After a brief hiatus, the Southern California-based cannabis lifestyle brand CAKE She Hits Different is back at Arizona dispensaries.
CEO and co-founder Chloe Kaleiokalani said she is glad to have the brand return for cannabis enthusiasts in the Grand Canyon State.
“I’m so grateful and excited to really be back in a way that I’m very proud of and I feel reflects our brand personality,” she said. “We just really want to provide the Arizona community what they deserve, just like we serve our California community.”
The women-led company launched in 2019 and has become known as one of California's top all-in-one vape brands.
The brand has made a name through its bold, vibrant design choices for its packaging and products. Kaleiokalani had been a designer for various brands in the cannabis industry and noticed many used colors like black, gold, white or green, but she wanted to take CAKE in a brighter direction. Kaleiokalani wanted to stand out from other brands, but she wanted to stay true to herself, which led to the prominence of pink within CAKE’s product lines.
“We did a relaunch in November 2023 when we launched Designer Distillate — that’s what really changed the game,” Kaleiokalani said. “There I…really went all in on pink. I felt it was necessary to have a feminine presence.”
Though some people raised concerns that the company's heavy use of pink would “alienate” its male customer base, Kaleiokalani said she has experienced the opposite.
“A lot of people thought that the bright pink was going to kind of alienate other people, like only young girls are going to like this, but that’s not true,” Kaleiokalani said. “I believe it’s about 60% males who purchase and when I’m at different events or whatnot, people come up to me and tell me their experiences, and it’s just every person you can think of. And I love that because that means it doesn’t exclude anyone, and it’s just a wide range of people.”
The desire for CAKE’s branding to reflect an inclusive community is partially inspired by Kaleiokalani’s connection to the music industry. The Oahu native is a DJ and producer in her free time and has been going to raves since she was 16 years old. When she launched CAKE, she wanted to bridge the gap between the music world and cannabis culture. Kaleiokalani said many of the company’s values are drawn from the EDM community.
“In the community, there’s something called PLUR, and it stands for peace, love, unity (and) respect, and I just feel that the community overall just really brings that to life,” she said. “And it just feels really good to be a part of, so I wanted CAKE to be aligned with that and make that a part of our own personality, so it like reflects me authentically and our team.”
CAKE has landed strategic partnerships with prominent names in the EDM community, like Dim Mak, Steve Aoki’s record label. Kaleiokalani said it “feels like a dream” to have such a prominent presence in a space she still cherishes.
“It feels like a dream my inner child has always wanted to come true because I just love music,” she said. “It’s really been a part of my life forever and to have something that the rave community can go to festivals with or just have a good time with, it’s cool to be a part of that experience and contribute to how they’re relating to music and how it shifts their ability to perceive music.”
While CAKE has blazed its path partly due to its unique branding decisions, its high-quality products are what keep customers coming back. Some of its most popular products include the Designer Rosin product line and the Cryo Live Resin Minis line. The brand’s flagship Designer Distillate line remains strong with classic strains such as Watermelon OG, Skywalker OG and Passion Orange Guava, inspired by a drink Kaleiokalani loved growing up in Hawaii. In the future, CAKE plans to release a new rosin line, concentrate line and a dab device.
Kaleiokalani said she can’t wait to bring what CAKE has in store for the future to Arizona.
“Re-entering the Arizona marketplace is super important and how we’re really investing a lot of time and energy to build CAKE up and our CAKE community, so we’re focusing on bringing more events and more product lines to Arizona so that the true CAKE presence can be felt just like it is in California,” Kaleiokalani said.
