The CBD NUT BUTTER THAT MAKES SUSTAINABILITY GROOVY

by Jenna Movsowitz

Rachel Weber really loved The Lorax as a child. At least, that’s the best explanation she can offer for why she has dedicated her life to protecting the earth. From her work with plant-based brands and sustainable clothing choices, to her obsession with Woodstock era music in all of its planet-protecting glory, Rachel’s identity has always been tied to her passion for sustainable living. In June 2020, Rachel created a CBD nut butter — and poured her identity into every jar. Meet Groovy Butter: the vibe enhancing nut butter that makes sustainability groovy.

The Plastic Problem in the Wellness World

After graduating from college in 2016, Rachel followed her passion for plantbased wellness and started her career at a major juice chain. In her role, she worked on everything from product innovation to development and operations for their 85 restaurants. By her fourth year in her role, she had launched over 100 products for the company. While Rachel always felt passionate about health food products, she became increasingly concerned about the way many healthfood chains were using single-use plastics and bioplastics.

“Although bioplastics are generally considered ‘compostable’, they often confuse the plastic waste stream. When bioplastics are accidentally recycled, they can ruin an entire recycling batch,” Rachel says. When she left her role in 2020, she knew that she had to create a wellness product herself — one that would meet her sustainability standards.

A Routine-Worthy CBD Product

In the middle of 2020, Rachel began to notice the impact of the pandemic on her and her family’s mental health: her increased anxiety and her father’s difficulty sleeping. Taking CBD was a no-brainer for her — something that made her kinder, less anxious, and improved her sleep. She knew that people in her life could benefit from it, too. But she quickly realized that her family and friends were reluctant to touch the many CBD products she placed in their laps. CBD tinctures are often bitter and unpleasant to take, and CBD gummies add up to just another item in a crowded medicine cabinet. So Rachel made it her mission to transform CBD from a member of someone’s pill collection into a craveable, healthy treat in their routine — and Groovy Butter was born.

Sustainable From Farm to Jar

While nut butter entered the scene as a vehicle for the star ingredient of CBD, Rachel was never going to settle for your average creamy peanut butter. As a nut butter aficionado herself, she knew that she wanted to create a raw, stone-ground almond butter and a sweeter, hazelnut cacao variety — like Nutella without the sickly-sweet stomachache. From the start, she was devoted to finding the highest quality ingredients to craft her products. This meant finding low-water usage, organic farms. Rachel quite literally spanned the world to find her ingredients: the raw cacao nibs come from biodynamic farms in Peru, the hazelnuts are grown in Italy, the unrefined coconut palm sugar is hand-picked from a sustainable farm in Bali, and the broad spectrum, regenerative CBD reins in from an organic hemp farm in the Colorado Rockies “where they are obsessed with soil health.”

Rachel was also dedicated to finding a co-manufacturer who fully aligned with her brand’s mission. “I knew I needed someone who has the same passion for organic plant-based foods and sustainability,” Rachel says. “I couldn’t work with a co-man who just pushes products out. You need to find someone who is as excited about your brand as you are. When [my co-manufacturers] talk about nut butter, their eyes light up.”

As far as packaging, “single-use plastic was a nonstarter. There was no way I was going to send out any product in single-use plastic. I knew it had to be glass and I knew that our cardboard boxing had to be recyclable,” Rachel says. She’s currently working with a company to create custom-grown pulp holders to protect the jars in shipment.

Inside the Jar...

During R&D, Rachel was particularly attentive to texture and nutrient density. “The stone ground almond butter doesn’t have any oil rising to the top or dry butter you have to scrape from the bottom. It’s smooth and perfectly creamy from top to bottom.” Stone grinding at a low temperature also keeps the complete nutrition of the raw nut, unlike steel grinding which destroys sensitive vitamins. The extra-creamy result of this slow process helps emulsify the CBD into the product.

The hazelnut cacao variety has quickly become a crowd favorite for its unique texture; when you refrigerate it, it scoops out like a creamy hazelnut truffle (like the inside of a Ferrero Rocher), and when you leave it out on the counter, it is warm and drizzly. Rachel’s friends and family, who were at first reluctant to try CBD, now are drizzling Groovy Butter on their oatmeal in the morning and scooping it by the spoon at night. She is thrilled that her dad’s sleep has genuinely improved, and even more thrilled that her friends can’t stop raving about the taste and texture.

What’s Next for Groovy Butter?

Groovy Butter is currently being sold in a few retail locations in NYC and direct-to-consumer. Looking ahead, Rachel plans to rework DTC operations and focus on carbon offsetting. As far as retail rollout, she’s thrilled to be expanding to LA and throughout the country in wellness-oriented shops. As she continues to scale, she will be thinking about refining processes to ensure sustainability at every step.

Though Rachel is currently a solo act, she will continue to rely on and contribute to the natural foods community through Startup CPG. “Startup CPG has been an amazing resource as I’ve built this brand. The Slack is fantastic, the Clubhouses have been fantastic, and the founders have been so willing and open to talk. I’m so grateful to be a part of this community.” In the long-term, Rachel is excited to expand her product line to include more delicious plant-based CBD products. We cannot wait to see what’s next — and to know that supporting Rachel’s work will always ensure a promise of saving the Truffula trees.

Rachel Weber is the founder of Groovy Butter, a line of decadently creamy vibe enhancing nut butters – made with pure, radiant organic ingredients and infused with broad spectrum CBD.