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GET A PIECE OF PASSION TREE CO.
Highest Rated Hard Seltzer
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TEAM
Jacob Ryder • Director & COO
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Garrett Olsen • Director & CEO
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Andrew Kuklock • Director & CMO
7 years later, I've successfully founded & launched a digital media company that handled all marketing content for international multi-million dollar business clientele, top social media influencers and A-list celebrities.
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Reasons to Invest
- Sales Growth: Passion Tree has the #1 highest sell through rate in all of Kroger U.S. Our triple-digit growth rate overall is attributed to the excitement surrounding the brand and the quality of the product. Today, alcoholic seltzers are now a multibillion-dollar industry, with over $4.5 billion in US sales.
- International Expansion: We have deals signed with Caribbean partners to launch in Puerto Rico this year. Distribution is locked in and additional can manufacturer in PR has allocated 40 million cans per year to Passion Tree.
- Strategic partnership: Our beverage producer is a top national beverage producer for adult beverages. Access to production on a national basis, reducing transportation costs and also provides for significant quantity discounts. The redundancy throughout the supply chain we believe will ensure access to material procurement when needed.
Overview
The Story of the People’s Seltzer
It all started in Miami when the Passion Tree team visited Schneblys Winery in Homestead, FL. Here we took a tour with the owner of the winery where we walked through the facility and realized they made wines with exotic fruits.
After this, we saw an opportunity in a market that was taking off fast, the hard seltzer market. We experienced the rise of hard seltzers first hand in college where the market gained popularity in the party scenes. After their experience in Florida, the first thought we had was to implement these new exotic fruit flavors in the seltzer market. This is because we believed that the current market lacked a variety of flavor options.
We knew the first thing that needed to be done before we started attempting to brew was to go out and listen to the people who drink seltzers the most. As a team, we gathered nearly 100 participants to test the top seltzers on the market and get their feedback. This process was crucial to understanding any issues in the current market. After this, we knew exactly how we wanted our product and got to work creating Passion Tree Hard Seltzers.
“I was pressing guavas into 5 gallon bottles, boiling distilled water with sugar to add to the guava juice and fermenting it. In the fermentation process, the ideal temperature is 60 degrees so what I did was turn my AC to 60 degrees for 4 weeks. This was an absolute disaster."
Making a Positive Impact
Our goal from the beginning was to make a positive impact on our planet. That’s why with every purchase of a Passion Tree case, we plant a tree with our partner Eden Project. Together our efforts will make a lasting impact on our planet.
Cheers to drinking for a cause!
The Problem
Lack of Innovation in the Seltzer Market
Most hard seltzer companies we believe are “copycat” brands, essentially creating the same products as the leading brands. As our three founders are all the target market for these products, we discovered these problems first-hand.
We set out to do a taste testing with 50 men and 50 women with the 7 most popular seltzers, and found they shared four main concerns:
The Market
Hidden Opportunity in Fast Growing Market
Hard Seltzers has become one of the fastest multibillion-dollar industries in the alcoholic beverage space (source). With over $4.5 billion in sales in the 52-week period that ended May 22, 2021, according to NielsenIQ Data, hard seltzers continue on their path of replacing the domestic light beer market. Opportunities for seltzer companies' sales to continue to rise are at an all time high due to this full-on “industry shift” and potential replacement of the $40 Billion Dollar US Light beer market (source). Seltzer sales from wholesalers to retailers this year are occurring at twice the rate of beer sales, according to Fintech InfoSource and the NBWA (source).
“I think we’ve learned over the last year that beer-branded seltzers don’t tend to perform as well,” Molson Chief Communications Officer Adam Collins said in a phone interview. (Source)
Acknowledging trends is extremely valuable and one trend in particular caught our attention that seems to be overlooked. A Cone Cause Evolution Survey discovered that, “when price and quality are equal, 87% of consumers would switch to a brand that supports a cause. In addition, 95% of college students say they are more likely to pay attention to an ad that promotes a brand’s partnership with a particular cause.” (Source)
The Solution
A Superior Taste in Hard Seltzer
We have taken the time to understand what consumers wanted from a seltzer and started from there to create Passion Tree Hard Seltzer.
