We have been fans of Fruit Slabs for quite some time. Whether we had been out and about on the town, enjoying nature, hanging with friends, or staying at home - for us it is like opening a little bag of sunshine. It was fun catching up with Roxanne Dennant, co-founder and CEO of Fruit Slabs, to hear about how the brand started, developed and grew to become a leading clean edible brand and role-model for female entrepreneurship, wellness and community spirit.
ATHLEISURE MAG: How did Fruit Slabs come to be?
ROXANNE DENNANT: 5 years ago the landscape was very different - there was not an array of products to choose from, things were not beautifully packaged and there was no mandatory testing so you did not know what you were really getting yourself into! There were no regulations in how to grow your crop and things like that.
So for me, I have been a vegetarian for 13 years and extremely conscious about what I put in my body. I don't like really heavy sugar products and things like that. At the time i was eating vegan because i was having a really hard time digesting dairy products in general. I felt a calling to build a brand for people like myself would enjoy eating and seeing on the shelf. And also trying to create that would be different and sophisticate the space in a way - so like the soccer moms and the women that were out there that were too scared to go into the shop or get into cannabis would feel a little more comfortable to taking a package of Fruit Slabs off of the shelf. Not only is it more beautifully packaged and feels more comfortable than a cellophane wrapped "rice crispie bar" thing in their hand, but we make our product with all organic ingredients - it's all real fruit, there is no added sugar, it is vegan, it is gluten free and super low calorie. We are one of the only edibles that has only 5 ingredients. So we were just trying to make a clean product, and advance the industry with a great carrier for cannabis. That's part of what inspired us to make Fruit Slabs. and on top of that, they happen to be very delicious, so we found a recipe, wanted to be involved and went for it!
AM: What were your first flavors?
RD: We launched with two flavors, the OG Mango and it actually comes out looking like shatter, like a slab of shatter, but literally it is a slab of fruit. It is OG mango - it's literally just mango and THC. Our Mango Maui Wowie is the mango with added fresh coconut into it and fresh coconut flakes on top of it. So it kind of takes you to the beach and smells like that epic, freshest bottle of sunscreen, like coconut like - almost feeling like you are travelling. And then we launched our Tropical Haze flavor, which is a mango base with tropical notes mixed into it like papaya, acerola cherry, and kiwi and topped with hemp seed which is really fun texture to it, but also one of the most complete proteins we can add into our diet. So we felt it was a very good way to add to the diet, and that happens to be my personal flavor because I love the crunchiness of the seeds. Then we launched our Grape Ape, which is a banana grape blend, which is great for sleaping because both banana and grapes both boast high levels of Melatonin, and bananas are high in L-tryptophan, the same chemical found in turkey that makes you exhausted after Thanksgiving dinner. And so we promote that one under the marking campaign - 'Get The Grapist Sleep Of Your Life.'
And our last flavor, which we launched last year with drag queen know as Laganja Estranga, is our Pride Passion flavor, it is a single serve 10mg dose, and it's a mango base with passion fruit mixed into it. It was really special for us, because Laganja has always been a really big supporter of our product even though she hates edibles for the most part. She just found a natural love for our product and we became very close friends on a life level, and now she is one of best and biggest brand amabssadors. She was on RuPaul’s Drag Race and been on Heidi Klum's German drag show, so it is really cool we have her as a part of our team!
Yeah it was really cool because it was really organic. It was like women supporting each other - we always feel compelled to support the underdogs in life, because that's kinda how we feel coming up as underdogs in the space. We didn't want to put out a product during the month of Pride to capitalize on that nature and on that community. We feel LBGQT+ was a community that needed some extra special love. So it's a year long product, its beautifully packaged on the shelves - it's rainbow and has Laganja's signature on it. So we felt really proud to put out a product around Pride that would last in the market. That comes in a single 10mg dose. The other flavors come in 10 square, 100mg total packages.
AM: How long does it generally take to feel effects for people?
RD: It depends, that's the thing about edibles, they are not a one size fits all In model - it's very much up to your body chemistry, what you've eaten that day, what other vitamins you've taken, all things like that. But in general we usually see effects in about 30-45 minutes, the latest its likely going to hit you is probably an hour into things. And Fruit Slabs are really interesting because we are using all natural real fruit which has natural compounds and terpines and compounds. I always say, "I didn't invent the wheel - i just took two of Mother Nature's superpowers and combined them!"
AM: Tell us about the different activities people do when enjoying Fruit Slabs.
RD: There is a conversation in the cannabis community, that eating a mango when smoking or engaging in cannabis use - that it heightens the THC and high due to a terpene present called nyrcene, that can help to kick the cannabinoid activity up. So people will say we took Fruit Slab to kick up the next notch of life. I am a very active person, I do a lot of hiking, was big in surfing and want to get back into it. I love being on the beach and playing the water. It's good for anybody with an active lifestyle using cannabis to heighten their workouts or post-workout to relax their muscles a bit, Fruits Slabs is going to fit that regimen, It is a perfect combination because no added or artificial sugar, no empty calories and its nutrients fit your body needs and can work with it very easily. The Grape Ape is the banana-blend that fits more on the nighttime sleep side as well?
AM: Sounds like this a great fit for active, creative and chill people..
RD: I received so many beautiful messages that 'this is the best edible;' 'this has changed my life;' 'I'm never buying another thing.' We are actually helping people have better lives and enjoy it a bit more freely. There are no better things than that.
AM: And listening and enjoying to music right?
RD: Epic - me and my business partner actually met at Lightning in a Bottle, we love that crew a lot. Our other business partner is also very involved with them, but we met at a different music event. We also share a common love for being in nature, being hippies at heart, but professional on forefront, enjoying music, dancing, camping, being out in nature and things like that!
AM: To us, it feels like opening up a bag and letting some sunshine comes out. I guess it's thanks to you and Mother Nature, huh?!
RD: There is a common thing in the cannabis community - 'Quality In, Quality Out.' We are not going to make a quality product with crabby cannabis going into it.
When we first started, this was with the backdrop of the black market very much raging; this is pre Prop 264. These are the old days where it was up to us and our moral compass to guide us in a way and a fashion that felt good. My business partner, Brian Cona, I call him my 'weed guy,' and we have different skill sets, and it was up to us to find partners where we can go their farms and trust what they were doing. In 2016, about a year after we launched, testing facilities started coming on-line. By year two, we had the tests to put out there and it was really important us to make sure we were finding pesticide-free cannabis. We actually have laboratory tests for all of the THC and CBD that goes into the product and after we make a fruit slab it goes to testing again, so not only do you know of the cleanliness, but the precision of the dosage is there.
AM: How many stores is it carried in?
RD: Were carried in over 100 stores in CA, and this year we'll see more numbers and be more available state-wide with our distribution partners. We are working on Washington and in the final stages and hopeful for end of summer. We are in conversations with a great company in Boston, Massachusetts as well. We are looking to expand the brand and being available in more legal states, and will have the CBD line available in every state.
AM: Do you have anything exciting in development you can tell us about?
RD: We are in the process in putting together our hemp-based CBD line, which is really exciting! Some CA laws are being re-adjusted and we don't cut corners in finding partners and it took us some time to find the right CBD partners and making sure we have all the information that they are growing the hemp as sustainably and clean as possible, there are COAs for it, etc.
IG @FruitSlabs
Read the March Issue of Athleisure Mag and see Something You Should Know | Clean Edibles in mag.
