Brad Vorhees
Lynnwood, WA (USA)
Role(s):
C-Level Executive (CEO, CFO, etc.)
Day-by-Day Gourmet
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Startup
Location:
Lynnwood
Industry:
Food Service/Restaurant
Year Founded:
2006
Number Employees:
1-10 people
Description:
Wellness is expected to be the fastest growing industry in the nation over the next two decades, and Day-by-Day Gourmet™ and its World Café™, is positioned at the very center of this burgeoning industry. A franchise company, Day-by-Day Gourmet provides retail customers with delicious, NUTRITIONALLY CORRECT and complete, individually customized evening meal packages to be prepared and served at home, and World Café offers delicious and NUTRITIONALLY CORRECT breakfast, lunch and late afternoon selections at its retail franchise location(s).
With diabetes, obesity, heart disease and a plethora of other maladies reaching epidemic proportions in our country (65% of Americans are overweight or obese, 20% are diabetic or pre-diabetic, and heart disease is our biggest national killer), World Cafe is positioned to become that place where customers can find unique, delicious and very healthy dishes from around the world, served either in a World Cafe location (breakfast, lunch, late afternoon), or at home in ready-to-cook form (dinner).
Indeed, with 20% (and rising) of all health care dollars being spent on maladies directly stemming from how we eat, not to mention the cost of declining individual productivity as a result of our declining national health, retail food providers are being mandated and legislated to disclose and improve the nutritional values of their offerings. Day-by-Day proudly displays its nutitional information, and the comparison with other food retailers is shocking. Day-by-Day Gourmet and World Cafe are becoming known in the Seattle area as the places to find highly nutritionally correct yet delicious meals for every time of the day.
We have privately raised almost $2 million over the past three years, which has allowed us to move the company from concept to retail operations. As of this writing (6/5/2009), the company expects to be listing its shares on one of the largest stock exchanges in the world -- the Deutsche Boerse in Frankfurt, Germany -- in late June or early July, 2009 in order to raise an additional $2 million to $3 million to completely fund the company's future growth. (We would rather not list our shares publicly now, so if the total amount needed were to become available privately, we would prefer to take that route if the terms were acceptable.)
We are now in need of $100,000 in bridge financing to cover operating costs and accounts payable between now and the start of our share offering, and lucrative short-term or longer-term returns are available to the bridge investor. I understand from your listing on Go Big Network that you may be interested in providing such financing, or in helping us to raise all the capital needed so as to avoid public listing. For your information, I have provided a bit more about us below.
At Day-by-Day & World Cafe (currently in Lynnwood and Puyallup, Washington), we are very serious about good health. All meals have been created by two of the greatest chefs in the world; the former Galloping Gourmet and internationally recognized nutrition expert, Graham Kerr, and Karl Guggenmos, Dean of Culinary Studies of the largest culinary school in the world.
At (URL removed) or (URL removed) , customers can customize a month's worth of evening meals to fit their individual taste preferences, dietary requirements and household sizes, then place their orders online. (The CEO of the largest food distributor in the world has told us that no company besides ours offers custom-tailored, nutritionally correct and gourmet-quality meals in the $5.50 to $8.25 per portion price range.) These meals, along with our own lines of healthy spices, sauces, spreads, dressings and soups, are picked up by the customer at a World Café location near them, where they can also get a delicious and very nutritious breakfast, lunch or late afetrnoon meal.
With our first retail location now open (opened January 20, 2009), Day-by-Day already has a following among diabetic patients and those working to lose weight or lower blood pressure, along with mainstream diners who want delicious taste and great health. The company is already talking with physicians, fitness centers, potential corporate clients and one large health insurance company to start programs to provide nutritionally correct meals for their patients/employees. Discussions are also under way to provide healthy meals for a large vending company desirous of introducing healthy frozen items via vending machines with attached microwave ovens. (This is very popular in Europe, and is a trend making its way toward North America.)
Healthy food has now become a growth industry, and with rapid expansion via franchising, Day-by-Day and its World Cafes is poised to become a leader in, and capture a large share of, this exploding market. Earlier this decade, the company's founder founded and led another franchise food company from concept to 36-store chain in less than three years. Now, with experienced design, operations and financial personnel in place, the goal is to open hundreds of franchised Day-by-Day World Cafés in North America, and pursue international expansion after the first five years. Our business plan includes delivery to investors of a 10x to 20x return on invested capital, with payments planned to commence in the third year.
In a nutshell, Day-by-Day Gourmet & World Cafe are doing what no other company does: providing delicious, highly nutritionally correct, custom-tailored meals served either in our location or at home to those who have specific dietary needs and want to get well or stay well, or to the healthy mainstream diner who wants to eat healthily. The level of sensory and nutritional quality of these meals cannot be obtained anywhere else at our pricepoint.