Space Food Sticks, the tasty cylindrical protein snacks that captured the public imagination in the 1970s, are back with an out-of-this-world twist: THC.
The release of infused Space Food Sticks represents the first time a classic American brand has entered the booming recreational cannabis edibles market.
Fifty years ago, Pillsbury created Space Food Sticks for Apollo 11 astronauts to be eaten with their helmets on. A commercial spin-off was billed as the world’s first “Astro-Snack” and it became a lunchbox favorite, developing a cult following before disappearing from grocery store shelves in the 1970s.
The new iteration of Space Food Sticks is a joint venture between The Vivid Team of Denver, Colorado (a company that creates and sells food, beverage, cosmetic and cannabis products), and Retrofuture Products, a Brooklyn-based specialty-foods company. They are relaunching legacy brands in the emerging cannabis edibles market.
“I was looking to bring back an iconic snack from the space age,” said Eric Lefcowitz owner of Retrofuture Products in a press release. “Space Food Sticks have a truly unique history.”
The Brooklyn entrepreneur marketed a non-psychoactive version of the chewy treats before pivoting into the uncharted territory of cannabis branding.
“Very few brands in cannabis have established themselves as trustworthy. And we have a track record of being trustworthy with decades of experience developing mainstream CPGs. So we leaped at the chance to apply that to Space Food Sticks,” added Steffen Weck, co-president along with Jessica Cristadoro of the Vivid Team.
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“We are fielding calls from all over the country. That’s a result of brand equity as well as a growing public interest in a healthier alternative in edibles and we provide that,” explained Cristadoro.
Now marketed as “The Original Buzz” and available at both recreational and medical dispensaries in Colorado, Space Food Sticks will soon be going nationwide in legal states.
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Interest in all things space has surged thanks to Elon Musk’s Space X, Jeff Bezos’ Blue Horizons and Richard Branson’s Virgin Intergalactic. “We hope they’ll get served as inflight snacks,” Lefcowitz concluded.
This article originally appeared on Benzinga and has been reposted with permission.
