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!"
