I hope you’re ready to chow down on our First deal for 2022! 

In 2021, I shared some “appetizers” about this company and now, I am ready to “make a reservation” (Sorry, the pun game is strong today.)

That’s right- you guessed it. HOME BISTRO!
Home Bistro, offers restaurant-quality, freshly prepared individual gourmet meals delivered to your doorstep! Interesting, right!

Don’t worry- these are not your Freezer meals  you get at the local grocery store or the drab meals you get from our competitors.  These meals are created for your enjoyment by some of the best chefs in the world.

Home Bistro uses the latest FRESH Food packaging technology and offers virtual Bistro emporium where the consumer can cross select from a wide variety of individual bistros created by renowned chefs.

You might be thinking to yourself- “Jeff isn’t this like all the other meal services” out there? 

Well, let’s dive in and you can decide for yourself. 

In my recent interview with Zalmi Duchman the CEO of Home Bistro and I started to “smell something good cooking”

With recent acquisitions, 2 additional celebrities chiefs announced on Jan 4th and their intentions to up-list to the Nasdaq, I like the gameplan here. 

On Dec 8th, Goldman Small Cap Research – Founded in 2009 by former Piper Jaffray analyst and mutual fund manager Rob Goldman – published their updated outlook for HBIS. 

According to their report, titled “An Ideal Entry Point for HBIS”, they are “convinced, more than ever, that HBIS is poised to disrupt the direct-to-consumer, ready-made meal delivery business”.

Let’s face it, we all have to eat.  Let’s eat well then.  That is HBIS’ mission and that’s what I love about this company!

Take some time, read more about Home Bistro HERE to see if this type of company fits your style.

When you are ready- pull up a chair and join Chief Zalmi and I as we discuss Home Bistro! 

Click here to watch my Interview: 

LEARN MORE NOW!

Anthony Bourdain, celebrity chef and travel writer, was once quoted about his passion for food saying,  “Your body is not a temple, it’s an amusement park.  Enjoy the ride.” You have to eat. I have to eat. We all have to eat.

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Why not choose to eat food that we like, love, or are inspiring to us?

A company called Home Bistro would like to inspire us!

Introducing Home Bistro (HBIS), an online platform, www.homebistro.com, that provides for the creation, production, and distribution of direct-to-consumer, heat-to-eat, celebrity chef inspired gourmet meals, providing a variety of high-quality meal selections with simple prep and easy cleanup.

Why would we consider Home Bistro as a potential investment?  Lots of reasons!  In my opinion, it is a concept that is a perfect reflection of our times (i.e. right business for the right time!), it is setting sales growth records virtually every quarter this year, it has a management team that has taken companies to a liquidity event previously and is battle-tested, they are ALREADY PUBLIC and have announced they are exploring uplisting to the NASDAQ!  Read on and see why I am so excited. 

Food, obviously, is non-discretionary. We all have to eat! Unfortunately, it’s not as simple as waving a magic wand or, in this case, a magic spatula. We have to plan our meals, prep our food, cook it, and clean up dirty pots, pans, and dishes after we’re done eating when all we want to do is relax. I hate doing dishes on a full stomach.

If I want to avoid the mess and the dishes, then I’m left ordering out from the same places over and over again, quickly tiring of the same food.

COVID also taught us all about the global food delivery market, all $200 billion worth. But I’m not talking about your local pizza delivery guy, Food Delivery 1.0, or the person bringing me DoorDash or UberEats, Food Delivery 2.0. I’m talking about the evolution of food delivery.

Food Delivery 3.0. The next generation of food tech courtesy of prepared food delivery. 

Premium branded direct-to-consumer gourmet meals that can be shipped anywhere in the country, overnight.

I want a meal I can prepare quickly at home without the feeling of home, without the mess, without the cleanup, and without sacrificing taste or quality.

Don’t mistake this for me wanting a meal-kit service. Those services ship pre-portioned ingredients along with a recipe. That doesn’t solve any of the challenges above except shaving a few minutes off of my prep time.

What I want is next-level evolution. A company that can solve the problems plaguing the industry:

• Inconsistent Quality – Most meal delivery companies are locked in a race to the bottom in terms of price. This means they are forced to make tradeoffs with the food quality to compete.

   

• Meal Fatigue – Eventually, people get bored eating the same meals repeatedly, even if it’s their favorite dish from their favorite restaurant. I know I do.

   

• Poor Experience – Even if you get a great meal delivered from a high-quality restaurant – or you cook the meals yourself – eating at home is still eating at home.

