Hill Street Beverages

The Hill Street Beverage company is already well known for their award winning lineup of Beer and Wine. Products like Vin(Zero) wines that offer alcohol free, low calorie solutions to consumers.

Recently Hill Street entered an agreement with Molecule Holdings Inc, to create a line of cannabis infused beverages. The agreement is for a three-year term to manufacture beverages using proprietary infusion technologies from Molecule, as well as Hill Street’s patented platform licensed from Lexaria Bioscience.

Molecule operates a 15,000 square foot facility in Lansdowne ON, which is fully licensed to prepare cannabis 2.0 products including edibles and beverages. Hill Street will be offering Hill Avenue Cannabis beverages during the holiday season in select provinces and are expected to expand across Canada in 2021.

Hill Street has been preparing for this launch for nearly four years, during which time it has gone public on the TSX Venture and raised nearly $10MM. Their Vin(Zero) wine was launched in 2018 to test consumers’ tastes for this type of product, and it is now the bestselling alcohol free wine in Canada.

The collaboration between the two companies is seen as a winning relationship with both companies bringing much needed expertise together to bring products to fruition. Hill Street brings proven brands and superior marketing expertise, and Molecule provides the manufacturing capabilities for world class cannabis beverages. Hill Street Beverage Co. products form the basis of their advocacy for healthier lifestyles. Their products offer a truly sophisticated and delicious alternative to alcohol. Formed in 2008 as MADD Virgin Drinks, they rebranded in 2018 to enter the market for infused beverages, while leveraging their alcohol free products to build brand awareness with consumers through major retail stores. In two short years, they have established a presence in stores that represent over two thirds of all grocery sales in Canada. They also sell their products online in both Canada and the United States. Their products have won a multitude of awards, both locally and internationally, including the prestigious US Beer Open Championships (3 Golds, 2 Silvers, and 2 Bronze).

The company is the cofounder of the Cannabis Beverage Producers Alliance organization, which seeks to advocate for fair legislation for beverages that include cannabis and hemp extracts.

Hill Street is also the owner of a joint manufacturing partnership with Lexaria Bioscience to produce fast-acting, water-soluble and shelf stable ingredients from cannabis extracts. Their joint venture is building a licensed facility to produce ingredients using Lexaria’s technology. These ingredients can be used to create edibles and topical products including beverages, drink mixes, tablets, capsules, creams, lotions, baked goods, as well as THC and CBD powder which will be sold as ingredients to other cannabis and hemp product manufacturers.

To learn more about Hill Street Beverage and their upcoming products, visit them on the web at: hillstreetbeverages.com

When it comes to delivery- depending on the business model, securing proper coverage can become even more difficult. Availability for standard Owned Auto policies (where vehicles used for delivery are owned by the business) remains steady. However, for Hired & Non-Owned Auto policies (where the employee owns the vehicle used for delivery) the market is extremely limited. There are very few carriers legitimately writing policies for the latter exposure where there is direct to consumer delivery. I say legitimately because while many carriers will extend Hired & Non-Owned Auto for “incidental use” (one off trips, or errands via employee owned autos on behalf of the business) most will specifically exclude delivery or regularly scheduled trips. Full disclosure and transparency are vital in the insurance purchasing process, because while you may “have” Hired & Non-Owned Auto coverage on the surface, the fine print of the policy may come back to haunt you in the case of an accident.

Finally, in addition to policy wording considerations there are a variety of loss control measures that need to be taken in order to reduce risk and qualify for coverage. Insurers require prospective delivery drivers have their driving records screened prior to hire, they must be of a certain age and provide valid proof of personal auto insurance. Heavy emphasis is placed on driver safety training, both at hire and regularly thereafter. Failure to abide by any one of these subjectivities could result in a refusal to offer coverage, or even worse a denial of coverage in the case of a claim where these warranties are not proven to be complied with.

As with any insurance policy it is imperative to read the fine print, and/or be working with a representative that you trust implicitly to do the due diligence and advise accordingly. This could never be more true for businesses engaged in cannabis operations.

Join our Trade Shows in Canada, Tennessee, Kentucky, South Carolina & Florida to learn about and see the

latest CBD & Hemp products in the Business & Consumer Markets

Brian Marblestone, AVP – Property & Casualty, provides over 7 years of experience as a producer in the insurance industry. He takes pride in removing uncertainty from the purchase of business insurance and helping busy professionals design specialized insurance programs based on their industry’s unique risk exposures.A t ABD, Brian focuses on Hospitality, Real Estate, Cyber Liability, and Cannabis. He has a half-decade of experience providing risk management consulting to cannabis businesses in particular and has the technical expertise and market familiarity to provide businesses with coverage they need to protect the future of their businesses, from cultivators to distributors and anywhere in between.

For more information visit cbdhemptradeshows.com

Our advice is to always think carefully about the content of your email communications. It can be tempting to keep sending emails about how great your products are, and what amazing deals you are offering. But ensure that you strike a balance so your audience gets to know you as a trusted partner, an industry leader and a source of knowledge.

4. Use the right bait

It is not enough to ask your website visitors to subscribe to your mailing list. You need to give them a reason to subscribe. In other words, you have to ‘bait’ them.

Such a bait, often called a lead magnet, can be any information product such as an educational email series, a webinar, a special report or a case study.

Your lead magnet should be valuable. It should go beyond being just interesting. It should be something that cannabis clients would be willing to pay for.

Even though its primary purpose is to get people to subscribe to your mailing list, it should also position your company as a brand that provides quality.

Final word

This list is by no means exhaustive. However, the four tips above will get you on your way to growing an email list that will bring more leads and boost sales in your business. Now, it’s up to you to implement these best practices and see your engagement and sales skyrocket.