Invest in FruitCraft Fermentery & Distillery: Fruit-based alcohol. Community-owned. Social value.

As a leading progressive thinker, Alan’s passion and creativity only accentuate his entrepreneurial DNA. His timely expansion into the private event industry pairs perfectly with the tasting room’s core demographic and the distilleries vast product offering. It’s just one of many examples of his courageous leadership and effective guidance of FruitCraft, pivoting as necessary while remaining steadfastly committed to the company's principles.

FruitCraft undoubtedly has a phenomenal product line, revered by their loyal customer base and incidental consumers alike. My own personal anecdote would recall my very first visit to the fermentery. Before I finished my first glass that night, I was frantically conceiving how I would transport 10 cases of this flavor packed, refreshing and one-of-a-kind fruit wine from San Diego back home to Boston.

Alan has fast-tracked FruitCraft’s progress by incorporating its devoted community in a joint effort to model a reformed version of capitalism that seeks to benefit all of its contributors, not just the upper echelon. The School of Social Value is not a short-term trend. Corporations across the globe have begun adopting aspects of the social enterprise model and in turn they continue to fuel a seismic transformation in the way for-profit companies operate.

In my decade of investing, I have only come to know one thing for certain. That when all else fails, companies run by creative people delivering a high-quality product will always find a way to thrive. The most lucrative investments originated when an investor believed wholeheartedly in a driven, innovative and charismatic entrepreneur. The combination of people, product and profit margin has previously sufficed as grounds to invest in a blossoming enterprise. But as significant capital moves towards socially conscious investing and ESG funds (Environmental, Social and Governance), it is imperative that we incorporate a fourth “P” during our due diligence, by far the most critical – Purpose.

Prioritizing where I distribute my investment capital has always been essential. I seek to find companies whose underlying purpose is to better the quality of life for their consumers, employees and most importantly their community. I will only commit to founders and owners who allow their mission to steer their decision making process. Alan embodies that prerequisite to the fullest extent and I would put my money behind any venture with his name attached to it. When there is an obstacle, he envisions a solution. When things are static, he embraces flexibility and adjusts willingly. When there is an opportunity, he capitalizes and executes upon his strategy. I am proud to support FruitCraft and all that they stand for, but more importantly I support Alan. He has a knack for making this world a better place through meaningful change and a glass of vino.

We welcome you to join our community and embrace FruitCraft's initiative by raising a glass to good!

Here For A Purpose,
Zachary Caraviello

P.S. – The wine rocks!!

Zachary Caraviello Independent Private Equity Investor
Lead Investor Investing $1,000 this round & $110,000 previously

I have had a long association with FruitCraft. I believe in Alan's vision and the potential of Social Value Enterprises to improve business for all stakeholders. Even modest investments can lead to big changes and that is really exciting.

Robyn Hill

I've been part of of the membership since 2017 and an employee since 2018 and now super excited to be an investor in 2020. I love all the products (my two favorites are the cherry pomegranate hard seltzer and pomegranate mint hard kombucha) and have gotten my friends and family hooked on them as well. As a conscious consumer I believe that this is the business model of the future. This investment is a way for me to support businesses that are changing the world.

Anna Shayo

Investor Q&A

Expand all

What does your company do?

We are makers of the newest types of craft alcoholic beverages. Hard Seltzer, Hard Cider, Mead, Hard Kombucha, Wine from Fruit and Craft Spirits/Cocktails. We dispense these beverages in our flagship San Diego location where we recently launched a robust membership program and host all types of events from corporate events to weddings.

Where will your company be in 5 years?

I'd like to see the FruitCraft concept grow in 4 major marketplaces (San Diego, Orange County, Los Angeles and the Bay Area). In each market FruitCraft expects to plant several tasting room locations and to build inroads into restaurant and retail distribution.

Why did you choose this idea?

I believe fruit-based alcohol deserves to exist. Before mankind invented beer, sake and most other alcohols, nature was making alcohol from fruit with no intervention from mankind. Fruit-based alcohol is the most ancient and the original of all alcohols. I believe it's appalling that there aren't more produced and made available in the marketplace.

