We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Katherine Knowlton. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Katherine below.

Alright, Katherine thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Let’s kick things off with your mission – what is it and what’s the story behind why it’s your mission?

As a private chef, I’ve always placed deep value on where my food comes from and how it’s made. I care immensely about what I put in—and on—my body. That same care and curiosity is what led me into the cannabis space, and to be honest, what I found at first really surprised me.

So many cannabis edibles were packed with refined sugars and artificial ingredients. I’d see gummies marketed as “made with real fruit,” but when I dug deeper, they were often made with juice concentrates—essentially boiled down sugar syrups stripped of their original nutrients and flavor, then reconstituted with additives. It felt misleading. Even more than that, it felt counterintuitive: cannabis is a plant so many people turn to for healing, for balance, for calm. So why were so many products combining it with inflammatory ingredients?

That question was the spark for Happy Chance.

I wanted to create something I could feel really good about taking daily—something rooted in whole food nutrition, chef-crafted intention, and the cleanest form of cannabis available. Our first product, the Fruit Bite, was made with dates, pumpkin seeds, and real fruits and vegetables—no refined sugars, no mystery ingredients—just nature doing what it does best. We used solventless rosin for our cannabis extract because it’s as close to the plant as it gets: no solvents, just heat and pressure. The capsules followed shortly after, offering that same clean, functional approach in a convenient, travel-friendly format.

For me, Happy Chance isn’t just about cannabis—it’s about reclaiming wellness with integrity. If this plant is medicine, every ingredient should be too.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

Hi, I’m Katherine Knowlton—I’m a private chef, caterer, and the founder of Happy Chance, a wellness brand that’s redefining how we consume cannabis. My journey into this space didn’t start with a business plan—it started in the kitchen.

I’ve spent over a decade working closely with food: sourcing ingredients directly from local farms, cooking for wellness retreats, crafting personalized menus for clients who care deeply about what they eat. That background gave me a deep appreciation for purity, quality, and intention. It also made me incredibly aware of how often “healthy” or “natural” products aren’t quite what they seem.

When I first explored the cannabis industry, I was taken aback. Here was this powerful, healing plant—and yet, most of the products on the market were full of refined sugar, artificial flavors, and low-quality extracts. It didn’t sit right with me. Cannabis is medicine for many people. It deserves better ingredients.

That’s where Happy Chance was born.

We started with functional fruit bites: small, nutrient-dense edibles made from whole food ingredients like dates, pumpkin seeds, real fruits and vegetables—combined with full-spectrum solventless rosin (the cleanest form of cannabis extract). No refined sugar. No weird additives. Just real food and real plants. Then came our daily capsules, which follow the same philosophy—clean formulations, functional herbs and adaptogens, and a format that’s discreet, travel-friendly, and easy to integrate into your daily routine.

What sets us apart is our deep culinary and wellness lens. I’m not from the traditional cannabis industry. I’m from the food world. I bring the same values I use when designing a beautiful, nourishing dinner to the way I craft products: quality ingredients, no shortcuts, and a belief that wellness should be honest and enjoyable.

I’m most proud of staying true to those values even when the market pushes for easier, cheaper, faster. I’ve invested so much of myself—personally, creatively, and financially—into building Happy Chance with integrity, even when that’s meant taking the longer road.

Every product we offer was made with deep care. It’s designed to support your body, your routine, your peace of mind—without compromising on quality or honesty. Whether you’re looking to sleep better, focus more clearly, or just take the edge off in a healthy way, we’re here to help you do that naturally.

Can you talk to us about manufacturing? How’d you figure it all out? We’d love to hear the story.

Finding a manufacturer for Happy Chance took over two years—and it was far from a straight line. I had already developed the original (non-infused) fruit bite myself in my home kitchen. I bought a food processor and a dehydrator, and after more than 116 variations, I finally landed on a formulation I felt proud of: something functional, flavorful, and totally free of refined sugar or weird additives. But making it in my kitchen was one thing—scaling it into a cannabis-infused product was another story entirely.

Because cannabis is so highly regulated, you have to work with a licensed manufacturer in order to infuse any product. I met with nine different cannabis manufacturers over the course of two years, and not a single one had ever made anything other than gummies or chocolates. My fruit bite—a chewy, nutrient-dense product made from real food—was unfamiliar territory, and frankly, most of them told me it just wasn’t possible.

And even if they could make it, many weren’t aligned with the values behind Happy Chance. I wasn’t looking for the cheapest or fastest option. I was looking for someone who believed in making something different.

In October 2020, I was introduced to Kalon Baird of GreenRush Alliances in Goleta—just 15 minutes from my home in Santa Barbara. He tasted the fruit bite and said something I’ll never forget: “I’m not sure how we’ll do it, but we’ll figure it out.” That spirit of collaboration and problem-solving was exactly what I needed.

It took us until July 2022—and countless trials and errors—to get the product dialed. We had to be incredibly creative with limited funding. Our process was totally opposite of the streamlined gummy model: we mixed everything in a commercial machine, rolled it out, and then cut it all by hand. It was slow, labor-intensive, and definitely not the easy route—but it was the right one.

One of the biggest lessons I’ve learned is that just because something hasn’t been done before doesn’t mean it can’t be done. It just takes the right people and a whole lot of perseverance. Manufacturing our fruit bites wasn’t easy, but I never wanted to settle for what was convenient. I wanted to create something I could feel proud of—something made with care, intention, and ingredients that actually support the body.

And we did it.

Can you open up about how you funded your business?

My very first investor was my mom. I was fresh out of cooking school, trying to find my place in the world, and she bought me a food processor and a dehydrator so I could start experimenting with what would eventually become the first Happy Chance product. That simple gesture—rooted in love and belief—gave me the tools I needed to begin formulating and building a vision.

Not long after, my dad stepped in with financial support to help me keep going and bring the idea to life. I realize how fortunate I am to have parents who not only had the means to help, but also the heart to support me in such a big way. Their early belief in me and the mission of Happy Chance was everything.

From there, I bootstrapped the business through my work as a private chef and caterer. Every event I worked helped fund the next step: packaging, ingredients, branding, small production runs. But I knew I needed an initial round of capital to really get started with manufacturing and to invest in things like compliance, licensing, and inventory.

I put together a pitch deck and shared it with people in my extended community. Five family friends believed in the vision and each invested $10,000. That $50,000 became our launchpad—it gave us just enough to begin.

From day one, I’ve run the business with a scrappy, resourceful mindset. Every dollar from early sales was reinvested back into the brand to support future production. Catering has continued to be a lifeline, allowing me to self-fund the brand in between outside investments.

It hasn’t been easy—but it’s been deeply meaningful to build something from the ground up, brick by brick, with the support of people who believed in me before there was a product on the shelf.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.eathappychance.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/eathappychance/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/katherine-knowlton-124a1b28/

Image Credits

Photographer: Blake Bronstad, Santa Barbara CA