The rise of CBDining

By Brandon Dunn

For the last few years, CBD has resided on the fringe of legality in Missouri after a memo from former Attorney General Chris Koster, but with new federal acceptance and a push in the legislature last year, CBD suddenly gained acceptance – and seemingly overnight it was everywhere. Going from a few sporadic locations and online shopping to shelf space in vape shops, smoke shops, health food stores, and then in its own dedicated store fronts.

Now with Missouri law enforcement agencies clarifying their positions in recent months, including the Division of Alcohol and Tobacco Control issuing a statement explaining that, “If the CBD oil has no tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) content, ATC has no authority to regulate its
use under alcohol laws,” CBD has started making more appearances in mainstream culture.

Greenway looked at how and where CBD has landed on menus in Missouri.

In January, Kansas City’s The Roasterie partnered with American Shaman to launch canned cold-brew coffee, infused with 10 milligrams of CBD.

Then Bella’s Frozen Yogurt in St. Louis began offering a rotating menu of flavors of CBD-infused frozen yogurt in collaboration with CBD Kratom, and has promised CBD infused drinks for the summer.

In February, Hogshead Kansas City began serving CBD infused drinks and Chef Clark Grant recently appeared on Pitch’n Kitch’n where he cooked an entire meal infused with hemp and CBD.

In March, St. Louis restaurant Lou Boccardi’s been serving up everything from CBD Italian dressing and CBD pizza sauce to CBD red sauce for pastas. Boccardi’s also serves infused desserts like CBD cookies (10 mg per cookie), CBD fudge cups (20 mg), and served CBD jello shots (20 mg) during Mardi Gras.

Earlier this month Fried described by owner Derek Schulze as a dispensary-themed restaurant opened in St. Louis. Fried uses strain names to describe their CBD infused sauces, but the idea behind Fried is much larger. Schulze described future plans for Fried in an interview with stlmag.com “Fried will produce its own apparel and products and become part of the cannabis empire in different ways, starting with the restaurant and a Fried dispensary, where we’ll sell everything from branded rolling papers and one-hitters to frozen nuggets, dry rubs, sauces, and CBD-oil flavored chips. There’s something to be said about an all-encompassing brand. When people think of cool, sleek technology, they think Apple. In the same way, I want a marijuana brand like that. When people talk about weed, I want them to envision our logo and think Fried.”