Remember Home Bistro?  Well, they remember you!  They know that a certain percentage of consumers want to eat extremely well without having to become a chef themselves.   Consumers are pining for something special and unique.  Food Delivery 3.0 is real and you will see how Home Bistro is leading that charge.

AND….You may be shocked to learn exactly how big this market will be moving forward. Statista estimates the platform-to-consumer segment of the US food delivery market will reach $9.7 billion by 2024. Brandessence Market Research and Consulting estimates the global read-made meal delivery market will be more than $11 billion in 2027. 

A large and growing Total Addressable Market (TAM) is a key component for Home Bistro.

Anyone can prepare a meal and ship it out. That’s true, so how do I separate quality from an average meal?

Home Bistro has done it by teaming up with well-known celebrity chefs, some of the best in their respective fields.

COVID created a problem for even the best chefs in the world. Maintaining existing brick-and-mortar restaurants became a challenge and opening new ones an impossibility. A chef can only sell so many cookbooks and recipes, but serving folks your fantastic cuisine, fresh and in their homes, became a reality thanks to Home Bistro.

Leaving your meal in the hand of expertsThe first celebrity chef Home Bistro signed was Cat Cora. Don’t mistake “celebrity” with popular but untalented. Cat Cora is plenty talented. She won the Iron Chef on the Food Network’s hit show, Iron Chef America, the first female chef to win such a prestigious honor.

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Since then, they’ve added Roblé Ali, Chef Claudia Sandoval, Daina Falk, and, most recently, Ayesha Curry. 

All of these chefs are renowned, so I’m not going to place one above another. They all possess unique talent, creativity, and proven success.

I am excited about the newest addition, Ayesha Curry. Her husband, Stephen, is a future NBA Hall-of-Famer and NBA Champion, but Ayesha’s fame doesn’t just come from her husband.  She is a 2x New York Times best-selling cookbook author, a television host, and a producer along with co-founder of the Eat. Learn. Play. Foundation. Her 7.3 million followers on social media could bring new subscribers in waves to Home Bistro’s ready-to-eat meal plans.   

Home Bistro didn’t just sign her but also her company, Ms. Curry’s Homemade Meals, LLC, a weekly-delivered service of her family-inspired recipes, sold both in major grocery stores as well as direct-to-consumer.

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Roble Ali is one of the most recognizable chefs and one of the very few young African-Americans in the culinary world with national notoriety. He’s also been featured on Bravo’s docudrama, Chef Roble and Co.

Chef Claudia Sandoval, was the winner of the sixth season of MasterChef U.S. and has been a judge on two seasons of MasterChef Latino on Telemundo. She was most recently seen earlier this year as a judge on Food Network’s Easter Basket Challenge and is currently in production on a new series she will be hosting and producing for Food Network.

Diana Falk is the creator of Hungry Fan®, Fangating®, and other brands that marry sports and food for the ultimate fan experience.

AND THE LIST KEEPS GROWING.  Home Bistro’s CEO, Zalmi Duchman, continues to land talented chef after talented chef, so I have no reason to believe he’s done. This experienced CEO checks another big investment box for me: a prior successful venture. Zalmi grew The Fresh Diet, an online meal delivery service from startup to over $30 million in annualized revenue before selling the company. Now, he’s bringing that experience and knowledge to Home Bistro. One of the first major changes he’s implemented is moving from frozen to fresh food.

Using a state-of-the-art plastics material, specially engineered to create an attractive and reliably sealed package, consumers can receive a celebrity chef-inspired fresh meal good for 10-14 days in the refrigerator or up to 6 months when frozen. It is called “vacuum skin-packaging”; Not only is it cheaper than many flash-frozen processes, but it’s more environmentally friendly and easier to ship.

Vacuum skin-packaging seals the product like a second skin while eliminating air, providing package durability and optimal product presentation, and shelf-life extension. 

In July 2021, Home Bistro announced it has begun shipping meals utilizing this vacuum skin-packaging technology. It could represent a significant opportunity to not only win new customers but increase repeat purchases from existing customers.

But what is the best part about eating out, rather than not having to cook or clean up?

Dessert

It is what elevates great food to a great eating experience.

Home Bistro has that, too. The company recently announced a partnership with Red Velvet NYC, a subscription-based service specializing in DIY gourmet baking kits.

DIY may sound like work, and it is, but the Home Bistro offering will be fully prepared desserts from recipes created and developed by Red Velvet.

The Numbers

All of this added up to record first-quarter 2021 results. The company saw online meal orders skyrocket over 200% year-over-year as Home Bistro reported revenue of $350,474 for the quarter. That revenue number was twice last year’s number.

