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Culineer

Where Homecooks and Local Farmers Connect

Last Funded April 2022

$59,650

raised from 37 investors
Pitch Video
Investor Panel

Highlights

1
Transformative platform fixing the unmet marketing needs of the $70B farm-to-home table industry.
2
DTC Farmers are losing $35B in sales yearly - Culineer solves that through one easy-to-use platform.
3
Culineer saves farmers time and streamlines retention, and communication processes.
4
Consumers get simple, creative recipes from farms, and chefs as well as other passionate homecooks.

Our Team

Culineer was born from the frustration over the time and energy needed to make homemade food with local ingredients. As a DTC customer, I understand the challenges of purchasing direct from local farms. And after talking with hundreds of local farmers, it was clear that they have a huge problem that no one has solved for them either. Until now.

Our Pitch

Culineer: Where Homecooks and Local Farmers Connect.

Culineer is a mobile and web platform where local farmers connect with homecooks. The easiest way to describe Culineer is to have you imagine Facebook group combined with a recipe app.

Culineer fills a huge gap in the $70B and expanding farm to home table market.

There are approximately 2M farmers selling direct to consumer. Many are young, smart, and tech savvy – they are motivated by sustainability issue and want to make a difference.

And there are consumers who are equally passionate about these issues and want transparency about the source of their food and who produced it.

But buying local in-season food and eating sustainably comes with a learning curve.

It can be a struggle adapting to local, in-season harvests, consumers are introduced to new ingredients like kohlarabi or fennel and sometimes too much volume of one ingredient. They don’t know how– it’s very different than the experience at the grocery store where you can buy anything anytime.


Homecooks - need support and education and are looking to their farmer for help.

Farmers (our paying customer) lacks the time, tools, and resources for marketing and customer retention.

This causes friction which lead to an average customer churn rate of 50% each year.

THE SOLUTION: CULINEER

Culineer solves this problem. It’s a turnkey communication and marketing tool designed to engage, retain, and scale the farms customer base.

Click Here to Watch a Product Demo Video 

Until Culineer there has been no easy way to provide recipes and information about the farm and upcoming harvest. Farmers also get better feed back and insights about the customers experience so they can adapt what they grow and how they run their business. 

The farm customers will be supported with recipe inspiration and have the desired connection with their farmers. And, they can share ideas, ask questions and learn from other homecooks and recipe creators who also belong to the farmers community.

Culineer is a modern version of the way people learned to cook in generations past.

    WHAT FARMERS ARE SAYING

    We've spoken to hundreds of farmers and they consistently validate the need for Culineer to save them time while increasing their customer service capabilities. Dozens have signed up to our waitlist in anticipation of our community features.

    Click Here to Listen to the Farmers Comments in Their Own Words

    THE CULINEER BUSINESS MODEL

    Culineer has multiple revenue sources on the horizon but for the next year we'll focus on selling annual subscriptions to farmers.

    GROWTH STRATEGY

    We are applying digital marketing efforts and partnering with sustainable farm organizations in the Mid-Atlantic (PASA, Future Harvest, Rodale, Mid-Atlantic Vegetable Growers) to acquire farm customers. In turn, these farmers will bring their members on to the platform as users. This will save the farmers hours of time each week, will streamline communication while increasing customer engagement. Expansion to other geographies will follow.

    We'll also build the Culineer user base with product led growth, through referrals, social media, SEO, app store optimization, and local events. 

    PRODUCT ROADMAP

    Over the next 18 months we our goal is to acquire 2000 farms which will get us to $1M in ARR and within 5-7 years we intend to capture 20% of the marketing which will get us to $140M ARR


    THE CULINEER TEAM 

    We have a highly-skilled team with extensive experience in both enterprise and start-up ventures from companies like Snap Kitchen, Waze, Highmark, and 3M. And we are all customers of DTC farms who are passionate about sustainability and healthy eating. 

    WEFUNDER INVESTMENT

    Our fundraising efforts will fuel marketing efforts and allow us to hire the talent we need to execute on our plans

    With an investment in Culineer you’ll also make an impact on the world’s biggest problems. When regenerative farmers are successful things will improve for our climate, human health and food deserts.

    And, you’ll be supporting a female founded business. Currently only 2% on investment dollars go to woman owned businesses even though they tend to have a much higher rate of success


    DOWNLOAD OUR PITCH DECK

    Download the Culineer Pitch Deck

    Overview