According to both the National Restaurant Association and the American Culinary Federation, CBD and cannabis-infused food is shaping up to be one of the top food trends of the year. And so it’s perhaps no surprise that we are starting to see some breakout cannabis food brands that are starting to influence the future direction of the cannabis cuisine industry.

Lowell Farms and Lowell Herb

At the top of the list of cannabis-inspired food brands is Lowell Farms(www.lowellfarms.com), which is on track to become not only a premier cannabis cuisine brand, but also a premier lifestyle brand. In Fall 2019, Lowell Farms Café in West Hollywood, California will become the first standalone cannabis cuisine restaurant, where it will be possible to enjoy a high-quality meal prepared by celebrity chef Andrea Drummer and smoke a joint at the same time. With new innovations like “budtenders” (i.e. ganja sommeliers) and “flower service” (i.e. the new bottle service), Lowell Farms has a chance to define cannabis cuisine as a unique lifestyle choice, similar to the way that the Hard Rock Café helped to define music and food as a unique lifestyle choice. The impact of Lowell Farms will be to make cannabis consumption lounges as common as your neighborhood wine bar.

One key factor in the success of Lowell Farms will be its collaboration with Lowell Herb Co., which will supply all the high-quality cannabis that patrons will enjoy at Lowell Farms Café. For legal and regulatory reasons, Lowell Farms and Lowell Herb will be two separate entities, and patrons will actually get two separate checks if they choose to consume cannabis on the premises of the restaurant. But the star and celebrity power of Lowell Herb is undeniable. The Robb Report, for example, called Lowell Herb the “first great weed brand,” pointing out the celebrity following of the company that includes Lil Wayne, Usher, Bella Thorne and Miguel. Also, throw in the fact that Lowell Herb was one of the breakout stars of the 2017 Coachella festival, in which it became trendy to wear a $55 flower headband made with “Coachella Blend” cannabis buds, and you can understand why this is a brand with the potential to make a huge impact.

PLNT and PLNT Blend

Another potential breakout cannabis food brand is PLNT, backed by buzz worthy “Top Chef” alum Spike Mendelsohn. The primary product of PLNT will be a new kind of wellness drink (PLNT Blend) that is infused with CBD. On the company’s website (www.PLNTblend.com), this product is described as being both “hemp-infused hydration” and “CBD-infused plant water.” You get the idea here – it’s a wellness drink that will tout its positive benefits for mind and body. It’s easy to imagine this CBD-infused drink becoming a common pre- or post-workout drink, or an affordable luxury to enjoy with a meal mid-week.

The real allure of PLNT as a cannabis food brand is the backing of Spike Mendelsohn, who has shown a real penchant for creating foodie establishments and foodie concepts that attract big-name celebrities. For example, Mendelsohn rocketed to fame with his Good Stuff Eatery in Capitol Hill. One big-time fan of the establishment’s burgers was none other than former President Barack Obama. And Mendelsohn continues to roll out new restaurant concepts that attract a lot of buzz. He is planning to open PLNT Burger, which is a restaurant kiosk inside a Whole Foods Market that will feature a plant-based burger that is supposedly indistinguishable from the real thing. If it’s a big hit, it’s easy to see how PLNT Blend products could become a fixture at supermarkets (including Whole Foods) in states where recreational use of cannabis has been legalized.

Azuca

The slogan of Azuca (www.Azuca.co) is “Edibles, perfected.” Thanks to some nifty technological R&D, Azuca has figured out how to deliver the active THC component of cannabis in such a way that it starts to take effect in 2-15 minutes, rather than the standard 1-4 hours that it takes your standard cannabis brownie edible to take effect. The company promises to “transform the way you experience CBD and cannabis, making rapid, reliable edibles a reality.” It also makes cannabis edibles a different type of social experience.

Azuca was launched by New York City chef and restaurateur Ron Silver, who was looking for a way to combine a love of high-end comfort food with a similar enjoyment of high-end cannabis. The website for Azuca features an attractive mix of “artisan-crafted edibles,” including sugars, syrups, shortbread cookies, chocolate coins, pate de fruit and sugar-free Stevia drops (perfect for those leading a Keto or Paleo lifestyle).

Plant People

One of the co-founders of Plant People is Gabe Kennedy, a chef trained at the Culinary Institute of America. The premise behind Plant People (www.plantpeople.co) is the creation of organic, non-GMO vegan hemp products that promote health, wellness and healing. Products include herbal drops, capsules and balms made with CBD, and they promise to cure a whole range of problems, ranging from mental anxiety to physical aches and pains. While Plant People is not a prototypical food brand, it’s easy to see how these various drops, capsules and other organically-grown hemp extracts could become a valuable part of cannabis cuisine. Imagine a future where, instead of buying spices for your kitchen’s spice rack, you are buying different hemp extracts and drops to achieve a specific mental or physical result.

Just as the food industry has seen the emergence of celebrity chefs at the helm of national food chains and national food brands (just think of Bobby Flay or Emeril Lagasse, who have both become household names in America), it’s also easy to see how the first breakout cannabis brands could also give rise to entrepreneurial cannabis chefs at the helm of their own herbal empires.