Second-quarter results were good.  Revenues were up 30% over the previous year.  The third-quarter revenues, though, set records.  The company reported record revenue of $703,364 for its third quarter ended September 30, 2021, a 135% increase vs the same period in 2020. Online meal orders increased by 501% during the third quarter of 2021 vs. the same period in 2020.

You are welcome to read this for yourself on Yahoo! Finance:  

Growth…and wine!

These results come prior to the company fully integrating Chef Curry, Chef Ali, Chef Claudia, rolling out Daina’s line of offerings, or the Red Velvet dessert line. They also don’t take into account the switch from flash-frozen to vacuum-sealed fresh shipped overnight. Subsequent to the third quarter,  the company announced its partnership with Perfecting Athletes, the health and nutrition company serving over 300 elite professional athletes, supermodels, and other accomplished sports and entertainment professionals worldwide. Together, they will introduce their highly sought-after dietary and meal regimens to Home Bistro’s customers. 

Further, Home Bistro also announced its partnership with the direct-to-consumer wine platform, In Good Taste Wine. Customers will soon be able to pair their celebrity chef-inspired meals with wines from a carefully chosen selection of varietals from around the world. 

Another potentially big push for revenue is the company’s recent acquisition of Model Meals, a ready-to-eat, healthy meal service. Home Bistro paid approximately $2.1 million for a company that produced $2.2 million in revenue in 2020 delivering to only three states: California, Nevada, and Arizona. 

The current CEO and CFO of Model Meals will be retained and run the Model Meals subsidiary. Combining Model Meals distribution facility with Home Bistro’s will provide the company with bi-coastal operations and the ability to ship overnight to most customers in the 48 contiguous United States. Additionally, Model Meals will be able to expand outside its current three-state distribution platform, so I’m optimistic revenue can potentially grow quickly.

As the company continues to partner with more and more chefs plus roll out food technology that will permit quality prepared food to be delivered fresh and overnight, the market and consumers could respond. 

How Home Bistro gets to the next level!

The company is currently accepting investors in its Reg A+ unit offering. Buyers of the Reg A+ offering receive units that represent one share of stock plus a five-year warrant to buy additional shares at $1.50.

All of the details for the Reg A+ raise are contained in the offering documents which can be accessed below.

I do want to note that before Home Bistro began their process of raising capital, they did retain a consulting firm that one of our former employees was a partner in, for a fee of $50,000 to help structure the deal, advise on strategic moves, and discuss their long-term business model. While I understand that may cause hesitation for some, and I respect that, I also feel it provided us with a unique look behind closed doors. Over the past four months, we’ve had the opportunity to spend hours talking with the CEO and dozens of hours talking to the original venture capital behind the company, listening and learning the lessons they’ve endured growing this company along with their vision for the future.  Do not take our word for it…do your own due diligence.  Since they are public, there is a plethora of information available.

If you find this story interesting, you can access the opportunity and learn more through Equifund, the platform Home Bistro selected to host their Reg A+ offering.

Here’s the link:  CLICK ON IMAGE BELOW  TO GO TO OFFERING DOCUMENTS

Alternate Link

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1. Finding the deal
2. Vetting the deal
3. Closing the deal, and
4. Exiting the deal

Successful exits usually take years, so setting expectations of a very long time horizon needs to be a mindset of anyone investing in startups. 

But in the meantime you don’t just have to wait around; you can track everything the company is up to, measure it according to plan and ensure that your money is being spent appropriately. It’s better to be proactive during this time, functioning as an advisor, board member, or mentor to the founders so that you can be active in the outcome. 

In order for a startup to reach the exit phase, three things need to happen.

Learning the process of seeing where the exits are going to come and what they look like, these three things have to happen. 

The Major Revenue Stream

The startup establishes a major revenue stream that makes it attractive to others. When you’re looking at reports of expanding distribution channels, sales volume, and profit margins, the company is achieving specific benchmarks investors like to see. 

The Startup is Acquired

Quite often, an established company will acquire a successful startup, pulling the startup into publicly-traded status instantly. Microsoft, Google, Kraft, Johnson & Johnson, and Pfizer are examples of companies in the acquisition business. Microsoft has been acquiring companies since 1987 [Source: Wikipedia],  taking the Windows operating system company into the software market and beyond. Which products do you use now that were once part of an ambitious startup that are now under a bigger company umbrella?

The Startup Hosts Its Own IPO

This path to the exit is rarer but considered the optimal success story for an angel investor and the company. 

Volcon – A Successful Exit

Volcon was one of those companies that Jeff broke.  He discussed  the early analysis of finding the deal, vetting the deal, and closing the deal. In October 2021, Jeff explained how  the exit process unfolded; an exceptionally quick turnaround on a process that usually takes significantly longer. 

