Heritage president David Schwede — told Marijuana Business Daily that the idea for his company’s new cannabis-infused freezies came to him when he spotted a batch of the summertime treat in unfrozen form at the store.
“It was like one of those crime shows,” he said, “where all of a sudden a light bulb turns on.”
Totally RADsicle
The edibles market is largely limited to infused gummies, chocolate and drinks, in part because compliant cannabis edibles must be shelf-stable. RADsicles, which will come in four “nostalgic” flavours: blue raspberry, cherry, cream soda and grape, are sold unfrozen, and will come in two potencies: one with 10 mg of THC per freezie, and a lower dose version with 2.5 mg of THC.
“We’re providing a different format, different flavors and innovation in a category that’s dominated by 300 circular gummies in different flavours,” Schwede told MJ Biz.
Low THC limits ice out possibilities
Another reason for delayed innovation in the edibles space? Demand. The edibles market is a mere 4.2% of the market, which Schwede said could partly be due to the low 10 mg THC limit per edible. Long-time or experienced consumers may be making their own or still buying from the illicit market, where products are more potent.
Aren’t freezies a no-brainer? (or brain freezers?)
With so many stores reopening this summer after a long lockdown period, we’ll also be keeping an eye on if any how consumer behaviour changes in a non-digital shopping experience. It’s easy to imagine shoppers coming in hoping to cool off with a cannabis freezie.
But the experts at our June 16 ‘What cannabis products should retailers carry?’ event encourage retailers to look closely at their sales data before allowing personal biases or assumptions to dictate those all-important inventory decisions.