Why is this a good idea, right now? What changed in the world? Why wasn't this done a few years ago?

Craft beer opened up the floodgates to show what kind of willingness existed for migration by consumers within the alcohol industry. From 1999-2019 the category grew from $2 Billion in annual consumer spending to over $20 Billion. This was fueled by the experience at the brewery tasting room (since distribution was not provided in the early years of the category's inception). In essence, by studying craft beer, one can understand that consumers crave new experiences and tastier beverages. And when a tasting room experience delivers on these pain-points the resulting consumer demand can result in the emergence of a new category on store shelves and at restaurants/bars.

What is your proudest accomplishment?

Pivoting the company from near death to its current cash flow positivity is my greatest accomplishment. Back in 2016 Wholefoods was our biggest customer and they were experiencing negative growth for the first time in their history. As a result they started to back off from local suppliers like ourselves and prioritize national accounts. This almost put our company out of business. But I wasn't willing to give up and knew that the tasting room model was the way to go. Unfortunately, after 6 attempts at securing leases over the course of the previous 2 years we were unable to obtain a lease due to not having collateral. I creatively solved that problem by acquiring a distressed winery with an existing lease at the end of 2016. This is now our flagship tasting room where we've engineered our customer experience, refined our most important revenue models, and now have a foundation of predictable revenue to build the company off of.

How far along are you? What's your biggest obstacle?

As an entrepreneur I'm very far along. I've been living and breathing this company since I started it in my garage in 2009. And while I've always been quick to learn crucial business lessons about our industry and path to market, I haven't had plentiful access to the resources needed to pivot things in an effecient manner. This pivot from a distribution model to a profitable direct to consumer model took 3 years. And the obstacle that caused this was a lack of capital. As a business we've laid as strong of a foundation as one can to build a franchise company off of. So we're still relatively early on with our 1st and only storefront. But I look forward to leveraging my deep understanding of the alcohol industry and all other types of knowledge acquired over the past 10 years to drive the company to many dozen storefronts all over the country over the next decade.

Who are your competitors? Who is the biggest threat?

When thinking about distribution we have obvious competitors that would be next to our products on store shelfs and on restaurant menus. However, our tasting room is a different story. We compete with other wedding venues and other "things to do" in San Diego. In both the alcohol and the wedding market there is so much market share to compete over that even carving out a small part of the overall market can mean big gains for a company like ours. So I don't consider any competitor a threat in the truest sense of the word. But I do consider all other breweries, cideries, restaurants, bars and wedding venues competitors and have built a set of brand value propositions that has allowed us to win business in light of a highly competitive environment.

What do you understand that your competitors don't?

I understand how industries are established and how they mature. That's why our business model is geared towards opening up tasting rooms all across the country. This is how we expect our brand to build loyalty and establish deep relationships with our customer base. This in turn provides long term defensibility which usually isn't afforded alcohol brands who build their brands primarily through distribution. Most of the big craft breweries who are competing with Big Beer's acquired "craft breweries" are now seeing a decline in their revenue through their distribution channels because as the category has matured so have those they've been in competition with. In summary, by studying the craft beer phenomenon it's become evident that the best way to sustain the brand we're building is to manage our customer relationships through direct to consumer storefronts and not just by being widely distributed on store shelves.

How will you make money?

We have 3 core revenue drivers through the tasting room. 1) Incidental patronage (just like any bar or restaurant) 2) Private events (wineries and breweries have seen an uptick in interest for hosting weddings and other high-dollar events. Private events may be one of the best tools to result in break even level revenues for any FruitCraft concept. 3) Memberships (wineries have been doing this for years. We have a program that we've beta tested and will be rolling out a full-fledged program later on in 2020. But this doesn't take into account revenue I'm expecting from distribution and from online sales. Money we don't plan on leaving on the table once we've made the appropriate investments into our direct to consumer revenue channels.

What are the biggest risks? If you fail, what would be the reason? What has to go right for you to succeed?

