At a glance
Cookies is a San Francisco cannabis and lifestyle brand founded in 2010 by rapper and entrepreneur Gilbert “Berner” Milam Jr. and Bay Area breeder and cultivator Jai. It grew from genetics and cultural visibility into a network of branded cannabis products, licensed dispensaries, collaborations, apparel and social-impact programs. The blue logo is consistent; the company operating a given store or making a given product may not be.
Founders and San Francisco roots
Cookies’ current first-party history credits Berner and Jai as co-founders. Berner brought retail experience, music, marketing and the idea that cannabis could carry a coherent consumer identity; Jai supplied breeding and cultivation work associated with Girl Scout Cookies/G.S.C., Cherry Pie, Sunset Sherbet, Gelato and Biscotti. The company dates the founding to 2010 and the first official cannabis retail store to Los Angeles in 2018.
Genetics and products
Cookies says its library exceeds 70 proprietary cultivars and that more than 2,000 products have appeared under the brand. Depending on the legal market, those can include flower, pre-rolls, concentrates, vapes, edibles, capsules and other formats. That number is a company-wide portfolio claim, not a promise that every product is available everywhere or made by the same cultivator.
How the network works
Cookies expands through licensing and market partners as well as company activity. Local licensed operators cultivate, manufacture or retail products under agreements that can differ by state and country. The official store locator currently lists licensed retailers across numerous U.S. markets plus international locations. A Cookies sign therefore establishes branding, not necessarily common ownership, identical inventory or one national license.
Stores and dispensaries
The company says it has grown to more than 70 retail locations across more than 20 markets and six countries. Its live locator should be used for the current list because stores open, close or rebrand. The directory includes Cookies and related Lemonnade locations, with each listing supplying local hours, address and order links. Consumers should confirm the local operator and license rather than treating social-media listings as proof.
Cookies cannabis versus Cookies SF
Cookies SF is Berner’s separate streetwear and accessories company, with its own apparel stores and the long-used @cookiessf social identity. The cannabis company’s current corporate site is cookies.co.
Recognition and cultural impact
Ad Age named Cookies one of America’s Hottest Brands in 2021, which the company describes as a first for a cannabis brand. In 2022, Berner became the first cannabis executive featured on the cover of Forbes. These are brand and executive recognitions—not blind product competitions. Cookies also operates a social-impact program focused on communities disproportionately affected by cannabis prohibition and on barriers facing social-equity businesses.
Regulatory and legal context
Licensing scale creates real accountability issues. In a Colorado Attorney General assurance effective May 14, 2025, Cookies Creative Consulting and Promotions, Berner and company president Parker Berling resolved allegations involving hemp-derived flower sold through a third-party Cookies THC-A website. The state alleged that product source, genetics and other characteristics had been misrepresented. The document is a settlement of allegations, not a finding that every Cookies product or licensed dispensary was involved.
A separate San Francisco store relationship also ended in litigation and arbitration after the former Berner’s on Haight operator exercised a contractual buyout option; the store later rebranded and closed. That episode concerns one licensed retail partnership and should not be generalized to the entire network, but it reinforces why local ownership and operating agreements matter.
Buying and authenticity
Because legal cannabis is state-specific and counterfeit packaging exists, the defensible path is a currently licensed retailer listed by the local regulator or the brand’s locator. Product claims, cultivator names, cannabinoid results and warnings should be checked on the package for the exact market and batch. An online “Cookies” product is not automatically equivalent to regulated dispensary cannabis.
Sources and verification scope. Checked August 23, 2026: Cookies’ current company history, origin story, store locator and social-impact site; the Colorado Attorney General’s 2025 assurance; and San Francisco Chronicle reporting on the Haight Street dispute. Corporate scale figures are clearly attributed to Cookies and may change as licensed locations change.