Many seltzers we believe tend to taste the same due to the simplicity of the beverage, Passion Tree embodies a superior taste above other brands. Brewed as a lightly carbonated hard seltzer, making it one of the easiest seltzer to drink. Our drinks are all natural exotic fruit flavors sourced from our premium flavor house.
We’re directly connected to a positive environmental initiative through our commitment towards planting one tree for every case sold of Passion Tree. “Drinking for a cause” has motivated consumers to make the switch over from their traditional seltzers to ours. Keeping a simplistic design and our signature blue color attracts the attention of consumers while they are shopping.
Our Traction
Unprecedented Growth in San Diego Fueled by an Enthusiastic and Rapidly Growing Community of Consumers
Our brand currently has over 170+ points of distribution throughout Southern California within 4 months. Passion Tree is already available in 14 Ralph’s in San Diego where our seltzer became the top selling SKU at all locations the first weekend of placement. We had the #1 highest selling SKU in Kroger for the 13-week period ending Oct. 3, 2021.
Strategic expansion in Los Angeles has proven to be extremely effective, and our seltzer is loved by students at UCLA and USC. During our initial launch back in mid-May 2021 the three co-founders activated 83+ liquor stores and since then we have continued to expand our presence into:
- 20+ additional independent retailers
- 14 Ralphs grocery locations in San Diego County
- Multiple Gas Stations (Extra Mile/Shell)
- Barron's Markets
- Jensen's Grocery
- 40+ additional 7-Elevens throughout Southern California
Through our approval on the GoPuff platform, we are also being activated at 22 BevMo retail stores throughout Southern California which we hope will help ramp up our online ordering presence.
Free Marketing is the best marketing, right?
People view our cans as very “instagrammable” so we get large amounts of organic exposure through people tagging us on social media while they are enjoying our drinks.
We have fostered a community of over 44k+ followers on Instagram who are excited and enthusiastic about our seltzer becoming their go-to drink. We collaborate with both micro and macro influencers who post about us consistently.
While engaging with all the consumers around beach cities with our massive 32ft fully custom wrapped Passion Tree RV. Our RV includes promotional pop-ups, activations, and use of merchandise giveaway while dominating the event space in each area.
Our manufacturer is a top contract brewer in the country and is constantly in expansion mode which benefits us as we both continue to scale. Our cost to produce goes down as our volume goes up.
Positive Environmental Impact
With each purchase of a case of our product, we plant one tree in an environmental initiative that is the first of its kind in the seltzer space, according to our research.
Eden Project's goal is to offer employment to people living in impoverished communities who then become transformational agents of global forest restoration. Eden's global restoration network is creating livelihoods for millions of people living in extreme poverty by empowering them to restore and protect forests on a massive scale.
Vision for International Expansion
We plan to launch our Caribbean distribution by building a brewery in Puerto Rico where we can produce our seltzer locally. The JV partner is the largest land and resort owner in Puerto Rico and all of the Caribbean islands. We plan to launch across the region in all resorts, clubs and off premises. We already have a can manufacturer in Puerto Rico that has allocated 40 million cans per year for us. We plan to launch our product in Puerto Rico by shipping cases there until the brewery is built.
Meanwhile, we are working on a deal to launch our product in China starting in the four main coastal cities: Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen. We have a detailed marketing plan on how we are going to effectively take over the market as the first major hard seltzer to launch in China.
The Business Model
An Experienced Team with Strategic and Unique Marketing Techniques
Our distribution team has all of the resources we believe are needed. We have a sales and merchandising team that stays on top of store owners and pushes for prime product placement. Our go-to-market strategy is easily replicable across new cities and states as we expand. We have printed cans ready to be used to keep up with supply demands while also having multiple aluminum can connections ready to use.
Our team focuses on integrating ourselves and our product with our target market through unique marketing techniques:
- Teams of hand sellers at all major chain locations
- Hosting and sponsoring the top local events on weekends
- Effective influencer marketing programs
- Touring cities in a fully wrapped RV
- Hybrid social media campaign models
Why Invest
A Hard Seltzer by and for the People
The hard seltzer market is growing, and we believe we know how to meet consumers needs better than anyone.
Our team of experts has a strong vision for global expansion through our strong relationships with major chain buyers and distributors.