So many of the risks FruitCraft could experience have already been experienced over our 10 year history. Our revenue was heavily dependent on WholeFoods in 2015 and 2016. That subjected our company to risk that could have been lowered if we diversified our revenue channels to include a direct to consumer tasting room (of course diversifying would have required capital we didn't have). Our company almost went out of business because of that exposure. But we've learned that hard lesson and now generate revenue from multiple customers in a predictable fashion. As can be seen from the growth in our monthly revenues, we're well positioned against many business risks as we've created predictability in our revenue and in its growth.

What do you need the most help with?

The reason we're pioneering a new model for business is because we believe that a company run by the community can be far more successful than one run in a traditional way. What we'd really like to see from investors on Wefunder is the contribution of ideas to perfect the way the company is organized and how it can reach higher levels of productivity and impact. We believe that we can find more qualified employment candidates by leveraging the community. We believe that we can find better business development opportunities when our whole community is keeping their eyes and ears peeled for places to grow. We believe that we can make a newly planted FruitCraft concept profitable in a shorter amount of time by inviting our community to invest, to labor, and to consume with our brand.

What would you do with the money you raise?

All of the funds we raise are geared towards two ends. 1. We intend on strategically investing into business development opportunities to drive our revenue beyond $100k per month in the next several quarters. The best opportunities we're seeing are with private events. We'd invest $200k into beautifying our outdoor ceremony space and into other improvements to better accommodate 200 person events. This is expected to increase all wedding conversions by 50% and is expected to increase our conversions with weddings of 120 people and larger by 200%. 2. We'd like to consolidate debt to better work with our cash flows and leave us a bigger slice to reinvest into growth. Now that our cash flows are strong the relative cost of capital has lowered and we're looking to pay off $300k of the loans we have on the books. 3. We'd make strategic investments ($50k) into customizations related to the participation of our members, investors and employees. Much of this would live on our website and within the respective profiles of participants. A reward/gamification system will be the backbone of creating value-added incentives that allow for much of our marketing and business development efforts to be automated and turn-key. 4. We'll be formalizing the franchise documents and creating the training systems for franchisees who want to launch a new concept. $150k will be needed for this effort. Half will go towards the legal framework for franchising. The other half towards video and in-person trainings around all aspects of successfully running a FruitCraft concept. 3. We'd keep $300k on hand to invest into a 2nd storefront location when the time is right. This depends on what opportunities become available as we enter a recession. We're expecting to see a number of ideally located restaurants/bars/breweries go out of business in the next 12 months and are looking forward to some attractive opportunities to present themselves as we plan for growth.

How has Covid-19 affected your business?

We're very fortunate to have developed a business model with a diversified approach to our revenue. When Covid-19 hit and the government shut down all restaurants and tasting rooms we were unable to generate revenue from our tasting room channel. However, we maintained our revenues for the weddings we had booked as well as the members we acquired. As such we were able to maintain break-even cash flows during the initial 3 months of the crisis. 93% of the weddings we had scheduled between March & August have rescheduled while staying on their originally agreed upon deposit schedule. This gave us the capital we needed to be on much more solid ground than the restaurants around our establishment without a robust private events program. Additionally, we began to supplement our revenue by making and selling hand sanitizer. And lastly, we obtained a $35k PPP loan that we expect to become 100% forgivable. All-in-all the Covid-19 situation hasn't affected our ability to break even each month, though it has resulted in a dip to our top line revenue that has lowered our revenue forecast in 2020.

1	We began turning a monthly profit in Oct. 2019 with over $70k in revenue. Up from $31,927 Oct. 2018
2	We're the only concept with mead, cider, seltzer, wine, kombucha and spirits all made in-house
3	Annual Revenue = $342k in 2017, $472k in 2018, $687k in 2019
4	Our founders are donating their shares to make the company community-owned
5	Conscious consumption is mainstreaming. 63% of consumers prefer to buy from purpose-driven brands
6	When existing shareholders require liquidity Wefunder investors will have opportunity to purchase
7	You can help the company succeed by voting on future business development opportunities
8	You can help improve the social value cooperative model to maximize the impact of conscious business

