This truly unique opportunity is an unbelievably exciting, multi-division manufacturing and eCommerce company that has taken the United States by storm. One side of the business is a chicken and coop rental business that offers its coop rentals to schools and families. While it is focused on the East Coast at the moment, the two farms it currently operates can be expanded to other farms and/or the rentals can be shipped longer distance across the nation, as they already are today. The development of new farms could also become Franchisee locations.
The other division is an eCommerce business that manufactures and sells products for backyard chicken owners under the company’s brand. The company offers any product an owner of a backyard chicken coop needs to raise chickens of any age, from 1 day old to full grown. In the last year, this company has branched out to produce products for other small animals, such as rabbits, ferrets, hamsters, and guinea pigs. Ownership is looking to sell a majority stake in the business, but desires to stay involved after closing because they see this business growing massively over time.
The owners behind this phenomenal brand started the business 8 years ago. The business originally started up as a chicken coop rental business, but quickly added a hatching program, which has created joy and happiness for an untold number of kids and adults alike.
About 6 years ago, the company graduated to manufacturing. They took all of the knowledge gained from renting chicken coops and began creating easy to use, time-saving solutions for the underdeveloped chicken supplies market. Customer feedback was the driving force behind product development, along with the experience of keeping large volumes of hens and chicks year-round. This resulted in the creation of some of the most innovative and highest rated chicken feeder and waterer designs on the market today.
The Chicken Coop Rental division works with schools, homeschools, nursing homes and families to provide an educational experience in the form of renting egg laying chickens for 4 weeks at a time. These rentals cost $250 and all supplies are provided. Customers usually get an egg on the first day of the rental. This coop rental is not only for customers that want the 4-week educational experience, but it is a way to “try before you buy” as half of the rental fee can be used towards the purchase price. The rental division also rents all the supplies to perform a chick hatching program. This program includes: 2 baby chicks, 7 fertile eggs with an incubator, a brooder (where the chicks live) with a waterer and feeder along with all the feed and bedding the customer will need to complete the 4 week program. The program also includes educational materials that teachers and parents can use to help kids learn about chicken lifecycles.
The rental division also sells entire coops, bedding, feed, waterers and feeder systems along with egg laying chickens to families that are ready to get started with chickens. The division currently has 2 locations which currently covers the entire eastern seaboard. Nationwide shipping does occur at the moment, but the better option is to create a franchise network to have franchise locations in every major city. While education continues to grow online, especially in the era of COVID-19, this business provides a real-world educational experience that children and adults remember for the rest of their lives and that no online experience could match. The business has also been testing out rabbit and guinea pig rentals for schools and families that have gone well. Renting these animals as a class pet have provided classrooms with the opportunity to experience different animals, and teachers the opportunity to release responsibility of a class pet.
The product manufacturing side of the business sells products under the company’s well-known brand name for backyard chicken owners and small animal owners. These products currently sell on Amazon.com, the branded website and to online and brick and mortar wholesalers. The company has a lot of room to expand with the proper procedures and employees in place. Keeping inventory in stock will lead to an immediate 50% estimated increase in sales. The second largest opportunity is to sell to more brick and mortar wholesalers. The company has been contacted by many brick and mortar retailers, but this hasn’t gone anywhere due to a lack of stock and not having the proper systems in place. The company has not pursued outreach to some of the larger chains due to lack of processes, number of employees needed and lack of inventory. Another opportunity includes pursuing the development of a shippable chicken coop out of plastic that works well with our products, like waterers and feeders. The company can also begin selling chicken feed and putting a sample in every chicken feeder sold. Chicken feed is a recurring revenue stream much like the company’s chicken bedding currently is.
The two divisions work very well together. The well-loved rental business provides a great story behind the brand of products sold and allows the company access to baby chicks and full-grown chickens year round for real life product testing. The rental business has also received a nice bit of national attention from stories in the Washington Post, NY Times and on shows like CBS Sunday morning, which have contributed to brand recognition. If the rental business had multiple locations through a franchise network, all products developed and sold by the company could be sold to franchisees, including recurring revenue options like feed, bedding and more. These franchisees would be the brand ambassadors for the products while introducing their cities to chickens, they also introduce their customers to the company’s feed line, bedding line, feeders, waterers, coops, etc.
Keeping backyard chickens gained popularity in the early 2010’s as the “grow your own food”, “know where your food comes from” and “organic food” movements took hold. With coronavirus pushing many trends forward, it has also pushed the grow your own food movements with ‘keeping chickens’ being at the head of that movement. Keeping chickens has been part of America’s culture in the rural US for decades and has recently become very popular in the American suburbs on the coasts and outside of major cities in the past 10 years, especially as more and more major metropolitan cities open up to allowing chicken coops to be kept in urban back yards. COVID-19 has had a substantial impact, from not just a food shortage standpoint, but from a boredom cure for children and adults. Shortages at the grocery store and lockdowns are impacting the psyche of the American people, who want to secure their food supply with their own backyard gardens and chickens.
This company is growing rapidly year over year at 100% YOY Sales Growth and 376% YOY Profit Growth. The near and long term organic growth of this company are hard to argue, but adding new sales channels, expanding product lines developing a franchise network, and developing an overall growth strategy with the property capital backing will do wonders to take this company to levels far beyond even their current, massive successes. No knowledge of chickens or the marketing space is necessary. There are 12 staff members in place to help ease a transition and create continuity. Additionally, business ownership is willing to remain on, to roll equity or to take whatever steps necessary to ensure that the tradition they created in this unbelievable brand continues in the right hands. They will be picky about who they choose to pass the torch to, but once chosen, the new owner will be fully supported.
There is so much opportunity here – it’s hard to list everything. Please inquire within to learn more.
