Faro Cannabis Kitchen: Bringing Equality to the Table

All-too-often businesses in the cannabis industry claim to be intersectional or inclusive but fall short because their staff members are predominantly cisgendered, straight white men. That isn’t the case with Faro Kitchen.

“Being a queer woman in an interracial relationship does greatly affect my business ethos,” says Paige Kazazian, one of the founding partners of the Colorado edibles company. “As someone who’s often in one minority group or another, I recognize how my consumer needs are often either unmet or ignored. Cannabis started off with a relatively high 30 percent female ownership, but that number has been decreasing. There haven’t even been any real attempts I’m aware of to measure queer presence in the industry. This is especially true—and more dire—for people of color, people with disabilities and other folks at the margins who face even greater challenges.”

With this in mind, Faro is determined to do their very best to employ and serve marginalized folks while also making some seriously high-quality edibles.

“Our superfood bites are both delicious and wholesome, oriented toward the lifestyle consumer,” Kazazian shares. “Every bite we make is 100 percent natural, whole plant-based and designed with [both] your taste buds and nutrition in mind. We recognize a huge diversity of dietary needs, and all our products are free of gluten, peanuts, dairy, refined sugars and soy.”

By working with minority-owned suppliers and trying to raise up long-ignored voices in the industry, and also honing special recipes from all-natural ingredients, Faro Kitchen has managed to stand out above a lot of the competition in Colorado.

“Because we recognize the importance of shaping the industry now, Faro Kitchen is committed to modeling the behavior we want to see in the industry,” Kazazian adds. “Not only do we believe in a living wage for all employees, but we have also pledged to permanently limit our own salaries and to give portions of our own wages to groups fighting for greater justice and reforms in the cannabis space. We aim to assist and mentor members of the LGBTQIA+ community.”