1	While we have developed 10 years of commercial expertise in the manufacturing (fermentation & distillation) of our products. Competitors with fermentation experience and/or capacity are widespread. And while many don't veer from their core products, there is nothing that can be patented that would prevent competitors from creating similar products.
2	We cannot be certain that the laws of various municipalities would allow for the expansion of our concept into certain regions. While we are familiar with the laws of the State of California, any growth projected in other states would require an assessment of compliance to do business in those states and we cannot guarantee we'll be able to expand into each market as we'll be required to comply with local laws and ordinances.
3	We expect to significantly expand our operations in the near future. Our anticipated future operations will place a strain on our management systems and resources. Our ability to successfully continue to market the Company’s products and services and implement our business strategy in a rapidly evolving market requires an effective planning and management process. We expect that we will need to continue to improve our transaction-processing, operational, financial and managerial controls and reporting systems and procedures, and will need to continue to expand, train and manage our workforce. Furthermore, we expect that we will be required to manage multiple relationships with various customers and other third parties. We cannot be certain that our current and planned personnel, systems, procedures and controls will be adequate to support our future operations, that management will be able to hire, train, retain, motivate and manage required personnel or our management will be able to successfully identify, manage and exploit existing and potential market opportunities.
4	We believe that our ability to attract customers, facilitate broad market acceptance of our products and our brand and enhance our sales and marketing capabilities depend on our ability to develop and maintain strategic relationships with key partners. If we are unable to develop or maintain key relationships, we may have difficulty attracting customers.
5	We rely or may in the future rely on a combination of patent, trademark, trade secret and copyright law and contractual restrictions to protect the proprietary aspects of our products. These legal protections afford only limited protection for our intellectual property and trade secrets. Despite our efforts to protect our proprietary rights, unauthorized parties may attempt to copy aspects of our products or sales formats or to obtain and use information that we regard as proprietary. Litigation may be necessary in the future to enforce our intellectual property rights. If third parties prepare and file applications in the United States that claim trademarks used or registered by us, we may oppose those applications and be required to participate in proceedings before the United States Patent and Trademark Office to determine priority of rights to the trademark, which could result in substantial costs to us. Any litigation or adverse priority proceeding could result in substantial costs and diversion of resources and could seriously harm our business and operating results. Finally, we may in the future sell our products internationally, and the laws of many countries do not protect our proprietary rights to as great an extent as do the laws of the United States. Many countries have a "first-to-file" trademark registration system. As a result, we may be prevented from registering or using our trademarks in certain countries if third parties have previously filed applications to register or have registered the same or similar trademark. Our means of protecting our proprietary rights may not be adequate, and our competitors could independently develop similar products.
6	The Company contemplates that it will raise additional capital. There can be no assurance that the Company will be successful in raising additional amounts, which may result in delays or even loss of profits, business or assets. There is no corporate requirement that a minimum amount of funds will be raised from this Offering, and the Company is unable to predict the amount of funds, if any, that it may receive from this Offering. The Company believes that if substantially all of the funds in this Offering are raised successfully, then the proceeds from this Offering, combined with other sources of liquidity, will be sufficient to fund the Company’s capital requirements for at least twelve months following the completion of this Offering. The Company may be required to obtain additional financing. If the board of directors of the Company determines to obtain additional capital through the issuance of equity securities of the Company it is permitted to do so. Likewise, if the Company is permitted to issue subordinated debentures to obtain additional capital. Subordinated debentures represent unsecured obligations of the Company, which are subordinate to the payment of more senior debts. Debentures do not dilute the Company’s earnings.
7	Our future success depends on the efforts of a small management team. The loss of services of the members of the management team may have an adverse effect on the company. There can be no assurance that we will be successful in attracting and retaining other personnel we require to successfully grow our business.
8	This offering is being conducted on an expedited basis due to circumstances relating to COVID-19 and pursuant to the SEC’s temporary regulatory COVID-19 relief. [Rule 201(z)(1)(i)]
9	COVID-19 may have material impacts on our business. While we've maintained break even during the pandemic, the future impacts of the virus are unknown.