Volcon stepped into the off-road vehicle space as the first all-electric outdoors-vehicle manufacturer, with the aim of becoming the Tesla of the ten billion dollar outdoor powersports industry. [Source: Wefunder]

Founders

Volcon founders include Andy Leisner, with lifelong powersports industry experience, serving as a board member of the Motorcycle Industry Council and former world championship motorcycle racing competitor; Adrian James, who was founder and CEO of Sprout Equity Ventures, and Christian Okonsky, who has been bringing leading-edge products to market for over 27 years, holding more than 2 dozen US and foreign patents, who also worked on engineering Dell’s first notebook computer. 

Other top members of the Volcon team include Bruce Riggs, who came from Compal Electronics Smart Device Group and Quanta, with experience in domestic and international electronics manufacturing and operations. Riggs served as a past chairman of the IEEE 1625 Battery Standard. Hector Moya, the lead engineering product manager is an experienced developer of consumer products including 2 and 4 wheel electric vehicles. 

The Market

Back in 2017, the UTV market was $7.7 billion and was projected to reach $14.1 billion by 2025 with a CAGR (compound annual growth rate) of 7.8%.  [Source: WeFunder] However, with Covid and factory slowdowns and shutdowns due to the rapid spread of the disease, the growth rate flattened a bit.  Still, demand is strong and the price of gas is encouraging buyers to look to an EV solution. 

[Source:  Allied Market Research]

While early days as an IPO are typically choppy for newbies, Volcon’s stock price now lands today (November 17, 2021)  above $14/share, up from opening day at $8.11 on October 6th. 

Boardroom invested $100,000 as the lead investor on WeFunder, along with approximately 1000 other investors. On October 6th, the company had targeted an opening of $5 per share, but the actual opening landed at $8.11 per share. 

Conclusion

Due diligence is required at every step – finding the opportunity, vetting the opportunity, closing the deal, and exiting the deal. It’s easy to get caught at any stage of this process by emotions outweighing the numbers, not keeping up on what the companies are doing with the money you’ve invested, and a myriad of other distractions. 

Turning back time is a big deal with anyone over 30. Supplements. Organic foods. Skincare. Whatever you can put into your body or on your body….. People are looking for something that will work.

North American consumers pay out more than $79 billion annually, and the estimated growth rate on spending is 8.4%. The major players include Avon, Beiersdorf, Estee Lauder, Procter & Gamble, and L’Oreal. [source: Mordor Intelligence] With so much of the market dominated by five players, there’s still a lot of room for disrupters, especially as more consumers read labels and more studies emerge on links between cancer and immune disorders, and what goes into and onto our bodies 

Time featured a story on five common ingredients that researchers have claimed to be toxic: 

• Parabens
• Aluminum
• Triclosan
• Phthalates
• Fragrance

Additionally, you might not find these ingredients listed on the label because trade law enables manufacturers to conceal some of the chemicals that could contribute to health challenges these consumers experience. 

Parabens are found in 75 to 90% of cosmetics. Usually used as a preservative, parabens easily penetrate the skin and the European Commission on Endocrine Disruption lists parabens as a category 1 substance because they interfere with hormone function. Parabens have been detected in breast cancer tumors suggesting a link between parabens. When you read a product label, you might see methylparaben, butylparaben, propylparaben, isobutylparaben, polyparaben or isobutylparaben. [Source: David Suzuki Foundation]

While parabens occur at low levels in certain foods like barley, strawberries, vanilla, and onions, it’s a synthesized paraben derived from petrochemicals that are used in personal care products like cosmetics. Parabens can also be in fragrances without having to be listed due to trade laws. 

A friend who is not even 35 yet, who went through breast cancer surgery this last week after 5 months of chemo and radiation, makes awareness of what I rub or spray onto my skin deeply personal. 

The David Suzuki research also points out BHA and BHT which are considered synthetic antioxidants, as highly suspect in compromising health. They are used as preservatives in lip, skin and hair care products, sunscreen, deodorants, fragrance, and creams, and in many food products such as cereals, snack foods, processed meats, and canned foods. That’s why you’re starting to see canned goods labeled “BHA Free” or “BHT Free”. They’re talking to an educated marketplace. 

Marketing to an Educated Consumer

Warren Buffett says to be fearful when others are greedy and greedy when others are fearful. Fear is an investment opportunity signal – not that you should jump right in but to sift and sort. Savvy consumers only need one influencer friend like mine, with cancer, who suddenly starts reading labels, removing all sources of sugar from their diet, and looking for organic, clean ingredients in everything to create a market opportunity.

