The Wine Country cannabis company that decided edibles should feel less like a smoke shop and more like Sonoma.
Here is a company that looked at cannabis - a $30-billion American industry that still, somehow, largely markets itself with skulls and green crosses - and decided the entire category had made a branding error.
The pitch for Garden Society is disarmingly simple, which is usually the sign of an idea that took real work to arrive at. Erin Gore and Karli Warner both came out of California Wine Country - Gore as a chef and restaurateur with a Chemical and Biological Engineering degree from Wisconsin, Warner from the boutique-PR world of Napa. In 2016 they looked at the freshly-legal cannabis market and noticed that almost none of it was built for people like them. So they built the thing that should have existed.
What they built is a line of craft edibles - chocolates, gelees, gummies - and sun-grown pre-roll "Rosettes," all made with the fussy, terroir-obsessed sensibility that Wine Country applies to a bottle of Sauvignon Blanc. The products are strain-specific and, tellingly, organized around feelings rather than chemistry: Calm, Focus, Brighter Day, Blissful Rest. This is a subtle but important move. Most cannabis brands sell you a milligram count. Garden Society sells you an outcome, which is what customers were quietly buying all along.
The engineering background is not a footnote. Edibles are, fundamentally, a chemistry problem wearing a hospitality costume - you need consistent dosing, a proprietary full-spectrum extract that tastes like something a chef would serve, and enough process control that the gummy you eat in March performs like the one from December. Gore has the credential to actually run that problem down, which is rarer in this industry than the marketing decks suggest.
Then there is the structure. Garden Society is a certified Benefit Corporation, which means its commitment to women's wellness and sustainable sourcing is not a tagline but a legal obligation baked into its incorporation documents. That is the kind of thing that is easy to announce and expensive to actually honor, because it forces trade-offs that a normal C-corp can simply route around. They chose to make the trade-offs mandatory.
The market has, so far, agreed with them. The company launched at the 2016 Emerald Cup, grew into hundreds of California dispensaries and the major delivery platforms, added a direct-to-consumer delivery service in 2019, and - in the part investors care about - did all of it "with a focus on profitability." That last phrase is doing a lot of work in a sector famous for lighting money on fire.
A partnership that reads like a spec sheet for building a consumer brand: one part science, one part story.
A former Wine Country chef with a Chemical and Biological Engineering degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Gore is fluent in the science of extraction and formulation - and an outspoken advocate for women-owned cannabis businesses. Forbes named her among the most powerful and innovative women in cannabis; the North Bay Business Journal named her a 2021 top female business leader.
Warner began her career in communications and marketing at a boutique PR agency in Napa, learning to pitch stories and build media relationships in the wine world. She reconnected with Gore in 2016 and brought the brand-building discipline that has put Garden Society in front of the Today Show, CNBC, Marie Claire and the Los Angeles Times.
Craft edibles and sun-grown flower, formulated by feeling rather than by strain name.
Wine-country-inspired gummies made with a proprietary full-spectrum extract - including THCV-rich seasonal flavors like Kiwi Lime Sauvignon Blanc.
Artisanal cannabis-infused chocolates and gelees developed with a chef's palate and a chemist's precision.
Sustainably farmed, strain-specific sun-grown pre-rolls connecting responsible farming to the finished product.
A premium collection launched in 2022, featuring THCV-rich flower pre-rolls for a more discerning shelf.
Products organized around outcomes - Calm & Focus, Brighter Day, Blissful Rest - so you choose a feeling, not a formula.
A statewide direct-to-consumer delivery service launched in 2019, bringing the full line to California doorsteps.
Gore and Warner debut a women-focused craft cannabis brand in Sonoma County.
The company grows its line of chocolates, gummies and sun-grown pre-roll Rosettes.
Statewide D2C delivery launches; Forbes recognizes Erin Gore as a leading woman in cannabis.
Rapid, profit-focused growth; Gore named a top female business leader by the North Bay Business Journal.
Closes a $7 million Series A, partners with Airbnb, launches the Reserve line and moves into new states.
Hear the founders in their own words and see the products up close.
A Cloverdale, California craft cannabis company founded in 2016 that makes wine-country-inspired edibles - chocolates, gelees and gummies - plus sun-grown pre-rolls, with a focus on women's wellness.
Erin Gore (Founder & CEO), a chemical engineer and former Wine Country chef, and Karli Warner (Co-founder & Head of Marketing), a former Napa PR professional.
It raised a $7 million Series A in January 2022, led by RJ Primo LLC with participation from a female- and BIPOC-led angel SPV.
It is a certified Benefit Corporation that applies Wine Country craft sensibilities to cannabis, formulating strain-specific, effect-based products aimed at women's wellness.
Through hundreds of California dispensaries and major delivery platforms, its own direct-to-consumer delivery service, and select markets including New Jersey and Massachusetts.