Director	Occupation	Joined
Alan Haghighi	CEO / President @ California Fruit Wine Corp.	2013
Brian Haghighi	Business Analyst @ Zovio	2013
Heidi Amato	Project Manager @ Crown Castle	2019

Holder	Securities Held	Voting Power
Brian Haghighi	2,328,746 Common Stock	50.0%
Alan Haghighi	2,328,746 Common Stock	50.0%

Date	Amount	Security
	$0	Custom
05/2020	$35,350	Loan
12/2019	$73,500	Loan
12/2016	$50,000	Loan
12/2016	$50,000	Loan
12/2016	$75,469	Loan
04/2016	$150,000	Loan
03/2016	$25,000	Loan
01/2016	$12,500	Loan
07/2017	$5,000	Loan
01/2015	$28,327	Loan
07/2016	$25,000	Loan
12/2017	$16,894	Loan
03/2018	$17,516	Loan
10/2016	$65,469	Loan
10/2017	$24,545	Loan
02/2018	$9,400	Loan
01/2016	$26,386	Loan
12/2017	$25,581	Loan
08/2019	$1,469,116	Priced Round
12/2016	$2,293,138	Priced Round

Invest in FruitCraft Fermentery & Distillery

Fruit-based alcohol. Community-owned. Social value.

Invest in FruitCraft Fermentery & Distillery

Fruit-based alcohol. Community-owned. Social value.

$21,050

Invest via a

Invest via a

Why you may want to invest in us...

Why investors us

we've raised $4,499,241 since our founding

The founder

Major Accomplishments

Downloads

Consumers Increasingly Want Impact Tied to Their Purchases

A Change in Agreements: It Is Better to Give Than Receive

The Social Value Pledge: Consume, Labor & Invest for Good

Scaling The Impact: Franchising the FruitCraft Concept

The School of Social Value: A Social Value Cooperative Incubator

The Opportunity: Invest & Participate

Investor Q&A

Financials

At a Glance

Risks

Details

The Board of Directors

Officers

Voting Power

Past Equity Fundraises

Outstanding Debts

Related Party Transactions

Use of Funds

Capital Structure

The Funding Portal

Form C Filing on EDGAR

Ask a Question

Signup

Lender	Issued	Amount	Oustanding	Interest	Maturity	Current?
Chase Visa Card	01/01/2015	$28,327	$28,327	8.9%	01/01/2001	Yes
American Express LOC	01/01/2016	$26,386	$26,501	7.9%	01/01/2001	Yes
Miriam Carr	01/01/2016	$12,500	$12,500	1.0%	01/01/2022	Yes
Robyn Hill	03/14/2016	$25,000	$12,000	1.0%	01/01/2021	Yes
Kevin Kane	04/02/2016	$150,000	$35,000	0.0%	01/01/2021	Yes
Robyn Hill (shareholder)	07/15/2016	$25,000	$7,000	1.0%	01/01/2022	Yes
Stearn's Bank	10/31/2016	$65,469	$34,350	11.6%	10/31/2021	Yes
Michael Berry	12/31/2016	$50,000	$35,000	8.0%	01/01/2021	Yes
Michael Berry	12/31/2016	$50,000	$62,986	8.0%	01/01/2021	Yes
Gilbert Van Drunen	12/31/2016	$75,469	$8,400	8.0%	07/01/2018	Yes
Private Loan From Paula Beck	07/15/2017	$5,000	$6,665	10.0%	07/15/2020	Yes
Blue Bridge	10/04/2017	$24,545	$11,339	20.5%	10/04/2022	Yes
Triton/Marlin	12/25/2017	$16,894	$12,198	17.5%	08/25/2022	Yes
Marlin	12/31/2017	$25,581	$1,668	8.0%	08/06/2020	Yes
Kabbage	02/15/2018	$9,400	$0	12.0%	02/15/2019
Kabbage	03/01/2018	$17,516	$9,410	20.0%	09/01/2020
Mulligan Funding	12/13/2019	$73,500	$51,580	20.0%	12/13/2020	Yes
PPP Loan	05/01/2020	$35,350	$35,350	0.98%	01/01/2001	Yes

Name	Miriam Carr
Amount Invested	$15,000
Transaction type	Priced Round
Issued	04/07/2014
Relationship	Mother
Purchased Shares at $0.50 per share just like all other Series AA investors

Name	Alan Haghighi
Amount Invested	$25,000
Transaction type	Priced Round
Issued	06/27/2014
Relationship	Founder
Purchased shares just like any other shareholder. No special terms.