Our sales data speaks for itself: we have the best-tasting seltzer with appealing branding and a positive environmental impact.
Not every seltzer has to taste the same. Join us as we dare to be different and dominate a massive, growing market.
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ABOUT
HEADQUARTERS
901 Marquette Avenue South, Suite 1675
Minneapolis, MN 55402
WEBSITE
View Site
TERMS
Passion Tree Co.
Overview
PRICE PER SHARE
$3
DEADLINE
Apr. 27, 2022 at 6:59 AM UTC
VALUATION
$29.48M
FUNDING GOAL
$10K - $1.07M
Breakdown
MIN INVESTMENT
$246
MAX INVESTMENT
$106,998
MIN NUMBER OF SHARES OFFERED
3,333
MAX NUMBER OF SHARES OFFERED
356,665
OFFERING TYPE
Equity
SHARES OFFERED
Common Stock
Maximum Number of Shares Offered subject to adjustment for bonus shares
*Maximum number of shares offered subject to adjustment for bonus shares. See bonus info below.
Voting Rights of Securities Sold in this Offering
Each Subscriber shall appoint the Chief Executive Officer of the Company (the “CEO”), or his or her successor, as the Subscriber’s true and lawful proxy and attorney, with the power to act alone and with full power of substitution, to, consistent with this instrument and on behalf of the Subscriber, (i) vote all Securities, (ii) give and receive notices and communications, (iii) execute any instrument or document that the CEO determines is necessary or appropriate in the exercise of its authority under this instrument, and (iv) take all actions necessary or appropriate in the judgment of the CEO for the accomplishment of the foregoing. The proxy and power granted by the Subscriber pursuant to this Section are coupled with an interest. Such proxy and power will be irrevocable. The proxy and power, so long as the Subscriber is an individual, will survive the death, incompetency and disability of the Subscriber and, so long as the Subscriber is an entity, will survive the merger or reorganization of the Subscriber or any other entity holding the Securities. However, the Proxy will terminate upon the closing of a firm-commitment underwritten public offering pursuant to an effective registration statement under the Securities Act of 1933 covering the offer and sale of Common Stock or the effectiveness of a registration statement under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 covering the Common Stock.
Investment Incentives*
Early Bird
Friends and Family - First 72 hours | 20% bonus shares
Super Early Bird - Next 72 hours | 15% bonus
Early Bird Bonus - Next 7 days | 5% bonus shares
Volume
Tier 1 Perk ($25,000+): 5% bonus shares
Tier 2 Perk ($50,000+): 10% bonus shares
Tier 3 Perk ($100,000+): 15% bonus shares
*All perks occur when offering is complete.
The 10% StartEngine Owners' Bonus
Passion Tree, Co. will offer 10% additional bonus shares for all investments that are committed by investors that are eligible for the StartEngine Crowdfunding Inc. OWNer's bonus.
This means eligible StartEngine shareholders will receive a 10% bonus for any shares they purchase in this offering. For example, if you buy 100 shares of Common Stock at $3.00 / share, you will receive 10 additional shares of Common Stock, meaning you'll own 110 shares for $300. Fractional shares will not be distributed and share bonuses will be determined by rounding down to the nearest whole share.
This 10% Bonus is only valid during the investors eligibility period. Investors eligible for this bonus will also have priority if they are on a waitlist to invest and the company surpasses its maximum funding goal. They will have the first opportunity to invest should room in the offering become available if prior investments are cancelled or fail.
Investors will only receive a single bonus, which will be the highest bonus rate they are eligible for.
Irregular Use of Proceeds
ALL UPDATES
12.29.21
Top Three Reasons to Invest in Passion Tree
We want to remind our followers of the top three reasons to invest in Passion Tree.
Accelerating Sales Growth
Passion Tree has the #1 highest sell-through rate in all of Kroger U.S. Our triple-digit growth rate overall is attributed to the excitement surrounding the brand and the quality of the product. Today, alcoholic seltzers are now a multibillion-dollar industry, with over $4.5 billion in US sales.
Initiating International Expansion
We have deals signed with Caribbean partners to launch in Puerto Rico this year. Distribution is locked in and an additional can manufacturer in PR has allocated 40 million cans per year to Passion Tree.
