Revenue-Based Financing Raise

As part of its direct-to-consumer meat company, Old Salt Co-op is establishing a livestock slaughter and processing facility in East Helena and restoring an 1890’s stone masonry warehouse in Helena as a flagship public house, butcher shop and distillery. With Certified B Corp - Steward - as its financial partner and Endeavour Corporation as its New Market Tax Credits Partner, Old Salt Co-op is now raising $500k to complete the capital stack.

Introduction

Old Salt Co-op connects you with meats from livestock raised with integrity in landscapes you know and care about. It is owned by ranch members that supply it and by the worker members who bring its products to market. Together we can enhance Montana lands like a pinch of salt in a recipe, like the salt of the earth. Land is kin, let’s leave it better.

Problem & Solution

Founding ranch members are world class stewards of land and livestock and have striven to develop local market connections. Yet, still today 95% of the meat from their livestock is purchased as an anonymous commodity. Old Salt Co-op exists to reconnect responsible ranching with customers who know and care, replenishing land and nourishing families.

The Business

Old Salt Co-op focuses on direct markets. By 2025, it will have earned at least 10,000 loyal customers who purchase their beef, lamb, pork and eggs from the Co-op for their families. This base will be sufficient to market everything founding ranch members produce and more, allowing the Co-op to expand its offerings, ranch membership and positive impacts. Here’s how Old Salt earns customers without breaking the bank:

Marketing via Co-op Restaurants

Two Helena restaurants will promote direct meats to an average of 400 people/day. Old Salt Outpost is a simple, stellar burger joint downtown, launching in Oct ‘21 to begin telling the story. Old Salt Public House, will launch in 2023 as the flagship and home of Old Salt Co-op. It will do for Old Salt meats what microbreweries have done to decommodify beer, becoming a destination for the community and the region. Designed by the renowned architectural firm Allied Works, this renovation of a 19th century stone masonry warehouse on Bozeman Avenue will be a blue collar tribute to Montana ranching. Together these will yield at least 6,500 Old Salt Co-op customers by 2025.

Marketing Through Partner Restaurants

Old Salt Co-op is developing partnerships with restaurants in each of the six urban areas outside Helena. Each partner will receive exceptional custom meats for their establishment along with marketing assistance in representing the Old Salt source. Together, we think these will provide at least another 3,500 direct customers by 2025. 

Marketing Through Events

Digital marketing and fine print certifications only go so far, and so Old Salt is a “come and see” company. Tours, races, open-fire cooking and live music events will engage customers face-to-face, both on ranch and on Montana mainstreets. The first annual Old Salt Festival will be held on a founding ranch in Fall ‘22. These events will help to retain existing customers while earning at least an additional 2,000 customers by 2025.

Processing, Packaging & Distribution

Old Salt Direct will be a direct-to-consumer whole animal share CSA that delivers an average of 120 lbs/customer/yr of frozen meats door-to-door at their preferred interval (weekly, monthly, etc). Packaging materials will be backhauled, minimizing waste. Ala carte sales for fresh meats will be available only at the flagship butcher shop or for a limited range of products such as jerky, ground beef and pet treats. The program will begin in early 2022 using custom processing while the Co-op works to launch its own processing enterprise by early 2023 using a Friesla PS-1 facility sited near East Helena. 

Niche

Local competitors are unlikely to match Old Salt’s combination of production integrity and scale, nor its marketing strategy, control of PP&D or ability to recruit and retain talent. National players such as Butcher Box or White Oak Pastures are unlikely to focus on the Montana market as Old Salt does, nor will they have our local advantage if they do.

Structure

Old Salt Co-op is the operational parent company, a multi-stakeholder co-op made up of Class A (Ranches) and Class B (Workers) who elect a governing board of directors (BOD), as well as non-voting preferred stockholders. The BOD hires a Manager to run the Co-op business. It can hire workers as employees or incorporate them into membership. 

Cash Flow, Payback, and Performance Projection