Name	Brian Haghighi
Amount Invested	$25,000
Transaction type	Priced Round
Issued	06/27/2014
Relationship	Founder
No special terms. Purchased in Series AA Investment round.

Name	David Haghighi
Amount Invested	$8,000
Transaction type	Priced Round
Issued	04/07/2014
Relationship	brother
No special terms. Purchased in Series AA Investment round.

Name	Roman Anissi
Amount Invested	$3,500
Transaction type	Priced Round
Issued	04/07/2014
Relationship	Brother
No special terms. Purchased in Series AA Investment round.

Name	Mark Haghighi
Amount Invested	$10,000
Transaction type	Priced Round
Issued	04/07/2014
Relationship	Father
No special terms. Purchased in Series AA Investment round.

Name	Robyn Hill
Amount Invested	$25,000
Transaction type	Loan
Issued	07/14/2016
Outstanding principal plus interest	$7,000 as of 06/2020
Interest	1.0 per annum
Maturity	01/01/2022
Outstanding	Yes
Current with payments	Yes
Relationship	Shareholder
Robyn is a shareholder that provided a loan to the company when we needed it for cash flows

Name	Robyn Hill
Amount Invested	$25,000
Transaction type	Loan
Issued	03/03/2016
Outstanding principal plus interest	$12,000 as of 06/2020
Interest	1.0 per annum
Maturity	01/01/2021
Outstanding	Yes
Current with payments	Yes
Relationship	Shareholder
Robyn Hill, a shareholder, loaned money to the company on an indefinite basis until positive cash flows can repay the loan.

Name	Kevin Kane
Amount Invested	$150,000
Transaction type	Loan
Issued	04/01/2016
Outstanding principal plus interest	$35,000 as of 06/2020
Interest	0.0 per annum
Maturity	01/01/2021
Outstanding	Yes
Current with payments	Yes
Relationship	Shareholder
Kevin Kane, a shareholder, loaned the company $150k. In lieu of interest he's received 235,000 in warrants. We've been paying him $1,000 per week.

Name	Miriam Carr
Amount Invested	$12,500
Transaction type	Loan
Issued	12/31/2015
Outstanding principal plus interest	$12,500 as of 06/2020
Interest	1.0 per annum
Maturity	01/01/2022
Outstanding	Yes
Current with payments	Yes
Relationship	Shareholder
Miriam Carr, a shareholder loaned money to the company on an indefinite basis until positive cash flows can repay the loan.

$50,000	7.5% towards Wefunder fees, 80% towards business development (making improvements to increase our event conversions), 12.5% towards new hires
$1,000,000	7.5% towards Wefunder fees, 15% towards business development (making improvements to increase our event conversions), 7.5% on new hires, 30% towards debt consolidation, 20% towards franchising infrastructure, 20% towards location #2

Class of Security	Securities (or Amount) Authorized	Securities (or Amount) Outstanding	Voting Rights
Common Stock	4,657,492	4,657,492	Yes
Series A Preferred	2,838,232	2,838,232	No
Series Aa Preferred	4,586,276	4,586,276	No
Preferred Stock	1,383,000	1,383,000	No

Invest via a

Why you may want to invest in us...

Why investors us

we've raised $4,499,241 since our founding

The founder

Major Accomplishments

Downloads

Consumers Increasingly Want Impact Tied to Their Purchases

A Change in Agreements: It Is Better to Give Than Receive

The Social Value Pledge: Consume, Labor & Invest for Good

Scaling The Impact: Franchising the FruitCraft Concept

The School of Social Value: A Social Value Cooperative Incubator

The Opportunity: Invest & Participate

Investor Q&A

Financials

At a Glance

Risks

Details

The Board of Directors

Officers

Voting Power

Past Equity Fundraises

Outstanding Debts

Related Party Transactions

Use of Funds

Capital Structure

The Funding Portal

Form C Filing on EDGAR

Ask a Question

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