He Makes Up To 80% Of All Cannabis Beverages In Michigan | Matthew McAlpine
Note sull'episodio
Matt McAlpine went from washing kegs at a cider farm to running Michigan's largest cannabis beverage operation.
The early days at Blake’s Hard Cider were tough… Their first big bet (getting non-smokers into dispensaries with a 2mg drink) didn't land the way they planned.
They adjusted and deployed 150 refrigerators into dispensaries which doubled average sales per store.
And they went from near zero to manufacturing 60%-80% of all cannabis beverages in Michigan.
In our episode we covered:
→ How Matt scaled Blake's Hard Cider from 10,000 to 1.3 million cases
→ Why the "get canna-curious consumers into dispensaries" strategy failed
→ The play that unlocked 51 dispensaries and doubled their average order size
→ How Michigan stacks up as a cannabis beverage market
→ How 37,000 Michigan liquor stores present the real opportunity
Matt thanks for coming by the studio to record and share your story of struggles and successes!
Chapters
00:00 Intro
01:00 Who is Matt McAlpine
03:14 Chrysler and the manufacturing leadership program
05:50 Leaving corporate for Blake's Hard Cider
07:53 Scaling Blake's from 10,000 to 1.3 million cases
10:05 Blake's Beverage Company and acquiring regional cider brands
13:40 How Emerald Canning Partners was formed
15:37 Building the facility and the early product launch struggles
20:35 Who the real cannabis beverage consumer is
24:24 Brand partners, the full portfolio, and owning the fridge
30:38 Michigan's market share and the 37,000 liquor store opportunity
36:43 Why cannabis beverages beat alcohol for recovery
44:00 Operations, team building, and the hire slow fire quick mentality
50:00 What fires Matt up and where ECP is headed
~~~
This episode is powered by Drive Creative:
🌐 https://drivecreativeagency.com/
Subscribe for more conversations with entrepreneurs and innovators who push Beyond The Hustle
Prefer to listen?
Do you have a story to tell? We’d love to hear from you!
Learn more about being a guest on Beyond The Hustle by visiting https://www.beyondthehustle.show