The Sweet Potato

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Location
Canada
No. Investors
46

Company Description

Fresh, local, organic, awesome! The Sweet Potato is so much more than your average grocery store. With a focus on competitive pricing, industry-leading sustainability standards, and strong relationships with local makers, bakers, and farmers, we're a community hub that makes organic and natural foods fun, accessible, and exciting for everyone. The numbers speak for themselves: Our Vine Avenue location is Toronto's second biggest mover of organic foods, with $1840 in sales per square foot, more than double the industry average. With 35+ direct relationships with farms, and 250+ relationships with independent artisans, our offering is a dazzling and unique mix of over 12000 products including essentials from big natural brands to faves you didn't know you needed. With a knack for launching new products to market, prioritizing innovation, and identifying the next big food trend in this $6.5-billion/year industry, we're the bridge to market for small farmers, vertical growers, and plant-based everything that you'll never find at a Big Box store. Environmental sustainability is a guiding principle where we take a 360° view of every product we list, considering how it's grown, manufactured, packaged, and shipped. We Bridge the Gaps Between Farmers, Consumers, Innovation, and Accessibility: We work hard to:Keep prices low through our direct farm to vendor relationships while never compromising on quality Deliver an exceptional customer service experienceChampion local and independent producers and farmersEmpower customers to learn about the local food system, explore the connection between food and health, and expand their paletteProvide a launchpad for new and innovative brands and food productsLead the industry in innovative sustainable initiativesElevate our community through fun events, fundraising, and local partnerships with schools, agencies, and grassroots organizationsApples to Apples - We Win By Every MeasureThe future of food is local, organic, and innovative. It’s about independent farms, environmentally sustainable agriculture, groundbreaking proteins, and connecting people with the foods they eat in meaningful ways. The future of food belongs to all of us, not just those who can afford it. Big Box stores sell either good foods at high prices or cheap foods at low prices. By going directly from farm to table, we make great foods accessible to a wide range of consumers and families at a competitive price. In fact, when comparing apples to apples, we beat our Big Box competitors at nearly every organic turn.We partner with local, organic, vertical, hydroponic, and greenhouse farms to allow us to offer locally grown foods year-round. By doing this, we’re also decreasing the environmental impact of transportation and steadying access to fresh foods as the climate crisis destabilizes growing seasons locally and globally.We offer traceability for all of the fresh foods we sell, including what province or state your food was grown in and farm information for all Canadian grown produce. Big Box stores only list country as the place of origin on their fresh items. We prioritize environmentally sustainable practices from reducing single-use packaging, eliminating food waste, and building LEED-certified stores We successfully forecast emerging and growing trends in the food industry, acting as a launchpad for brands.We’re ready to give the people what they’ve been asking forCustomers ask us to open new locations in other neighbourhoods across the GTA all the time. With a second location under construction, and a third location identified, we’re ready to bring our unique mix of ‘fresh, local, organic, and awesome’ to a whole new set of hungry customers. Here’s how you become a part of our delicious success story:INVESTMENT OFFERING$0.25 per share12,000,000 Common Shares available$250 minimum investment amountRRSP eligibleWe anticipate distributing annual dividends and having a buy back option for purchased shares in the future (3 year target).USE OF FUNDSWe’re Raising $2.5MWe’ve invested nearly $2M into our growth at this point, and have raised an additional $0.5M. We are now looking to raise another $2.5M to propel us into our second location and secure our third location to open in 2024. Why Invest in the Sweet Potato:1. Exceptional Growth and Impeccable ReputationWe've grown our monthly sales over 600% since our inception in 2007, with $128M in historical gross revenue, $18.4M in the last year alone and we process more than 22,000 customer interactions monthly. From the beginning, The Sweet Potato has helped more than 50 brands launch and bring their products to market. We've been featured in top-tier publications including CBC Metro Morning, CBC News, NOW Toronto, The Toronto Star, Canadian Natural Health Retailer, and Canadian Grocer Magazine. With accolades and awards ranging from Community Awards for our sustainability efforts to Best Health Food Store in Toronto, we are continuously raising our profile, gaining new customers, and making new friends. 2. Consumers Are Demanding Ethical, Local, and Sustainable Food Options84% of customers prefer locally grown foods over imported products, and organic food is one of the fastest-growing sectors in Canada, with sales of  $6.5 Billion in 2021 (up 33% since 2017). Organic foods are a recession-resistant industry with projected compound annual growth of 14.56% over the next five years. Despite this, in Big Box stores, foods that are both local and organic comprise less than 3% of their total offerings.Final Notes From Our Founder and CEO, Digs Dorfman\
Amount Raised : CA$0
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