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Suzanne Hiltz, owner of Das Niederhiltz Haus in Cary Plantation, has sold her Chapped Hyde line of ointments and moisturizers from Hawaii to Maine. Behind her is a painting of her father, the late Fred Lewis Niederer. Hiltz sells greeting cards from the Fred Lewis Niederer Collection at House of Cary. (Kathleen Farren Tomaselli | Houlton Pioneer Times)
The Chapped Hyde Ointment line, made in Aroostook County, will be sold at trade shows from Maine to Texas with the help of a recently awarded state grant.
Suzanne Hiltz, owner of Das Niederhiltz House in Cary, about 8 miles south of Houlton, recently received a $20,000 Maine Domestic Trade Grant to expand her business beyond Maine’s borders. Won $5000.
“I feel a strong sense of responsibility in how this grant is used, and I intend to make it a success,” Hiltz said.
Hiltz was one of 40 Maine companies selected for the first round of domestic trade grants from Governor Janet Mills’ Maine Jobs and Recovery Plan. This first round of grants, totaling more than $3 million, is aimed at increasing sales of Maine-grown products across the United States, from blueberries and oysters to forest products.
Economic and Community Development Secretary Heather Johnson said in Tuesday’s announcement that it will help Maine businesses tell their stories to a wider audience and reach new customers.
The cracked skin ointment and moisturizer, handcrafted from plantain leaves, was first developed as a black fly ointment by Hiltz when she moved to the county from Augusta several years ago.
To relieve the symptoms of neck blackfly stings, Hiltz turned to a traditional bee sting remedy of chewing up plantain leaves, making a poultice, and applying it to the sting area.
When it instantly relieved symptoms, she first created a plantain-infused olive oil that eventually led to the development of a popular ointment and moisturizer that is now available in 15 locations in Maine and one in Massachusetts. It is sold at. Hiltz also has two e-commerce stores of her own and has customers from as far away as Hawaii and Alaska.
Last year, Hiltz’s husband, Jeremy Hiltz, suggested she seek help from the Northern Maine Development Commission. With the guidance and coaching of her manager, Jacob Pelkey, in NMDC’s Entrepreneurship Program, she was awarded a $10,000 Maine Community Development Block Grant late last year.
“I think that product has great growth potential,” Pelkey said.
One of the biggest changes to NMDC-funded Chapped Hide is the packaging change, from kitchen-packed and labeled jars to artist-created can logos and labels. This also allowed us to trademark, advertise, and develop an LLC for the Chapped Hide brand.
In January, she was selected for the state’s Top Gun program, a business accelerator that helps entrepreneurs learn about operations and marketing, and will win an additional $25,000 in the program’s final pitch competition in May. I’m seizing the opportunity.
And now, she said, trade subsidies are exactly what Hilts needs to move from home-grown production to large-scale retail.
In addition to intensive trade shows, Mr. Hiltz conducts product testing, creates legal documents for scientific evidence, hires consultants for online and social media pages, and conducts research on packaging and digital branding and digital advertising. said it plans to work with a single branding and advertising agency. It will attract consumers.
“The goal is to make retailers aware of our products, our future products, and that their customers need Chapped Hide,” she said.
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