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Dear brothers and sisters,
We are seeking capital to grow our business.
We manufacture and distribute organic nut butters including
raw and roasted almond butter, cashew butter, macadamia
butter, sesame tahini, and a magnificent blend of cashew
and macadamia called Milk of Paradise. We also distribute
organic fruit and nuts such as almonds, pecans, pistachios,
cashews, hazelnuts, walnuts, figs, Medjool dates, apricots,
peaches, nectarines, mangos, papayas and sundried tomatoes.
All our products are certified organic, and our nut butters
are also kosher certified. Our most popular products are
living foods that have been processed at low temperature.
We are certified by the California Certified Organic Farmers.
As far as competition goes, our secret ingredient is devotion;
we make our nut butters in small batches, using ingredients
of highest quality. We market to people who are concerned
about their health and well being. Search on the internet
and you will find many websites devoted to vegetarianism
and veganism, but the fastest growing movement on the web
is the live foods movement of people devoted to eating food
that has not been cooked. We tip our hat to this market
with our raw nut butters and with our living olive oil,
which is raw, unheated, unfiltered, and unpressed. It is
processed in a centrifuge at 70 degrees Fahrenheit (room
temperature).
The market for organic food consists of over 80 million
consumers. Sales of organic foods are booming! In 1999,
sales were $6.5 billion, in 2000 $7.8 billion, and in 2001
$9.3 billion. For 2005, sales of organic food products in
the United States are projected to be $20 billion.Though
other sectors are slowing down,the organic industry is booming.There
is also a growing market for kosher foods, which was $4.8
billion in 2000, $5.6 billion in 2001, $6.7 billion in 2002,
and projected to be $7.5 billion in 2005.We focus on the
special niche in the market for kosher foods that are also
certified organic. In November, we attended the Kosherfest
in New Jersey and were well received. There was so much
interest, with people coming along to our booth who wanted
to know more about kosher and organic. Our sales have been
growing consistently. The three divisions of our business
are International Sales, Wholesale (domestic), and Direct
Proprietary Technology and Intellectual Property We have
a proprietary method of making nut butters that heats them
as little as possible. Database of international clients.
Database of wholesale (domestic) clients. Database of vendors.
Database of direct marketing clients. Magnificent labels,
in full color, for 11 branded products.
*Date Established 1979
*Deal Stage Expansion
**Financing Sought and Use of Proceeds We are currently
in three locations. Our office is in a commercial building
at 1760 Solano Avenue in Berkeley. Our processing plant
is at 2810 San Pablo Avenue in Berkeley about 4 miles from
our office.
We rent space in refrigerated warehouse, Driesbach Cold
Storage, at 3501 Meeker Ave. in Richmond about 15 miles
from our plant. We feel that by combining managerial, processing,
and warehousing into one location this will afford us a
considerable increase in productivity and a savings in overhead.
We also want to hire a seasoned sales manager to take charge
of domestic sales.
We want to augment our working capital to take advantage
of volume discounts available in the highly competitive
food industry. New tools and equipment will also help to
improve our productivity.
Key Principals Jesse Schwartz, Ph.D., C.E., M.S., B.C.E.
Living Tree Community Foods. Graduate of Cooper Union School
of Engineering and MIT. Has held the post of Assistant Professor
of Economic Theory at Waterloo University, Ontario, Canada
and at San Diego State University.Co-founder of Living Tree
Nursery, devoted to the propagation of heirloom and historic
fruit trees. Has been President of Living Tree Community
Foods since 1979.
Social and/or Environmental Impact We support family farmers
in California's Central Valley. We've been working
with some of them for over 20 years. Other farmers we support
are further afield. For example, our macadamia nuts are
grown in Kenya by a cooperative of indigenous family farmers
who grow the nuts on small parcels of land. The techniques
they use meet world standards of organic farming.
We are an ethical business and we treat people with respect.
We support the Buffalo Field Campaign to protect the last
surviving herd of wild buffalo in Yellowstone National Park.
We support the Restore Hetch Hetchy campaign to restore
Hetch Hetchy Valley in Yosemite National Park. It was flooded
to create a reservoir to supply water to San Francisco in
the early part of last century.
Capital
We are seeking a total of $100,000 in loans. Each loan should
be at least $5,000 with repayment over 3 to 5 years.We are
prepared to offer a competitive return. Payments will be
monthly.
Business Plan
If you would like further details and a copy of our Business
Plan please contact me.
Kindest regards,
Jesse Schwartz, Ph.D
President
Living Tree Community Foods
P.O.Box 10082
Berkeley,CA 94709
Phone:510-526-7106 ext. 12
Fax: 510-526-9516
Web: http://www.livingtreecommunity.com
Email: jesse@livingtreecommunity.com
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