[Indie Interview] Jonny Alberto, Co-Founder of The Good Level

British brand The Good Level offers cold-pressed hemp that has a full spectrum of cannabinoids, including CBD.

From skin issues to stress relief, CBD is hugely popular now as a natural and highly effective solution for a wide range of conditions, but it’s still the topic of much debate. We talk exclusively to Co-Founder Jonny Alberto at The Good Level.

How did the business start?
It all started at university. Joe Dobbs and I (the other co-founder) were looking at how CBD could help us to perform at our best physically and mentally, but really there was very little information out there about what CBD could do and what it was. We care about what we put into our bodies and wanted something natural and unprocessed, and that was quite hard to find. We went on a journey to try and figure it out on our own, learnt a whole lot during that process, and that’s when The Good Level started out. We wanted to make CBD products that were completely natural, process-light and chemical-free. That was and still is the foundation of our business today.

How has the business grown since then?
We were founded just over a year ago and are now a team of five. We’re selling online, which is our main platform, and we’ve recently opened a pop-up store in Portobello Road, London.

We thought a pop-up would be great to pilot, as it gets us in-front of customers, talking about our products as well as being able to get feedback. The benefit of the store is having that point of contact with the customer. We’re loving building relationships with our customers – we’ve actually got a sofa down here now so we can sit down and have a good chat when buyers come in. It’s a healing and relaxing vibe.

We’re also looking at the wholesale market now and expanding our brand that way. This is a channel that makes sense to us for where we are at today.

What can we find at The Good Level store?
We’ve been quite ambitions – we have seventeen different SKUs. We’ve got seven different oils, in assorted sizes and different flavourings,  a muscle spray, a muscle balm, a moisturiser, a massage oil, a face mask, an exfoliant, a coffee, a tea and finally, two different types of gummies.

What makes The Good Level different?
We use British hemp and all of our range is made here in the UK.

We have a true full-spectrum CBD oil. We use a traditional cold press method, avoiding heat treatments and chemical solvents. We believe we are the only company in the UK that can say all our products are cold pressed. It’s a traditional, natural, chemical free process we use to obtain the sought-after compounds from the hemp plant, which means we keep all the nutrients and properties that are beneficial to our health.

What are some of the challenges you have faced?
Education is so important in this space. There are so many customers out there that just go out and buy a CBD product without really knowing what they are buying. So often, they don’t get the full benefit this way and don’t enjoy the product.

 How can you tell a good CBD product from a bad one?
That’s a hard question! It’s more challenging if you’re shopping in the physical retail space – with digital players, you can access a lot more information. However, there are things you can look out for. Try access the brands’ laboratory reports. Good brands are happy to publish and share these. We’d always recommend that when a customer is looking at a CBD product, they look for one that has a full range of cannabinoids in the product.

Unlike common commercial extraction methods, the natural cold press preserves the beneficial compounds. We believe the true full spectrum of cannabinoids gives the consumer more benefit.

The FSA has recently clamped down on many CBD brands, has this affected you?
I’m really happy to see the FSA clamping down on CBD brands, as there needs to be more regulation in this industry.

For us, cold-pressed hemp is novel-exempt because it’s not classed as a CBD extract. Instead, it’s a true reflection of the hemp plant in its natural state and not selective in the transfer of the beneficial plant compounds.

Where do you see your busines in 3 years’ time?
Our ambition is to be one of the leaders in cold-pressed CBD – if not the best. We want to be in as many channels as we can be – not just online – and we want to not only be in all the big retailers; we want them to be talking about our products.

Find our more about The Good Level.

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