These Boulder entrepreneurs brought chai tea to the mainstream. Now, they hope to do the same with CBD.
ANAHEIM, Calif. Selling Americans on chai, a spiced black tea with roots in herbal medicine, was a heavy lift for Colorado entrepreneur John Simmons.
Nearly 25 years after the founder and former CEO of Boulders Third Street Chai introduced consumers to a largely unknown beverage, Simmons is putting his back into a new product push: Hes all-in on a cannabis extract hailed for its medicinal properties but facing a regulatory future yet to be determined.
Last week, Simmons and business partner Matt Oscamou, founder of San Jose, Calif.-based Frontier Snacks, unveiled Weller Snacks, a hemp extract-enhanced food brand, at Natural Products West Expo in Anaheim, Calif.
The duo are among an intrepid class of natural products pioneers determined to bring cannabis-derived extracts rich in non-psychoactive compounds and cannabinoids such as cannabidiol known as CBD to grocery store shelves.
Expo West, the industrys largest trade show, served as the coming out party for CBD and brands like Weller Snacks.
The 20-plus hemp extract products that debuted there didnt much resemble the marijuana-derived CBD oils and tinctures found in dispensaries elsewhere in California or any of the seven other states with legal adult-use marijuana sales.
Instead, the CBD-infused products on display at Expo West included honeys, sparkling juices, flavored waters, and pet and horse botanicals. The hemp extracts used in these products are marketedmuch like turmeric, Omega-3s or garlic are as health- and wellness-enhancing ingredients.
The hemp extract-enriched coconut bites developed by Simmons and Oscamou aredesigned for occasional consumption by adults for the purposes of making them feel weller, Simmons said. Each servingcontains 5 milligrams of extract, sourced from an Oregon hemp farm run by Frederick Schilling, the founder of Dagoba Chocolate, an organic chocolate company that was bought by The Hershey Co. in 2006.
The learning curve, risks and unknowns of marketing hemp extracts are similar to those Simmons faced with chai back in 1995.
Its an environment that favors entrepreneurs, he said. Entrepreneurs are better at adapting to a less-certain environment.
This was the first year that Expo West formally embraced cannabidiol. Beyond opening the floor to hemp extracts, organizers dedicated a half-day seminar to the business opportunities, potential health-and-wellness benefits and legal uncertainties of the cannabis compound.
The inaugural CBD Summit saw producers and pundits project bountiful sales growth. But they also swaddled their bullishness in reticence, noting pitfalls such as the limited research available and labeling semantics that could be regulatory no-nos.
CBD is a natural products trend built on shaky ground, said Michael T. Murray, a naturopathic doctor and author who has thrown his support behind Emerald Health Bioceuticals, a San Diego-based firm producing supplements featuring cannabinoids derived from non-cannabis plants.
Theres more hype right now than there is real, solid science, he said.
But the hype is real for natural product stores, where hemp extracts are growing at an annual clip of 300 percent, said Sean Murphy, publisher ofHemp Business Journal.
Last year, 14 percent of the $190 million in hemp-derived CBD sales were registered by natural product retailers, according to Hemp Business Journal data. By 2022, those stores should account for 28 percent of the projected $646 million in hemp-derived CBD sales.
Thats good news for mom-and-pop health foods shops such as Adeles Naturally in Evansville, Ind., which is 1,200 square feet, soaking wet and selling a whole lot of CBD, according to store manager Jordan Fink.
Since Adeles started selling hemp extracts last fall, the store has been hard-pressed to keep the products on the shelves, Fink said. On some days, dozens of customers line up for the FedEx truckto arrive with a new shipment, he said. Adeles also continued selling the products despite Indiana Gov. Eric Holcombs calls for their removal.
Similar anecdotes have been flying across the natural products scene.
I think its been a savior in a lot of ways for a lot of small health foods stores, said Ola Lessard, a spokeswoman for Barleans, a Ferndale, Wash.-based company known for flax and fish oils. The company launched two hemp oil products at Expo West: Organic Ideal CBD Hemp Oil and Extra-Strength Ideal CBD Hemp Oil.
CBD has been on the radar of Barleans for several years, Lessard said. Healthy oils have been The companys schtick for 29 years, so adding hemp extracts wasnt too far of a leap, she added.
The massive trade show was a good gauge of retailers appetite for hemp extracts, Lessard said.
A lot of these stores they carry our seed blends, they carry our fish oils, they carry our flax oils, they know us, she said. So I think that just lends, hopefully, a little more comfort for those that havent jumped into CBD.
Retailers are ready to stock products with hemp extracts, said Nick French, the founder of Colorado Hemp Honey, a Parker, Colo.-based maker of honey infused with full-spectrum hemp and essential oils.
We had some stores (sign on) that weve been courting for a little while, he said. We had some large chains that were very interested. The markets definitely changing or moving in the right direction.
Many natural products companies have taken wait-and-see stances toward CBD, said Todd Runestad, ingredients and supplements editor with New Hope Network, the Boulder-based media firm that organizes Expo West.
TheU.S. Drug Enforcement Administration has said CBD is illegal, and the agency stirred confusion in the industry in December 2016 with the filing of arule noticefor the creation of a Controlled Substances ...
