Cookies Fam
A San Francisco cannabis brand with a breeding arm, a clothing label and a bright blue tour bus, built around one famous strain and a rapper who says he is hands-on with everything.
01Where the Cookies story begins
The Cookies story, as the two sources behind this page tell it, begins in San Francisco. Rapper Berner was working as a budtender when he teamed up with co-founder Jai on a strain that went on to become one of the best known in modern cannabis: GSC, the name now used for the strain once called Girl Scout Cookies1. A trade profile fills in the cast list. Berner is the stage name of Gilbert Milam Jr., the founder and chief executive, and Jai "Jigga" Chang is described as the grow expert who co-created the Cookies strain2. That first strain then became the foundation of Cookies Fam Genetics2.
Berner's music career began with freestyle and battle rapping, taking on anyone who would challenge him while he was in high school in the San Francisco Bay Area and Arizona2. Neither source gives a founding year for Cookies, so none is stated here. The profile only says the strain had spawned dozens of offspring nearly ten years after its debut, and that article is undated2.
02From one strain to a whole ecosystem
By the time of the MG Retailer profile, the original Cookies strain had produced dozens of offspring, and they were popular on dispensary menus across the United States2. The brand also grew well beyond genetics. Cookies SF became a widely recognized clothing and lifestyle label, and a growing chain of Cookies-named dispensaries was spreading across California and other states2. The Cookies SF store opened in San Francisco in 2015, and its hats, T-shirts, backpacks and hoodies sold quickly2. During 2019, five more Cookies stores opened in California and Michigan2.
Not every project was fast. The company's Vibes rolling papers took about three and a half years to develop, a delay the profile puts down to how heavily monopolized the paper industry is2. The profile likens the company's growth strategy to a franchise model, with existing or new businesses brought in as partners in the Cookies ecosystem2. Berner's Instagram audience grew from about 500,000 to 1.2 million followers between 2016 and the article's writing2.
Cookies also stepped into non-THC products, offering CBD versions of three of its popular strains, sold as vapes, gel capsules and tinctures and shippable to all 50 US states1. That source is sponsored content from Cookies, so it is not an independent account1.
03Blue buses, long lines and knowing nods
Hundreds of people have reportedly queued around the block for Cookies dispensary openings in Detroit and Modesto1, though that claim comes from the brand-sponsored piece. The trade profile describes the Cookies tour bus as wrapped in Cookies blue, a shade the writer compares to a blue raspberry slushy2. The profile frames the brand's mission as making quality cannabis available to everyone, one Cookies shop at a time2.
Strains and stores seem to travel together. The profile describes a test strain called Big Apple, developed by a breeder in anticipation of a hoped-for Cookies New York store2. Whether that store opened is not documented in the sources. The same profile also notes that in cities around the world, Cookies fans exchange a knowing nod as they pass one another on the sidewalk2.
04Where things stand
What can be said about the present is limited by the sources. The Leafly page was last updated on 28 July 2020, and it is sponsored content from Cookies1. The MG Retailer profile has no publication date, but it refers to store openings in 20192. In it, Berner says he is hands-on with everything2. Anything that happened after 2020, such as store counts, ownership changes or new product lines, is not documented in the material used for this page, so it is left out rather than guessed.
05Announced plans
The only announced plans in the sources come from the MG Retailer profile. The company said it planned to expand its retail operations to stores in more than twenty markets across five countries, starting with Canada and Barcelona, Spain2. For Canada, Berner said the focus would be on indoor-grown product, with the aim of giving Canadians the best quality possible2. Whether these plans were carried out is not documented here, so this section describes stated intentions, not confirmed outcomes.
Sources
- Cookies legendary genetics now available in all 50 states | Leafly (sponsored by Cookies; last updated 28 July 2020)
- Berner Is Steering Cookies to International Prominence | MG Retailer (undated)
Written from the sources above and checked on 2026-10-29. Spot an error? Tell us on the contact page.