Three Arkansas startups to present at Natural State Angel Association

Three Arkansas startups are among the companies presenting at the next Natural State Angle Association event.

Good Eats Food Co. of Fayetteville, Blue Sail Coffee of Conway and Advanced Tree Stands of Smackover will present to members of the angel investment network on Thursday (Jan 25) at 6 p.m. in the Brightwater: A Center for the Study of Food auditorium at the 8^th Street Market at 801 S.E. 8^th St. in Bentonville. Networking before the presentations will be at Bike Rack Brewing Co., also in the 8^th Street Market.

Summersalt of St. Louis also will present. Jeff Charlson, Bike Rack Brewing owner and senior entrepreneur in residence at Fayetteville-based Startup Junkie Consulting, will be the host.

It is open to the public. Individuals may register for the event by contacting the Natural State Angel Association organizers at [email protected].

GOOD EATS FOOD
Good Eats Food, founded in 2015, is a packaged vegetable company with four product lines from two brands, Ruthie’s Twisted Harvest frozen vegetables and Serious Bean Co.

Ruthie’s products include Cauli-Smashers (garlic parmesan flavor), Mexican Street Corn and Sweet Potato Smashers (plain and bourbon brown sugar flavors). Serious Bean products include Buckin’ Buffalo Beans, Cracked Pepper Baked Beans and Chipotle Pinto Beans and Tomatoes.

Good Eats Food’s two founders met at Sager Creek Vegetable Co. (formerly Allen’s Canning) of Siloam Springs, when Trey Taylor was vice president of marketing and Matt Brown was vice president of foodservice sales. Taylor and Brown were inspired to build a company that would make vegetables more appealing and convenient to consumers.

It is financially backed by Scout Retail, a portfolio company of Rogers private equity firm NewRoad Capital Partners.

Good Eats Food is now looking to raise money to help the company scale up. It has plans to launch new bean flavors in 3,000 store during spring 2018, according to an executive summary from the company.

BLUE SAIL COFFEE
The first Blue Sail Coffee café opened 2014 in Conway and subsequently launched a coffee roastery and wholesale business. It opened a second café in downtown Little Rock this past March.

The company specializes in ethically sourced and specialty coffee, and it offers mobile ordering at its cafes, according to its website.

Blue Sail Coffee is seeking money to expand operations and build its e-commerce business, according to an executive summary.

ADVANCED TREESTANDS
Advanced Treestands, founded by Ryan Wheelington, makes outdoor products. It is looking to expand its offerings to include anti-theft, “lock-down” systems for hanging tree stands and cameras used in hunting.

The company is seeking money to help fund the product launch in 2018 with “major retailers,” according to an executive summary.

SUMMERSALT
Summersalt is a direct-to-consumer, online swimwear company that aims to provide luxury swimsuits at lower price points.