Miso Tasty
We make super tasty Japanese snacks & meals that are easy, nutritious and feature our signature miso!
- Location
- London, United Kingdom
Categories: Food & Beverage Non-Digital Mixed B2B/B2C
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Investment
sought: - £150,000
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Equity
offered: - 6.86%
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Investment
amount: - £421,400
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Valuation
(pre-money): - £2,037,500
Team
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Founder & MD -
Director -
Investor / Director -
Commercial -
Finance Director -
Sales
Idea
Introduction
Miso Tasty is an exciting, contemporary brand of Japanese-inspired meals & snacks passionately driven by Bonnie Chung; an award-winning entrepreneur, author and creative chef.
Within 4 years, we've grown our range of products to include award-winning miso soups, miso pastes, miso ramen noodle kits, as well as a critically acclaimed cookbook. We aim to make tasty Japanese meals easy to recreate at home or on-the-go.
Miso Tasty’s products can be found in Waitrose, Sainsbury’s, Ocado, Booths, and Wholefoods stores.
Our products feature our signature miso ingredient, which has been authentically made in Japan and is central to our incredible flavours and nutritional benefits.
Since last year's raise, we have launched our Ramen Noodle kits into 300 Waitrose stores. Our sales for January are up more than 100% from last year. This investment round supports Miso Tasty's next stage of growth as we gear up for the greatest step change in our company’s history - launching into UK’s biggest retailer – Tesco!
For all Seedrs investors, we have decided to offer a 20% discount to our webshop for the duration of your Seedrs investment.
Intended impact
The idea behind Miso Tasty was conceived by Bonnie 7 years ago. As a chef, she loved cooking Japanese food, especially with miso, but realised that while interest in Japanese food was growing, it was rarely recreated at home.
Miso Tasty’s mission is to provide authentic and accessible ways for consumers to discover and enjoy tasty Japanese-inspired cuisine while also answering their needs for convenience and nutrition. All our products are designed to be easy, all-natural, and accessible, such as our nutritious miso soups that can be enjoyed in minutes!
This year, we will be extending our range of successful Ramen Noodle Kits to Udon Stir-fry noodle kits and Gluten-Free Glass Noodle kits too. These super tasty, quick and easy meal kits allow consumers to enjoy making Japanese-inspired dishes at home with confidence and creativity; bridging the gap between tasting quality, authentic Japanese food at restaurants and eateries, and having the know-how and time to recreate them at home.
Substantial accomplishments to date
• We launched a range of miso products, following 3 years of research to find the right partners to transform our recipes for retail. The journey took our team around the world, persevering through over 65 manufacturing trials before finally making our products in Japan.
• Our 1st range of miso soups were snapped up by Selfridges, Harvey Nichols and Wholefoods in 2014. Its key USPs allows the product to stand out in the market; coming in a 2-part kit with separate garnishes to deliver outstanding taste.
• Our ranges of miso soups, noodle kits and miso pastes are available nationwide - Waitrose, Sainsbury’s and Ocado.
• Since launch, we've had major PR coverage with national features in the likes of The Telegraph and The Sunday Times.
• Miso Tasty’s cookbook was named in The Independent’s Top 10 Cookbooks 2016 and won the Japanese Award at the Gourmand World Cookbook Awards. Available in over 10 countries.
• Our brand awareness boomed after Jamie Oliver endorsed our products on his TV show and #1 cookbook “5 Ingredients”. “Miso Tasty Sales Soar x4 after Jamie Oliver show” (The Grocer, 2017)
• At 2017 Great Taste Awards, we won 4 gold stars; the only miso products to be awarded in the competition.
• Bonnie, founder of Miso Tasty, continues to be the driving force behind the brand, alongside a team of industry specialists. She won The Grocer’s Top New Talent (2015) and Entrepreneur of the Year (Finalist, 2016) and in 2017, she was listed in Accenture's “Top 35 Women Under 35”.
Monetisation strategy
We plan to continue generating revenue through supplying our major retail customers Sainsbury’s, Waitrose, and Ocado. We also sell our products directly on our website.
We are now gearing up to launch into Tesco and Morrisons supermarkets. Together, they represent almost 40% of UK supermarket retail, so these new listings represent a huge step-change for our business.
We have now confirmed the launch of SEVEN new products into c.400 Tesco stores nationwide, from August 2018.
Our manufacturing is outsourced to a network of selected partners who make our products at competitive prices. As volumes grow to meet demand, we anticipate economies of scale to allow us to improve our overall margins.
