Everything Legendary Raises $6M to Democratize Plant-Based Eating

Plant-based protein brand Everything Legendary announced today the closing of a $6 million round of capital led by CircleUp with participation by General Mills’ investment group 301 Inc and entrepreneur Mark Cuban. As part of the transaction, record executive Russell Simmons joined the team as a senior advisor.

The round represents the company’s first institutional capital. Up until now, the brand was “bootstrapped – with no boots on,” said co-founder Duane “Myko” Cheers.

“We were getting to the point where our hustle was getting us in a lot of rooms,” COO Vince Parker said. “Duane has talked us in, sold us in, to deals and things that are before us that we weren’t capitalized in a way where we could [say yes.].”

Who is Everything Legendary?

The Maryland-based company was founded in early 2021 by Cheers, Danita Claytor, and Chef Jumoke Jackson after Cheers and Claytor saw their parents struggle with health issues. Begun as a series of pop-ups, the Black-owned company entered retail in April 2021 – just after an appearance on Shark Tank that February which netted them $300,000 from Cuban.

Now, 10 months later, the brand’s plant-based meat alternatives are sold in 1500 stores including Safeway, Acme, Giant, Target, Ralphs, Kings and Balduccis, with Sprouts, Meijer, and Publix coming online in early 2022. Cheers said he has occasionally taken a renegade approach to gaining this distribution and getting in front of buyers.

“I did research on all the different category managers, and I just went inside the office and said, ‘Hey, I have burgers for Scott, Brian, you know, Amber, everybody,’” Cheers said. When the front desk admin tried to call the recipients, Cheers told her “No, you don’t, if you call them, you’re gonna get fired. They’re in the meeting right now…I don’t want you to lose your job.”

The brand currently sells plant-based patties, vegan cheeseburger patties and a ground meat alternative. Cheers said Everything Legendary instead focuses on having a shorter list of easy to understand ingredients. The emphasis on accessibility carries over to the brand’s marketing, where the company largely focuses on taste and brand ethos over messages around sustainability.

“If you look at this space, on one end, there are scientists. On the other end, there are Fortune 500 guys. And in the middle, there’s Everything Legendary,” Cheers said. “Veganism or eating healthy has never been sexy before — it’s never had any swag to it, never had any culture to it. We’re coming into this market, and we had to disrupt it and show that eating healthy can finally be cool.”

What’s the Funding For?

With an expected expansion into roughly 4,000 stores by summer 2022, the company knows it will need to invest in sales and marketing. While digital marketing will remain key, Everything Legendary also plans to also play to its pop-up roots and hire a street team to help conduct sampling. Still, Parker said, the company doesn’t need to invest as much into marketing, or ”put on airs,” because the founding team authentically resonates with its shoppers.

“We accomplished all of the environmental goals, we care about animal welfare deeply, we care about health disparities of course, coming from the communities that we come from,” Parker said. “All those things are important. But we feel like the best way to accomplish those [goals] is that the food has to taste amazing so it’s rapidly accepted across communities that normally would reject it and normally are rejecting all the other [options].”

The company also plans to launch new alt-meat products like sausage, boneless wings, and breakfast patties in the months to come, as well as move into new categories, such as condiments.

Why Circle Up Invested?

Though there is plenty of competition in the plant-based meat category, CircleUp Managing Director Karen Howland said she believes there’s still room for differentiated products, noting that there is a particular opportunity for brands that resonate with Black consumers.

“African Americans are the fastest growing group of vegans in the U.S., a trend that Everything Legendary can benefit from as a Black-owned business when it comes to building brand credibility and trust with consumers,” CircleUp wrote in a statement about the investment shared with NOSH. “Everything Legendary also puts their team photo and story right on the packaging, making it easy for the consumer to buy into their great story, which is paramount as we see consumers increasingly demonstrate loyalty to the brands that align with their values.”

Though Everything Legendary does emphasize the taste of its burgers, Howland said that taste can be subjective, so the firm also looked at purchasing data. The fact that retailers consistently reordered, she said, and that the line has stronger sell-through rates compared to other plant-based options “provides reassurance to us.” Despite raising less capital than Impossible Foods had at this point, CircleUp noted in its statement, Everything Legendary has matched the brand’s distribution growth at this point in its development.

“It’s worth noting that many of the brands on par or ahead of them have raised millions of dollars in VC financing to spend on marketing and brand building,” CircleUp noted. “We are optimistic about what [Everything Legendary’s] performance can look like as they invest in themselves, expand their retail footprint and move into new channels and markets.”