The health and practices of the food supply chain in the United States are becoming a hot-button, political issue. The Farm System Reform Act introduced by Senator Corey Booker has been making headlines for its push to restore humane agriculture and establish a $100B fund over 10 years to buy out CAFOs (central animal feeding operations that are known as “factory farms”) and promote organic, best-farming practices. Whether or not you agree with Booker’s stance, it’s raising the public’s awareness of inhumane farming practices and the environmental impact of CAFO farming. Hoping to play a part in solving this massive challenge, Cooks Venture re-envisions the future of agriculture by breeding and raising its own slow-growth, heirloom chicken. The company is the only vertically integrated chicken producer in the United States that has an independent genetics operation (breeding through selection, not genetic engineering) without ties to genetics companies. Cooks Venture birds are allowed to freely roam its 800-acre farm, and it supports local farmers by feeding Cooks Venture birds local Non-GMO feed that is grown with ethical and sustainable methods that are better for the bird and the human. Cooks Venture relies on regenerative agriculture (utilizing photosynthesis and healthy soil microbiology to reduce greenhouse gasses and capture them in the soil).
AlleyWatch caught up with Founder and CEO Matthew Wadiak to learn more about Cooks Venture and its twofold plan to reduce the environmental impact of farming and to breed healthier chickens. Before launching Cooks Venture, Wadiak was the COO and Cofounder of Blue Apron, which went public in 2017. Cooks Venture has raised a total of $16M across two rounds and has built a team of approximately 200 employees.
Who were your investors and how much did you raise?
Series A Funding of $10M. SJF Ventures and Cultivian Sandbox led the investment with participation from Larry Schwartz and John Roulac, executive producer of the upcoming documentary on regenerative agriculture, Kiss the Ground.
Tell us about the product or service that Cooks Venture offers.
Cooks Venture breeds and raises a proprietary slow-growth, heirloom chicken, taking into account the health of the animal and the health of the environment. The company’s team has invested over a decade in bringing a healthier chicken to market. It has re-imagined how selective breeding is conducted through more natural criteria and heritage lines. This is in stark contrast to the industrial-bred and factory-farmed chickens that dominate the broiler industry today. We are the only vertically integrated chicken producer in the United States that has an independent genetics operation (breeding through selection, not genetic engineering) without ties to the two globally consolidated genetics companies.
What inspired the start of Cooks Venture?
I knew that the efficiency of America’s food supply chain needed to be improved while I was the COO and Cofounder of Blue Apron. I saw firsthand the inefficiency of the farming system: government subsidies to grow corn & soy encouraged heavy farming of those products but minimize best practices like crop rotation, resulting in a surplus that is then fed to animals that don’t eat those grains. It’s a backward system that is depleting the soil fertility of farmland. Broiler chickens, the most consumed meat, are bred to digest corn; however, Cooks Venture’s breed of chicken has a more advanced digestive system which allows them to eat a broader range of feed. Cooks Venture partners with local farmers, helping them transition to crops to regeneratively grown feed for Cooks Venture’s chickens. The meat industry does not have to deplete natural resources.
How is Cooks Venture different?
In pursuing our mission, Cooks Venture has created much more: a chicken yielding a strikingly better taste for consumers, markedly improved animal welfare for our birds, strong natural pathogenic resistance for food systems, new demand for regenerative agricultural crops and better economics for farmers and employees.
Alongside the funding, we also announced a partnership with Food In Depth (FoodID), a platform that tests for the presence of antibiotics and other adulterants in a comprehensive, rigorous, and near real-time proprietary process. Until now, the industry has lacked a scalable testing solution of this kind. The predominant validation of antibiotic-free meat came from trust between producers and buyers. As such, many “no-antibiotic” label claims could not be verified.
With the establishment of the partnership in early 2019, Cooks Venture has become the first company in America to test for synthetic inputs. Cooks Venture is now the only company that can independently validate that it never uses antibiotics and provides verified Non-GMO feed to its birds.
What market does Cooks Venture target and how big is it?
Immense. Anyone who sells or eats poultry.
What’s your business model?
In the medium term, B2B & B2C.
How has COVID-19 impacted the business?
Cooks Venture has seen high retail adoption in the last three-four months, as well as an increase in e-commerce. Prior to March, Cooks Venture was selling direct-to-consumer and was in the Northeast region through Fresh Direct, Northern California, Denver area, and Arkansas. Cooks Venture has added the following markets in the past four months – Midwest, Pacific Northwest, Southern California, Texas, Kansas, Oklahoma, and expanded distribution in the Northeast – in over 100 retailers. Cooks Venture is adding more every week.
What was the funding process like?
It’s about education and communication with potential investors. It’s keeping an open dialogue and confirming that your goals and incentives are aligned.
What are the biggest challenges that you faced while raising capital?
Educating investors on the value proposition of regenerative systems & pasture-raised products.
What factors about your business led your investors to write the check?
The growth of the business over the past year alongside the potential for growth in the long term, Cooks Venture’s value proposition, strong leadership, and Cooks Venture’s genetic IP.
What are the milestones you plan to achieve in the next six months?
The Series A investment helps Cooks Venture further grow and commercialize on a national scale as well as supports their regenerative crop management program. This will be the focus for the next six months.
What advice can you offer companies in New York that do not have a fresh injection of capital in the bank?
It sounds cliché but it’s true – never stop. Don’t accept no. You can get to the finish line.
It sounds cliché but it’s true – never stop. Don’t accept no. You can get to the finish line.
Try to utilize better storytelling to investors. It’s very important to manage costs while you are fundraising.
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