Leading the Plant-Based Food Revolution
Jim Pakulis is the CEO and Chairman of Boosh Plant-Based Brands Inc. Boosh provides a healthy,100% plant-based, non-GMO, gluten-free alternative to comfort foods. Jim has over three decades of experience working with public and private entrepreneurial companies in a variety of emerging sectors and has developed a unique eye for identifying small emerging publicly traded companies and quickly scaling them.
Jim is passionate about being in the plant-based sector because simultaneously it helps individuals eat healthier foods, decreases the butchering of animals, helps the planet by re-structuring farming resources for sustainable purposes, and helps to preserve the depleting water sources. In Jim’s spare time he co-founded an animal rescue non-profit where he has helped save over 1,000 animals from being euthanized and found them loving homes.
In this episode, we’re discussing…
[1:22] His background and how he has taken ventures from zero to 16 million in two years
[2:08] What do the company is trying to accomplish
[3:40] About what a plant-based protein is
[5:36] Are these products in stores, refrigerated how does Boosh products work
[8:01] The Boosh growth aspirations
[10:10] Why are plant-based products better for you than meat?
[10:23] As far as health reasons, why plant base is better than meat?
[15:28] How does this company get capitalization
[18:12] How do our listeners take advantage of this shift?
Jim Top Tip’s
“We're looking at a disruptive transformation from the animal-based protein to plant-based protein matter of fact, Bloomberg came back out came out and said by 2050 the valuation of the plant-based industry is going to be one $4.4 trillion with a team so that's going to come from somewhere and most likely that's going to come from the animal protein world people on what is a flexitarian because we don't market to vegans or vegetarians necessarily we market to guys like you and I or folks like you and I that enjoy a chicken meal or steak”
“We're seeing a lot of Gen X Millennials Gen Y is caring about three things. One, what goes into their body number two, is the very limited resources we have on planet Earth. And number three, the animal kingdom. So, you know, if you look back over the last 15 to 20 years, I remember, in 2000, and an early 2000s, I was eating VOCO burgers, which are plant-based burgers, but they don't, you know, have a little challenging taste to them”
“We introduced our shelf-stable mac and cheese, a nacho flavored and better cheddar, which was a huge hit. It tastes fantastic. When you take a step back, you look at the grocery store, there are four different main sections, frozen, refrigerated, shelf-stable. We were managing to get our way into the three other areas. We've also done three acquisitions of plant-based cheese products and plant-based patties, which are phenomenal. We started the year with six skews, now we're up to 24 skews and moving fast continuing growing in that direction”
“We've done three acquisitions since the beginning of this year. Each of the products differentiates itself in the marketplace, very unique plant-based cheeses and patties, they complement the main item on the plate not necessarily are the main item on the plate. And that's the direction we're taking the company number three expansion in the United States”
“We also have a revenue stream that we created through E-commerce via SHOP veggie. In Canada, we're getting orders now on a regular basis through SHOP veggie and we're opening up in E-commerce in the United States. And Food Service is huge. You got the schools, the cafeterias, the restaurants, the pubs, and a lot of restaurants and pubs that are not catered are geared toward creating plant-based meals. So, specifically, pubs, the pub in the back is not geared for you know non-GMO gluten-free foods”
“Eating a steak when I was 20, versus eating a steak, now it's a little bit different, a little bit more challenging, a little bit more digestive energy-wise, the amount of energy I feel from eating a plant-based meal, and then going out and exercising or doing whatever I'm doing, as opposed to animal-based meat it's easier for me to digest. The various chemicals that are going into the feed-in which goes into the animal. Unless it's completely organic, then you have these chemicals that you're digesting in your system via the animal that you're just eating”
“We don't like to dilute the company's stock, because that hurts the shareholders and investors. Conversely, we're at the other end, our IPO had a very conservative 16 million shares outstanding of which, at that point, 28% was owned by the founders and insiders, which is also a wonderful variable when your listeners are deciding on who to invest in. We don't like to bring in hedge funds, banks, family funds, etc. It's much easier when you're doing a capital raise you sit to have dinner, they agree to write you a check for 2 million in New York away, we have retail investors it means individuals doctors, lawyers, janitors, whatever they may behave a brokerage account with a securities firm, these are retail investors”
“Our philosophy is that we think a stock trades once they have about 1000 shareholders and a lot of companies will go public with just a minimum of 150 shareholders on the CSE Canadian Securities Exchange, we actually went public with over 1100 shareholders, we had verbal orders about 10 million for our IPO. But we realized we didn't want to take that because it would have been too diluted, we only took 2.8 million 2.87 5 million at the IPO”
“As we grow the company, theoretically, the stock price will increase. And therefore, we can do raises at higher levels, which benefits the shareholders. And as a footnote, I don't take a salary, I've been working for the company a year and a half, I don't take a salary, my compensation is believing it or not 50 cent warrants. I have to write a check to the company for 1,000,005 when I exercise my warrants, so if you want somebody that's in the bunker there, with the shareholders’ alliance with the investors, then you're looking at them”
Resources from Jim
Boosh Food | YouTube | YouTube2
ABOUT JIM PAKULIS
Jim Pakulis is the CEO and Chairman of Boosh Plant-Based Brands Inc. Boosh provides a healthy, 100% plant-based, non-GMO, gluten-free alternative to comfort foods. Jim has over three decades of experience working with public and private entrepreneurial companies in a variety of emerging sectors and has developed a unique eye for identifying small emerging publicly traded companies and quickly scaling them. He has taken ventures from zero to $16 million in two years and now he is leading the forefront of the trillion-dollar shift from animal-based protein to plant-based protein. He is passionate about being in the plant-based sector because simultaneously it helps individuals eat healthier foods, decreases the butchering of animals, helps the planet by re-structuring farming resources for sustainable purposes, and helps to preserve the depleting water sources. In Jim’s spare time he co-founded an animal rescue non-profit where he has helped save over 1,000 animals from being euthanized and found them loving homes.