEAKER_00: You still have to make sure that you know you're being a great partner to these distributors because to your point, they have tons of brands.
• 26:14
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, we've always heard the old adage that the squeaky wheel gets the grease, right?
• 26:20
  SPEAKER_00: So, you know, you have to squeak, you have to become a shining star, a great player, and that only happens if you do your part.
• 26:27
  SPEAKER_01: No, you're exactly right.
• 26:28
  SPEAKER_01: And I think up until 2017, distributors were played a large role in building the brand alongside the brands, but the volume of brands and they called it Skew Mageddon, you know, that that amount of SKUs, it weighed the distributors down and they couldn't be brand builders alongside.
• 26:42
  SPEAKER_01: They had to just distribute the product because there was so much to do.
• 26:45
  SPEAKER_01: And I understood that.
• 26:46
  SPEAKER_01: And I think the ownership is even more fun for the supplier side.
• 26:50
  SPEAKER_01: But what you just said is so crucial.
• 26:51
  SPEAKER_01: And there's a lot of times on the market development side where we get a hold of people and they'll be like, hey, I just want you guys to get this product on the shelf.
• 26:58
  SPEAKER_01: And they think it's magic, like to just get it on the shelf.
• 27:00
  SPEAKER_01: But if you don't do exactly like you just said, I love that you said it, if you're not doing ad campaigns in those local markets when you have a sales agency and a distributor, you're not influencing the local media with your story and your different products, and you're not getting out and meeting those people, you can put product on the shelf all day long, but then you get a little thing that we call the dust test.
• 27:19
  SPEAKER_01: When you walk down the retailer and you see dust on those cans, because if it's on the shelf in that myriad of ocean of different brands, if they don't see you on their phone, they don't hear you in their ear before they walk in, if they weren't already going for your stuff, it's hard.
• 27:33
  SPEAKER_01: And yours is an exception because it's so bright.
• 27:36
  SPEAKER_01: I will give you credit on that.
• 27:37
  SPEAKER_01: Yours is bright.
• 27:38
  SPEAKER_01: But as you know, you get into a total line that has a 30-foot gondola.
• 27:42
  SPEAKER_01: That's a lot of THC brands in that gondola, non-alcoholic products.
• 27:45
  SPEAKER_01: So everybody has to be able to stand out and be a presence in dozens of touch points with that consumer before they make that purchase with you.
• 27:52
  SPEAKER_01: So thank you for saying about the supplier side uh responsibility because it's overlooked, especially in the startup world, because everybody just thinks it's everybody just thinks that you just I signed this contract, I'm good, I can sit back, and the money will just roll in.
• 28:06
  SPEAKER_00: We keep start getting chargebacks.
• 28:08
  SPEAKER_01: That's all that's a whole episode we can do on that one, actually.
• 28:12
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 28:12
  SPEAKER_01: I did one with uh with an AI company that does that and saves money to suppliers because they check all those things and they scan every invoice for the chargeback.
• 28:20
  SPEAKER_01: I'll send you the link to it.
• 28:21
  SPEAKER_01: It's called Revy.ai, and they do all the different stuff for the chargebacks and the billings, and then they make sure it cross-references your contract and does all this stuff to make sure everything is because everybody, you know, sometimes it's malicious, and sometimes people just oversight or or they put it on the wrong brand.
• 28:37
  SPEAKER_01: Because honestly, one time I can think about it is when you're managing a lot of brands, sometimes the mission and the program is the same, and then you have to divide it across all the brands, and then sometimes people spend more time than others.
• 28:48
  SPEAKER_01: So the math can be off and it doesn't have to always be malicious, but sometimes it is malicious because they're trying to get as much money as they can, so it's everybody's fighting for what they can.
• 28:57
  SPEAKER_01: But hey man, anything else you you want to cover as far as this goes?
• 29:00
  SPEAKER_01: This is an awesome like I said, man.
• 29:01
  SPEAKER_01: I keep these intro ones short and sweet, and then as we get in a few months or so, when we get over on the other side of the band, I'll start doing some round tables and bring some other brands on, and we'll kind of have some topical conversations.
• 29:12
  SPEAKER_01: And right now, we're just yeah, right now we're just banging out everybody's stories and trying to let everybody know you guys exist, you're a real human being.
• 29:19
  SPEAKER_01: You know, it's not the synthetic products that that are out there, and there's a real story behind it, and that's the most important part about this.
• 29:25
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 29:26
  SPEAKER_00: I would I would love to come back and I thought this was great.
• 29:29
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks for having me, Nick.
• 29:30
  SPEAKER_01: Awesome, man.
• 29:31
  SPEAKER_01: Real quick, just give everybody your handles and uh website and everything like that to reach out to you.