Use of proceeds
This investment round primarily meets the working capital requirement for our new listings at Tescos and Morrisons, as well as supporting the roll out to other major retailers. The new business increases our working capital requirements service our volume growth with these new and existing customers.
In line with these new launches, we are investing in an exciting new brand update where Bonnie, the founder of Miso Tasty is being positioned more centrally in the brand communications. This will be rolled out across all our product packaging, website and communications this year. We will also be investing in marketing activity to bring the new brand to life through video, social media and PR.
As our business grows, we will invest in developing and growing our team. We will also continue to nurture our NPD pipeline of innovative new products to feed the future growth of Miso Tasty.
Additional Information
The company has issued a different class of shares, B shares, to a founder of the business with a subscription price of £461,200 in total. The B Shares have a preference equal to the £461,200 initial subscription price, which will be paid out in preference to the return of any proceeds to ordinary shareholders on exit, winding up or liquidation. The B Shareholder also has a right to require the company to repurchase the B Shares after 5 years. The B Shares do not otherwise participate in the equity, they operate like a shareholder loan that is subordinate to creditors of the company.
Market
Target market
MILLENNIALS looking for meal solutions that are convenient without compromising on taste or nutrition. They enjoy new flavours and have tried Japanese food before, perhaps in a restaurant like Wagamama. As we extend our range of noodle kits, we will continue to gain share of the fast-growing category of Meal Kit solutions valued at £702million globally (Technomic, 2015) and expected to increase to $5bn over the next 10 years.
HEALTH FOOD LOVERS Consumers are actively seeking healthier food options. 29% of evening meals in the UK are now vegetarian. Our miso is naturally vegan, rich in plant protein, and accredited by the Vegetarian Society. Miso Tasty also ticks other top health trends including organic, gluten-free and fermented foods across our ranges.
ADVENTUROUS, FOODIES LOOKING FOR NEW IDEAS Our customers are excited to try our new products and cooking ideas. In our brand update, we will provide plenty more cooking inspiration on pack, supported by our media channels.
Characteristics of target market
The Japanese food market is now one of the fastest growing in EMEA. With Japanese travel more than doubling in the last year (Lonely Planet, 2017), and with both the Rugby World Cup and the Olympics soon to be hosted in Japan, the interest in Japanese cuisine and culture is just beginning. Yo Sushi and Wagamama are both growing their presence in the UK.
Our new extended range of noodle meal kits take Miso Tasty into the broader consumption opportunity of what we see as a much bigger and established market. At Tesco, for instance, we will be launching a Ramen Noodle Kit, Udon Stir fry Noodle Kit and a Glass Noodle Kit into initially 500 stores. The value of the UK noodle market is worth £35.2 million.
Our growing ranges are offering an on-trend, nutritious, and convenient product to more mainstream consumers who also want Japanese authenticity.
Marketing strategy
Our major marketing investment this year will be on our brand update across our packaging, website and communication channels. This sees Bonnie the founder appearing on packaging and emphasizing her key role in developing the recipes and the business. This brings a friendly personality and expert authority to this category and thereby creating significant stand out against our competitors.
To support bringing the brand to life and connecting with customers post-purchase, we will be investing in a more interactive website with videos to show customers new ways to enjoy their products, sharing plenty of recipe ideas on pack and on social media, and positioning Bonnie for PR and TV opportunities to spread greater awareness of the brand.
To support retail customers, we will target impactful in-house media such as Waitrose Food, Ocadolife and Tesco Clubcard. Furthermore, we plan to have regular on-shelf theatre and offers to attract trial of our new products and gain new customers.
Competition strategy
We believe that Miso Tasty’s positioning is unique; making authentic Japanese food accessible and featuring a proprietary miso.
It is this specialism that we consider to set us apart from other similar food brands like Clearspring and Yutaka. We focus on creating truly different, better products on the market: our miso soup kits are unique with separate garnishes. Our miso pastes are the best sellers at Waitrose in the category and the only ones with Great Taste Awards 2017.
As we extend our range of Ramen Noodle Kits to Udon and Glass Noodle kits, we believe that we are pioneering the Japanese meal kits space. This range taps into a large noodle market and upgrades the noodle meal at home to a more creative experience, or gives those who do not currently cook noodles at home, the confidence to do so.
Our brand update will also drive our USPs harder to help consumers understand our points of differences better; we are the more authentic, accessible and fun choice for those interested in Japanese-inspired food.
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