As consumers continue to gravitate to more plant-based and herbal supplement alternatives, kava and kratom have emerged as popular botanicals. Renowned for their functional benefits, more individuals than ever are incorporating these products into their routines. That’s why the importance of arming consumers with comprehensive information is paramount.
Botanic Tonics, LLC manufactures, sells, and distributes plant-based tonics and capsules under the feel free brand. Since its introduction into the market four years ago and rapid expansion since, the company has strived for growth with a focus on responsibly leading the industry.
From understanding dosage guidelines to clear serving sizes, informed decision-making is crucial to ensuring a safe and enjoyable experience with kava and kratom supplements. Despite a litany of bad actors, some companies in the industry are complying with, and sometimes even exceeding, regulatory guidelines with respect to product safety, usage directions, and labeling.
These six truths guide how Botanic Tonics operates as a company:
These truths are not only the company’s guiding principles in day-to-day decision making and long-term strategy, but they’re also the cornerstone for financial success. As evidence, according to Nielsen IQ, Convenience store dollar sales of Botanic Tonics’ products in 2023 increased 286% compared to the previous year and unit sales increased 258%. The company also expanded to more than 15,000 retail locations. All of this has taken place under the guidance of founder JW Ross.
Success rooted in our beginning
Prior to founding Botanic Tonics, Ross built a successful career in the oil and gas industry. Embracing the “work hard, play harder” mentality, Ross turned to alcohol and drugs to help cope with the stress and social anxiety he felt. Seeking a better way of life, he went on a life-changing journey through Southeast Asia and the South Pacific.
Through his travels, Ross became fascinated by the functionality of ancient plants. He spent the next several years combining various botanicals in various quantities in his home kitchen. In 2019, Ross discovered the perfect blend – a novel mixture consisting of kava root, known for its calming properties, and leaf kratom, traditionally used for stamina and energy. The tonic, as he called it, finally delivered the calm, focused energy Ross was seeking to balance his life. From this ‘CLASSIC’ formulation, Botanic Tonics and feel free were born.
Protecting brand reputation
Today, Botanic Tonics is committed to creating an organization that believes in transparency. Botanic Tonics’ mission is to arm consumers with all of the facts about their products, from ingredient profile to usage guidelines, so that they can make informed choices about what to consume. Botanic Tonics is active in dispelling confusion, conflation, and misinformation about kratom, its products and the company.
At the heart of the issue is understanding that ‘not all kratom is equal’. Leaf kratom, like what has been consumed for centuries in Southeast Asia, is not the same as the kratom extract, concentrates and isolates that are widely sold in the U.S. Botanic Tonics’ kava-forward products use high-quality botanicals like kava, kola nut, lion’s mane and rhodiola in feel free and kava and leaf kratom in feel free CLASSIC. These formulations produce highly tolerable and enjoyable effects compared to the unpredictability of highly potent kratom concentrations. A good analogy is the difference between a 12oz can of light beer and a 12oz glass of whiskey. Both are alcohol, but one is a lot more concentrated.
Operating in this reality, Botanic Tonics takes seriously its responsibility to consumers—to ensure they’re provided specific and data-driven product information to inform their consumption behavior.
To that end, Botanic Tonics takes extraordinary effort to educate its customers. On its website, Botanic Tonics features robust content on its products’ ingredients and usage. The company’s commitment to education extends beyond its website to the company’s identity and operational approach within the industry and news environment. Botanic Tonics aims to cut through the noise with evidence and transparency. One way that will happen is through clear product labeling.
A Label That Says It All
On January 16th, 2024, Botanic Tonics, LLC announced new label changes to the company’s top product, feel free CLASSIC, to help consumers make more informed decisions about product purchase and use. The company’s new label reflects the company’s industry-leading commitment to provide clear information about the product’s contents, dosage, and potential risks.
The new feel free CLASSIC label (see image below) includes the legally required information including serving sizes, servings per container, active ingredients and age restrictions. However, the new label goes above and beyond the required information to include expiration dates and active ingredients such as total alkaloids, mitragynine and 7-hydroxymitragynine. The new label also includes a warning notice that, like caffeine and alcohol, kratom has the potential to become habit forming if consumed irresponsibly. Feel free also includes nonrequired disclaimers about who should avoid using any potentially habit-forming substance, such as those with a history of past substance abuse or using certain medications.
Looking ahead
In the coming weeks, through a series of BevNet articles, Botanic Tonics aims to break new ground in how people understand the industry and the company. Readers will learn how Botanic Tonics achieved retail growth through a self-made distribution network, emphasizing the importance of controlling growth not just for speed but also for responsible strategic development. The company will share a point of view on the need for regulation in the industry – navigating a landscape with both positive and negative actors and how the company advocates for effective regulations that ensures the responsible growth of the kratom market.
Botanic Tonics will describe the wellness benefits to, and reactions from, consumer fans. Prevalent myths will be refuted with accurate, evidence-based facts. Finally, the company will show how it stands out by prioritizing responsible ingredient sourcing, obtaining kratom through individual, small-scale farmers and supporting emerging economies tied to kratom production.
Altogether Botanic Tonics will make clear how it is innovating and elevating – as a company and a brand – for the benefit of the industry and customers.