Building Strategic Partnerships
Our beverage producer is a top national beverage producer for adult beverages. Access to production on a national basis, reducing transportation costs and also provides for significant quantity discounts. The redundancy throughout the supply chain we believe will ensure access to material procurement when needed.
For those of you who still haven’t invested in Passion Tree, we still want to join our crowdfunding community! For the reasons above and many more, we believe we are the perfect company to deliver what the hard seltzer market has been missing.
Invest today!
12.23.21
Notice of Funds Disbursement
[The following is an automated notice from the StartEngine team].
Hello!
As you might know, Passion Tree Co. has exceeded its minimum funding goal. When a company reaches its minimum on StartEngine, it's about to begin withdrawing funds. If you invested in Passion Tree Co. be on the lookout for an email that describes more about the disbursement process.
This campaign will continue to accept investments until its indicated closing date.
Thanks for funding the future.
-StartEngine
12.21.21
How Passion Tree Stands Out from the Competition
As our crowdfunding campaign continues to pick up steam, we want to remind our investors and supporters what makes us the people’s seltzer. We have gotten where we are because we refuse to blend in with the competition. Here’s what makes us different:
Lightly Carbonated
It's a new category in the seltzer market. Other seltzers are overly bubbly, making you feel bloated and burpy. We’ve reduced the carbonation in our seltzer to a level that consumers actually want.
Better Flavors
Rather than copy everyone else with the same old flavors, we have concocted a line of delicious, bold options you can’t find anywhere else.
Higher Alcohol Percentage
When we heard people were adding shots to their seltzers to get the alcohol percentage they wanted, we knew there was a problem. Our seltzers are stronger than the competition, giving consumers the bang for their buck that they need.
Driven by a Greater Purpose
We know that many consumers get excited about a brand with a social mission, so we became the first seltzers to dedicate a portion of our profits towards environmental initiatives by planting a tree for every case sold.
To our investors, thank you for seeing what makes Passion Tree stand out and joining us on this journey.
For those of our followers still considering investment, we want to remind you that we are not just another seltzer. We have researched what the market is missing, and we are meeting those needs with an exceptional product.
Join us today by investing now!
12.09.21
Passion Tree Surpasses 47,000 Followers on Instagram
Passion Tree has now surpassed 47,000 Followers on Instagram. Our overall audience reach on social media is rapidly growing and continues to become more and more of an asset to the company as we expand into new markets.
12.02.21
Production Run #2 Successfully Completed
Thank you to all our early investors and hello to anyone following our company's campaign progress! We have a BIG UPDATE as we are completing our 2nd production run of 480,000+ cans at our manufacturing facility in San Marcos, CA. This will produce roughly 42,000 variety 12 packs!! This addition to our inventory allows us to expand sales throughout all markets in Southern California. We have already begun building out our sales teams in Los Angeles, Orange County and San Diego to replicate and execute our go-to market strategy that led to our success here in San Diego in such a short amount of time.
Cheers to expansion, another successful production, and all of our incredible supporters!
REWARDS
Venture Club
Venture Club Members earn 10% bonus shares on top of this and all eligible investments for an entire year. Not a member? Sign up at checkout ($275/year).
$25,000
Tier 1 Perk
5% bonus shares
$50,000
Tier 2 Perk
10% bonus shares
$100,000
Tier 3 Perk
15% bonus shares
JOIN THE DISCUSSION
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Eric Townsend
4 years ago
$20 for a 12 pack… that will never work. Costco brand seltzer’s sell for $20 for a 24 pack. Your price isn’t even close to being competitive to expand to Costco which is where a majority of alcohol is bought
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Lea C
4 years ago
Hello, what is your margin?
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venkata alapati
4 years ago
In july the amount was raised with 1.93 per share and now that has shot up to 3 dollars per share. Are there any material changes or drastic increase in the revenues that has caused this 55 percent increase in the share price (and valuation) of the company. Apart from that are there any numbers on monthly revenues? I see that there is more than 20 percent growth every months but I do not see any numbers. Appreciate if you could provide them.
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Joe Carmichael
4 years ago
What revenue multiples are you using to get a $30m valuation? Based on industry multiples around 10x, you guys must be doing $3m trailing? I don’t see 2021 revenues - what we’re they?
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