Jesse & Ben’s Secures Funding, Expands Retail Footprint

Frozen french fry brand Jesse & Ben’s House Cut has secured a “seven-figure” investment round to support its expanded retail footprint.

The undisclosed, oversubscribed seed round is the first institutional funding for the Washington D.C.-based brand. The “party round,” as co-founder and CEO Jesse Konig called it, brought in a diverse pool of strategic partners like Willow Growth Partners, BrandProject, Midnight Venture Partners, Supernatural Ventures, Siddhi Capital, grt sht ventures, Olipop investor Carter Comstock, Orgain founder Andrew Abraham, and content maker couple Lauryn and Michael Bosstick.

“No one’s coming in with $10,000 or $25,000 checks; they’re all generally wanting to have some skin in the game,” Konig added.

Jesse & Ben’s self-manufactures its beef tallow and avocado oil fried potatoes. The funding round needed to come together quickly to support inventory growth for the two national placements – Sprouts Farmers Market and Whole Foods Market – secured in December and January.

“It was a bit of an overwhelming process,” Konig told Nosh. “We had to get our ducks in a row very quickly. We went out to start our fundraising process in February and had it all wrapped up in May, including the due diligence and all the other ridiculous parts of the process that usually take a long time.”

A little over a year since its launch, Jesse & Ben’s will now be in over 1,500 retail doors, including Sprouts, Whole Foods and Fresh Thyme. The brand is also now available on Thrive Market, which allows Jesse & Ben’s to reach consumers where a retail partner is unavailable.

College friends and entrepreneurial partners Konig and Ben Johnson didn’t initially intend to disrupt “Big Potato’s” hold on the frozen fries category, but has found there is a hungry consumer base for seed oil- and additive-free options. The brand currently makes three SKUs – Classic Sea Salt, Rosemary Garlic and Tallow & Sea Salt – available in 14 oz. bags.

As part of its retail expansion, the brand is investing in its sourcing, manufacturing and inventory as it opens up 20 new distribution centers.

The brand has found a “groundswell” of interest, particularly in organic social media posts, which has fueled its growth so far, Konig said.

“The interest stems from people seeking simpler foods where they can read the back of the bag and understand every ingredient. There’s certainly some die-hard people who are just trying to get access to a fun nostalgia food, like a french fry, that meets their needs without using things like ultraprocessed seed oils.”