A San Francisco-based alternative protein startup that developed vegetarian "bacon" strips for at-home cooking is shutting down after failing to generate enough sales.
There's likely enough of the alternative bacon inventory that Hooray Foods' bacon will be sold in stores "for the next few months," the company said on Sept. 7 via Facebook and Instagram posts where it announced the decision to shut down.
"After four years on the market and over 5 million bacon strips made, we have come to the difficult decision to cease our business operations," Hooray's social media posts said. "We reached our goal of national distribution in grocery stores and restaurants; however, the economics of running a company of this size simply do not match our revenue, and we are unable to continue producing our product for sale."
Hooray Foods had raised nearly $6.3 million since 2020, according to PitchBook, including a crowdfunding round through WeFunder.
Its investors included AirAngels, Gaingels, Lyra Growth Partners, One World, Plug and Play Tech Center, San Hill Angels, Evolution VC Partners, Kale United, Stray Dog Capital and several angel investors.
The company was aiming to raise $500,000 through the WeFunder campaign which launched at the beginning of 2023, founder and CEO Sri Artham told me at the time.
It only raised $100,000 through WeFunder, according to PitchBook.
Hooray Foods didn't respond to a request for comment.
In February, Artham told me that, if the WeFunder campaign wasn't successful, his options would include seeking more capital from the company's existing investors or looking for additional ways to trim its operational costs.
"We have current investors who might be willing to invest more. We also look at trimming costs more so we can get to break even faster. Those are probably the two main avenues," Artham said at that time.
The company had already reduced its research and development team "significantly" last year, had paused new capital expenditures and was considering subleasing some of its San Francisco facility, Artham also previously told me.
Artham founded Hooray Foods in 2019 and originally planned to launch through restaurant partners. However, the pandemic derailed that plan and he pivoted to retail. By the fall of 2020, Hooray Foods was being sold in Whole Foods.
The company had half a dozen employees, according to LinkedIn.
Customers lamented Hooray's closure on social media, including Canadian Olympic figure skating champion Meagan Duhamel, who commented on Hooray Food's Instagram post.
"Nooo!! I’ve just discovered your product and travel from Canada to the USA to buy tons of it every month! This makes me sad," Duhamel wrote.
Last week, Hooray Foods subsequently posted instructions that people can follow to recreate its alternative bacon at home. The recipe uses rice flour, tapioca starch, coconut oil, beet juice, umami powder, maple syrup and liquid smoke.
In August, another San Francisco alternative protein startup began winding down operations. Nowadays had been developing plant-based "chicken" nuggets that were made from yellow pea protein and wheat flour. It was founded in 2020 and had raised $9.75 million before announcing that the company was ceasing operations.
And in July, alternative dairy producer Perfect Day laid off more than 130 workers and folded its consumer business in order to focus entirely on its B2B operations.
