Feast & Fettle, the East Providence-based startup that delivers family-style meals directly to subscribers, has raised $1.2 million in a seed round as it gears up to expand in Massachusetts and Connecticut.
The round was led by Salem Capital Management, the family office of Paul Salem, who is also senior managing director emeritus at Providence Equity Partners and chairman at MGM Resorts. The funding will immediately go toward three things: expanding Feast & Fettle's kitchen facility in East Providence, which is already underway; opening a new kitchen in southern Connecticut; and hiring about 20 new employees to work on marketing, growth and technical operations.
Feast & Fettle recently hired a new corporate executive chef, Tim Meyers, who was previously the executive chef at Ocean House Management.
Since the spring, Feast & Fettle has been acting as a distribution partner for local businesses like Wrights Farm and Seven Stars Bakery. That additional service was originally launched to help independently owned restaurants and food providers that had been slammed by the Covid-19 pandemic, but CEO Carlos Ventura said he plans to keep it as a feature for subscribers.
"It's just been a rollercoaster this year," Ventura said. "We've done contactless delivery for a while, so we're very comfortable with that concept, but our members are now very much aware, and our service became, for some folks, more of a need. I think what Covid did was accelerate the macroeconomic trend of people wanting more convenience."
Ventura said Feast & Fettle has quadrupled orders since the beginning of the year and hired new kitchen staff and delivery drivers to meet the new demand. The startup now employs 35 people.
Officially launched in 2016, Feast & Fettle offers mix-and-matchable entrees and side dishes, designed to be served family-style. Some sample dishes include sesame seared tuna with cold pea salad, pistachio-crusted cod and a fall kale and cabbage salad.
A four-person family plan ranges from $140 to $220 per week. There are also singles and couples plans available.
Now, Feast & Fettle wants to expand across New England. The startup has offered its delivery service in Massachusetts since July 2019 but has yet to launch in Greater Boston — a "very big" potential market, Ventura said. The kitchen expansion should enable Feast & Fettle to establish a customer base there. It will also enable delivery four days a week: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, rather than the startup's current Monday-Wednesday schedule.
As Feast & Fettle grows, its next challenge will be to find new distribution partners in order to keep a "local flair," Ventura said.
"The long-term goal is to continue to grow this company very fast but, at the same time, keep it local," Ventura said. "Scaling while keeping it local is a challenge. When we go to Connecticut, unless Seven Stars Bakery decides to open a facility in Connecticut, we have to find a new bakery partner. We have to tell our story to the people in Connecticut."