• 29:35
  SPEAKER_00: Great.
• 29:36
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, if folks want to follow us, they can follow us on all social media at the beststurdy lemonade.
• 29:42
  SPEAKER_00: I think there's actually a period on our Instagram.
• 29:44
  SPEAKER_00: It's the period bestirty lemonade.
• 29:46
  SPEAKER_00: But if you search that on any platform we're there, whether it's YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, Facebook.
• 29:54
  SPEAKER_00: And then if you want to order some lemonade, you know, you want to try some, we have the beststurdy lemonade.com, our website where you can order all the great products.
• 30:03
  SPEAKER_00: We actually just started selling candles.
• 30:05
  SPEAKER_00: We started selling candles because we had these extra cans laying around, and we don't know what's gonna happen with this hemp band.
• 30:12
  SPEAKER_00: So buy a candle.
• 30:14
  SPEAKER_01: That's awesome, man.
• 30:15
  SPEAKER_01: Is it called candle like can is all caps?
• 30:19
  SPEAKER_00: No, that's a missed opportunity.
• 30:22
  SPEAKER_01: No, go for it, man.
• 30:23
  SPEAKER_01: You can have it, run with it.
• 30:24
  SPEAKER_01: I thank you.
• 30:26
  SPEAKER_01: That just came out off the dove.
• 30:28
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, for sure.
• 30:30
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, I appreciate you, Nate.
• 30:31
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely, man.
• 30:32
  SPEAKER_01: Real quick in closing, I want to remind everybody of our challenge on every episode.
• 30:36
  SPEAKER_01: For you, Amari, as a guest, tell all your friends, tell everybody you work with.
• 30:39
  SPEAKER_01: Five minutes a week, 20 minutes a month, kindness to a stranger.
• 30:42
  SPEAKER_01: When you're walking down the street, put your phone in your pocket, look every everybody where they're walking by, smile, wave, nod.
• 30:47
  SPEAKER_01: If you want to say something that's fine, feel the vibes.
• 30:49
  SPEAKER_01: Don't be creepy, don't be a weirdo.
• 30:51
  SPEAKER_01: Walk into the gas station, the coffee shop, fumbling through the creamer and the coffee.
• 30:54
  SPEAKER_01: Look to the person next to you, ask them how they're doing.
• 30:57
  SPEAKER_01: And if you don't feel comfortable asking how they're doing, I got a new question that I just got last night from somebody.
• 31:01
  SPEAKER_01: Ask them what they're doing for the rest of the day.
• 31:04
  SPEAKER_01: That opens up an authentic conversation.
• 31:06
  SPEAKER_01: You might have some connections, but everybody, five minutes of kindness.
• 31:10
  SPEAKER_01: I do it every day.
• 31:11
  SPEAKER_01: I'm not just telling you guys, I do it every day.
• 31:13
  SPEAKER_01: So I do it five minutes a day, and I get antsy if I don't get out there and meet somebody.
• 31:16
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm the guy out there trying to meet strangers, and I want everybody else to do that.
• 31:20
  SPEAKER_01: 2026 and beyond is looking like it's a beautifully destructive place.
• 31:24
  SPEAKER_01: It's a good and it's a bad, but the human connection is the most important things.
• 31:28
  SPEAKER_01: Beverages are the key to human connection.
• 31:30
  SPEAKER_01: It doesn't matter if it's alcohol, it's functional, it's non-alcoholic, it doesn't matter if it's water.
• 31:34
  SPEAKER_01: All right.
• 31:35
  SPEAKER_01: That's what always, since the dawn of civilization, you come in, hospitality, do what you like a drink.
• 31:40
  SPEAKER_01: That's the way it's been, that's the way it always will be.
• 31:42
  SPEAKER_01: Amari, thank you for participating in this beautiful experiment of life and entrepreneurship and everything you're doing, man.
• 31:48
  SPEAKER_01: You guys keep your head high while in the next 60 days here.
• 31:51
  SPEAKER_01: I'll keep doing what I can on the backside to keep pushing everybody forward.
• 31:54
  SPEAKER_01: But man, it is it is tough out there, but you are you guys are staying positive, and that's inspiring everybody.
• 32:00
  SPEAKER_01: And these consumer stories are just getting more and more powerful, man.
• 32:03
  SPEAKER_01: So thank you so much, Amari.
• 32:04
  SPEAKER_01: Thanks, mate.
• 32:05
  SPEAKER_01: I appreciate you.
• 32:06
  SPEAKER_01: You have a good rest of your day, buddy.
• 32:07
  SPEAKER_01: You take care.
• 32:08
  SPEAKER_01: You too.
• 32:08
  SPEAKER_01: Bye bye.
• 32:09
  SPEAKER_01: Bye bye.