When Brooklyn Peltz Beckham launched his hot sauce brand, Cloud23, he didn’t want a flashy debut or celebrity-driven campaign.
“I didn’t want a huge spike at the beginning and then nothing,” Beckham told the audience at Brandweek 2025. “I wanted the sauce to speak for itself. My name isn’t anywhere on the bottle.”
That measured approach contrasts with how most celebrity-founded brands enter the market. Instead, Cloud23 has grown steadily, beginning with a rare national partnership with Whole Foods, which Beckham said was a dream from the start.
Now a year in, Cloud23 is seeing repeat purchases — a sign, Beckham said, that the brand’s slow-build strategy is paying off.
“I knew that I really wanted to launch with [Whole Foods],” he said. “I sent them the sauce, and they loved it. We got on a few Zooms and made it happen.”
The product is now stocked in around 533 Whole Foods stores in the U.S. and eight in the U.K., along with additional retailers including Erewhon and Bristol Farms.
While most celebrity brands rely on starpower to drive buzz, Beckham is betting on some restraint. By keeping his name off the label and focusing on design, taste, and steady retail growth, he’s building Cloud23 less like a vanity project and more like a long-term business, he revealed during Brandweek.
Since launch, Beckham has been deliberate about partnerships, which now include Barilla, Airbnb, The Langham, and Jefferson’s Bourbon.
“It’s all about timing,” he said. “There are brands that we’ve worked with that have been amazing, and there are brands that I would love to work with but it’s just not the right time.”
Beckham’s collaboration with Airbnb — an LA-based cooking experience where he hosted guests alongside a chef friend — reflects the same deliberate approach in Cloud23’s marketing, as well as his love for cooking and connecting.