Connect with us

Business

Expensive Eats

Published

on

[dropcap class=”kp-dropcap”]G[/dropcap]odzilla is a fictitious Japanese sea monster known for breathing fire and raising hell. Zairilla is a professional cannabis chef known for bringing the heat in the kitchen and warming souls. Their names might be similar on paper, but they’re very different creatures—and the chances are what Zairilla’s dishing out will have you running back for more instead of over the hills.

Born Zairee Lee in Chicago, Illinois, Zairilla Bacon got her start in the cannabis industry in 2015 after relocating to Las Vegas three years prior. The former owner and operator of a catering business, Z’s and Company, Bacon opted to leave everything behind in Chicago in 2012 for a new start in the Lone Star state, but made a last minute diversion to Nevada after acquiescing to a decade of insistence by a close friend.

But Bacon is comfortable with taking risks. And that’s been her greatest asset since arriving in Sin City. Like most movements, Bacon’s didn’t see an immediate takeoff after relocating. In fact, for months she didn’t cook professionally at all. Instead she took a driving job with a local dispensary that would prove to be the first of many lucky rolls of the dice. When she took the position, the dispensary had a tradition of gifting edibles whenever customers placed delivery orders. And although edibles were an ever present menu option, they didn’t generate many sales on their own—until Bacon stepped into the kitchen full-time.

“I didn’t want to just make cookies, I was used to making four and five star meals,” Bacon told CULTURE. “I was thinking if you can infuse cakes and pies, there has to be a way to infuse shrimp and lobster tail. So I started doing my own research and then my boss taught me how to make cannabutter, and eventually I learned how to infuse olive oils and coconut oils.”

With her newfound skillset, Bacon began experimenting in private with the goal of starting a new company, catering to cannabis clientele. Soon after she would invite friends over for tastings, and after witnessing the potency and the inability to taste the cannabis, they began urging her to take the necessary steps to accept orders. So she took another risk and started securing ancillary materials. The branding name Zairilla Bacon would soon follow in a stroke of serendipity.

“One day I was high as usual and watching Godzilla,” Bacon said. “Then out of nowhere I’m sitting there like, ‘Zairilla, hmmm, I like that.’ And I was eating some bacon at the time so I was like, ‘bacon, bacon—hold up, bacon bitch! I’m gonna call myself Zairilla Bacon.’”

On April 20, 2015, Bacon officially started taking orders for infused meals. And once the first orders trickled in, word-of-mouth spread like a viral video. Soon the business took off with a surge in orders for infused wings—complete with a homemade THC-infused barbecue sauce called “ZeeWee’s”—macaroni and cheese and ribs. Z Juice, a THC-infused fruit flavored beverage, is also popular and a Bacon trademark. It’s an original concoction from Bacon’s first days of experimenting with cannabis in the kitchen.

“I was at a point where I needed money, so I said, ‘I’m gonna start selling medicated meals’,” Bacon said. “And Z Juice really stood out. But before it was known as Z Juice, I just called it medicated Kool-Aid. I changed it when it started getting popular because I didn’t want any problems with the Kool-Aid people.”

Thanks to social media, Bacon made waves across the country, and her work found its way to the East Coast, where it was discovered by hip-hop legends and lifetime cannabis enthusiasts Method Man and Redman. Before long she was flown out to Boston to cook for the duo. And their praises set in motion a whirlwind of celebrity referrals that would, ultimately, lead to a network television appearance on VICELAND’s Most Expensivest.

“At the time my branding manager hooked me up because I was making such a big buzz,” Bacon said. “They were saying 2 Chainz is here [in Las Vegas], and he’s going to be recording a show . . . they originally had a cook coming in from New York, but when they told him what I do, he was interested and said, ‘No, why don’t we roll with Zairilla and do something different.”

Initially Bacon was hesitant because there would only be two days to prepare before shooting the episode. But after realizing she would be preparing meals for and appearing next to—2 Chainz, Tommy Chong and Hannibal Buress, she couldn’t pass on the opportunity.

“It ended up being a really big hit to the point that 2 Chainz kept in contact with me, and I spent New Year’s Eve with 2 Chainz,” Bacon said. “It just went on from there, and the next thing you know everyone knows who I am, I’m getting bookings like crazy, and I just pray to do something huge.”

 

zbacon.com

Continue Reading
Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *