The rise of Recess, a New York startup that could be the White Claw of sparkling CBD drinks if the country's uneven hemp regulations don't get in the way

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Recess is a sparkling CBD beverage geared towards anxious, aesthetic-obsessed millennials.

Founder and CEO Ben Witte launched Recess in October 2018 with a brand-marketing-first approach.

While Recess has skyrocketed in popularity on social media, the company has been navigating unclear CBD regulations behind the scenes.

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Recess's Instagram page is like stepping into a pastel, millennial dreamscape.

Recess is a one-year-old, New York-based startup whose product is a canned beverage containing CBD. While the brand has skyrocketed in popularity on social media, the company has been navigating unclear CBD regulations behind the scenes.

Recess' Instagram has no shortage of vivid imagery: A cartoon Saturn dips into a warm periwinkle sea, three pink Recess cans spout octopus arms, and a creamsicle colored Recess can crashes into the moon.

"We canned a feeling," Recess founder and CEO Ben Witte told Business Insider.

Ben Witte, founder and CEO of Recess, launched his CBD beverage brand geared towards anxious, aesthetic-obsessed millennials in October 2018.

Recess

"I believe CBD is the caffeine of the 21st century," Witte told Business Insider.

Recess, as in "take a recess," was born out of Witte's own use of CBD oil to aid anxiety. He observed the growing anxiety economy, including substances like marijuana, and practices like mindfulness. Witte said he noticed CBD "bubbling up on the periphery" about a year before starting Recess.

Recess was incubated at Life Capital, a brand studio and investment firm, with Witte's then-partners Justin Hauser and David Hess. Witte spun out the idea for Recess himself and focused on a fall 2018 launch.

Recess has been operating for just over a year. In that time, it has grown from two employees working out of Witte's living room to 30 employees with about 4,000 accounts nationwide.

Recess

Recess executed an online direct-to-consumer only launch, a nontraditional approach for a beverage company. Instead of putting Recess into stores right away, Witte drove potential customers to the Recess website through Instagram marketing and sold the drink directly to consumers via personal shipments. Recess had 40 times its projected sales in its first month, leading to 5,000 back orders.

Following the success of the launch, Witte began employing retail distribution marketers and brought on beverage distributor Big Geyser as a strategic partner.

Today, Recess has about 4,000 accounts nationwide. It currently ships to all of the continental US with the exception of three states Idaho, South Dakota, and Mississippi which are particularly tough on hemp.

Recess opened Recess IRL, a pop-up store in the NoHo neighborhood of Manhattan, in February.

Recess

The pop-up was set to last for two months, but its success kept it open for eight months. Recess hosted events with creatively kindred brands and partners, like restaurant review website The Infatuation, at the pop-up.

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