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Life comes at you fast. Just 7 yrs ago, Andrew Coplon, the founder of Craft Beer Professionals & Secret Hopper, posted an online poll asking taproom managers if they would consider selling an NA beer on-premise. At the time, 67% of respondents said no. By the middle of last yr, when he asked again, 81% said yes. The changing landscape of craft has pushed breweries to expand their NA offerings, be it in beer or THC-derived drinks, the details of which were covered extensively at a separate CBC panel this morn. Joining Andrew onstage were Katie McNulty, Director of Mktg for Chicago's Revolution Brewing; Alec Travis, co-founder and CEO of IA's Field Day Brewing and Day Dreamer Cannabis, and Meagen Coestor, founder of the AFicioNAdo Certification Program, who opened the session bluntly. In the hemp-derived THC biz, "doing due diligence isn't optional, it's foundational," she cautioned. Unlike the earlier panel discussion focused on hemp (see above), this quartet largely steered clear of discussion of Nov's federal deadline and how it could affect cannabev producers, instead focusing on the very real boosts hemp bevs can provide businesses and the best practices needed to make them stick.THC Comes in, Beer Sales Stay Stable, But Food Sales Go Up Katie's analysis found that in the 6 mos since the co launched its Reverb THC bev line, there was a 25% check increase among customers who drank it vs those who didn't. The data also show that customers were 40% more likely to order food, despite the fact that Revolution doesn't have a kitchen and only sells packaged items. And the introduction of cannabevs didn't cannibalize co's beer sales: 70% of Reverb buyers didn't buy anything else, while 1 in 3 also bought a craft beer. These findings dovetail with Alec's experience in IA, where he said co has the state's only THC bev tap handle with its 4 mg Day Dreamer line. After introducing the product, beer sales stayed flat while food sales went up nearly 6 percent."These Products are Not Beer. Do Not Serve Them Like Beer" Meagen pointed to premium pricing as the paramount reason NA and THC bevs have been adopted by so many craft brewers. "We don't want to be trading them down to water, coffee, soda and energy drinks," she said. "There are not too many other categories that are going to [offer] similar margins to your craft portfolio." With pricing power comes responsibility, tho, and both her and Alec talked at length about the importance of training staff to sell the product, educate the customer and be mindful of those who could have a bad reaction."These products are not beer," Alec said. "Do not serve them like beer. Do not put these on draft if you're not putting protocols in place to keep them safe." At Field Day, all Day Dreamers are served in color-changing plastic cups rather than glass bottles in order to minimize the chance of customer confusion and to better allow staff to monitor consumer behavior. It's not enough to simply write it on the bar menu, he added. "Most people don't read," he joked. "You have to talk to them about stuff." One solution Field Day suggests: drink half a Day Dreamer, wait 20 minutes, then finish the other half.Finding the Right Dosage Limit Andrew compared the shift toward NAs and THC bevs to that of the industry's turn toward hard seltzers over the last few yrs. Cos might be reticent at first, but "these are the things we need to do to keep people coming and spending money in our spaces and to survive during this challenging time." The difficulties of being able to tell if someone is overserved, which they agreed was much easier than with alcohol, was well worth it, but involved significant training of staff. In fact, the panel was fairly strident against overconsumption, dovetailing with one of the BA's main action items as it works with stakeholders to promote a safe hemp-derived THC bev landscape. While Meagen said she "wouldn't want to see very high dosages to be available," she thinks we will get a handle on it in due time: "As the category matures, people can have more than one because we recognize where those dosage caps should be."

More THC Bevs: Selling Delta-9 Drinks On-Premise Doesn't Hurt Beer Sales; Increases Food Sales While Maintaining Margins, CBC Panelists Claim

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