Here are some startup companies that are selling to savvy consumers. 

Love Sun Body

Love Sun Body is in the sunscreen business that appeals not just to the health-conscious human─── but to the consumer who desires a healthier planet.  

Love Sun Body’s messaging points out three problems with most sunscreens:

• Chemical filters that are hazardous to humans and the environment, including coral bleaching

• Inadequate sunscreen protection

• Hazardous inactive ingredients. 

In contrast, Love Sun Body promotes 100% natural origin mineral sunscreens, and claim they are the first and only sunscreens in the US that have been certified by Ecocert Cosmos Natural, meeting and exceeding the FDA requirements and the European Commission’s recommendation on UVA protection and Health Canada Natural Health Products Regulations. Products are biodegradable, with recyclable packaging.  [Source: Love Sun Body]

Prose

Prose is a customized hair care company that began in France in 2017, now operating out of Brooklyn, NY, on a mission to create sustainable materials and carbon-neutral operations. The companies looked for ingredients, sourced from local partners with a track record for fair payment and labor practices, as well as ensuring the crops are responsibly replenished or rotated to preserve soil integrity and richness while processing ingredients into the highest grade product with the least waste. 

CEO, Arnaud Plas was featured in Forbes magazine last year (August 2020). The Forbes article said that Prose was on track to hit $50 million in revenue for 2020, more than triple 2019’s figure, even with a pandemic. The company’s most recent raise that took their total funding to $25 million, in part went to buy a big machine in hopes that it could move his company from a boutique hair care brand into a major player in the $850 million high-end hair care market. 

Plas is not a novice in this market. Previously, he was VP Digital and E-Commerce Strategy and head of L’Oreal USA Digital Basecamp, as well as skincare group manager, styling and men care group manager and Elseve brand manager. 

Pit Liquor

Pit Liquor by Distilled Bath and Body addresses a solution using whiskey and or vodka. Alcohol has been considered a way of washing wounds for millennia. However, when Erica Feucht discovered how effective hand sanitizer was at replacing her deodorant, the idea that the use of distilled spirits as a key deodorant ingredient was born. Bestsellers in the Pit Liquor lineup include Whiskey Vanilla, Whiskey Lavender, and Coconut Rum with Lime in spray and roll-on formulas. 

The journey from hand sanitizer to whiskey began with Erica Feucht expecting a baby and her husband, Jason, wanted her to avoid anything possibly carcinogenic that could also impact hormones, immunity, and health as she worked for a healthy, happy outcome. After an experiment with hand sanitizer had a positive outcome, Erica and Jason thought high proof, drinkable alcohol would be less toxic than anything made from inedible and unregulated. After a successful Kickstarter campaign, hundreds of media stories, the company has been growing 3x per year over year since 2017, with profit margins at 86%.  

Skylar

Skylar countered the belief that it wasn’t possible to create hypoallergenic fragrances that smelled amazing. On a mission to apply the highest quality standards to create scents that are not just hypoallergenic, safe for sensitive skin, vegan and cruelty-free, in eco-friendly packaging. . CEO, Cat Chen is a first-generation American; her parents immigrated from Taiwan when she was 11, settling in the Los Angeles area. She founded Skylar in 2017 after her favorite fragrance caused her infant daughter to have an allergic reaction. There are 36 fragrance allergens plus a number of other problematic chemicals frequently found in fragrances, that they list on their website.  

Skylar markets direct to consumers through their website, but also sells on platforms such as Amazon. Honest Brand Reviews mentions that Skylar has a following of 80,000 on Instagram, plus frequent mentions in Byrdie, Forbes, and InStyle media outlets.

True Botanicals

True Botanicals began with founder Hillary Peterson’s diagnosis with thyroid cancer just after delivering twins. “It was then that I discovered an unexpected truth – my beauty products were full of toxins. I could not believe that there weren’t stricter regulations protecting our health.” She says her greatest reward now, after working with world-leading anti-aging scientists, green chemists, and pioneers in sustainability to develop True Botanicals products, is to hear from customers who have never felt better about their skin. [Source: True Botanicals]

True Botanicals has enlisted celebrities like Olivia Wilde and Laura Dern to promote the brand, and products are sold at select Nordstrom stores across the country. 

Bottom Line

While people spend hundreds (and more) every year trying to turn back time, staying healthy is a key part of that.  What we put on our bodies is as important as what we put in. Knocking off a Procter & Gamble or an Avon behemoth is a huge challenge, and requires a startup appeal to the people who read labels who are looking for transparency and clean sourcing.