Fans of the gorgeous Netflix original series “Chef’s Table” are likely to recognize the fresh-as-can-be fare served up at Blue Hill restaurant, co-owned by brothers Dan and David Barber.
Now, the latter Barber, who handles Blue Hill's business strategy, is taking his work as a food innovator beyond the kitchen and into the boardroom with the announcement of his new venture capital firm, Almanac Investments. The fledgling firm, which has already amassed $30 million, will focus specifically on early-stage, food-oriented businesses.
Joining Barber at the helm of Almanac Investments is Zoe Feldman, another food-industry veteran with an eye for business and innovation. Barber tells Built In NYC she initially connected with Barber as an intern at his Tarrytown-based Stone Barns farm, and it was here that the concept of sustainable agriculture became a focal point of her career.
Though Feldman went on to work for corporate giants such as PepsiCo and a VC firm founded by former McDonald’s CEO Don Thompson, food innovation and public health were always the main course on her plate. Her goal was answering the question, “How do you use the best things about a big company to nurture small businesses?”
It was last summer that Feldman once again found herself at Barber’s Stone Barns, “almost ten years to the day” since she had interned. After chatting with Barber for hours, Feldman realized there was the makings of a perfect partnership. “[We realized] we had taken parallel paths over the last decade, and a [business partnership] felt like kismet,” Feldman said.
Though they may have only recently taken a seat at the table, Almanac has already invested in several projects of note: PilotWorks (a culinary incubator also funded by the Campbell Soup Company), Nona Lim (an organic food brand stocked at Whole Foods), and BlueCart (an inventory management platform for the hospitality industry).
While this may be Barber’s first time spearheading his own firm, he is no stranger to the investment game. Barber previously invested in Sweetgreen, a healthy, fast-casual eatery that is a favorite among millennials. As for Feldman, she matches Barber’s hospitality know-how with years of big-business experience. Only now, she’s ensuring Almanac sticks to a more localized ethos.
The [slow-food] movement has proven itself to be more than a movement."
Food fans can expect Almanac to invest in companies that share a similar ethos with that of Blue Hill. “The role we want Almanac to play is to ensure that the capital is used to support the future food system we aspire to [create],” said Barber to AgFunder. That future food system likely involves locally-sourced foods, community-oriented values, and a belief in health and wellness. “Opportunistic capital that intends to use the food system purely for the purposes of generating more capital, will be leaving the greatest long-term value creation on the table,” Barber said.
The birth of this newest investment fund continues significant trends in the VC universe. Increasingly, investors are looking to put their capital in stalwart industries such as real estate, insurance and, in this case, food and agriculture. Blue Apron, Lemonade, and Cadre are but a few that come to mind — and some of the most heavily-funded startups in recent NYC tech history. Feldman points to the power of the slow-food movement, which has spent the last few years rapidly gaining speed.
“The [slow-food] movement has proven itself to be more than a movement, and more than local — it’s national, but hyper-localized,” she explained. Companies who embody this spirit are sure to remain on Almanac’s radar.
Busy schedules, tight budgets and concerns for the environment are changing the way individuals think about food. Firms such as Almanac, which help industry-transforming ideas get off the ground, may just shape the future of what’s on your plate.
