The Aroostook County-made Chapped Hide line of salves will get marketed at trade shows from Maine to Texas with the help of a recently awarded state grant.
Suzanne Hiltz, owner of Das NiederHiltz Haus in Cary, about eight miles south of Houlton, was recently awarded a $25,000 Maine Domestic Trade Grant to expand her business beyond Maine’s borders.
“I feel a strong responsibility in how I use this grant money and I’m going to make this work,” Hiltz said.
Hiltz was one of 40 Maine businesses selected in the first round of domestic trade grants from Gov. Janet Mills’ Maine Jobs & Recovery Plan. This first round of grants, totaling more than $3 million, is intended to increase sales of Maine-made products ranging from blueberries and oysters to forest products across the U.S.
It will help Maine businesses tell their stories to a wider audience and reach new customers, Heather Johnson, commissioner of the Department of Economic and Community Development, said in Tuesday’s announcement.
The Chapped Hide salves and moisturizers, handmade from plantain leaves, were first developed by Hiltz as a black fly salve when she moved to the County from Augusta several years ago.
Seeking relief from black fly bites that covered her neck, Hiltz drew on an old family bee sting remedy of chewing up the plantain leaves and making them into a poultice to put on the sting.
When it brought instant relief, she first created a plantain-infused olive oil that eventually led to the development of her popular salves and moisturizers that are currently sold in 15 locations throughout Maine and one in Massachusetts. Hiltz also has two e-commerce stores with customers as far away as Hawaii and Alaska.
Last year, Hiltz’ husband, Jeremy Hiltz, suggested she contact the Northern Maine Development Commission for assistance. With the guidance and coaching of Jacob Pelkey, NMDC’s entrepreneur program manager, she was awarded a $10,000 Maine Community Development Block Grant late last year.
“I think there is tremendous growth potential in that product,” Pelkey said.
One of the biggest changes to Chapped Hide from the NMDC funding was a change in packaging that went from jars packed and labeled in her kitchen to an artist-created logo and labels for tins. It also allowed her to trademark the Chapped Hide brand, advertise and develop an LLC.
In January she was selected for the state’s Top Gun Program — a business accelerator to help entrepreneurs learn more about operating and marketing — and she has a stab at an additional $25,000 from the program’s final pitch competition in May.
And now, the trade grant is just what Hiltz needs to transition from cottage production to larger retail, she said.
In addition to a focused trade show circuit, Hiltz said she will do product testing, create legal documents for scientific evidence, hire consultants for online and social media pages, work with a single branding and advertising agency for packaging and digital branding and digital advertising that will attract consumers.
“The goal is to make retailers aware of our products and future products, and that their customers need Chapped Hide,” she said.
