National Honey Board
The National Honey Board is proud to announce the Honey20, a list of made with honey alcoholic beverages that have impacted our drinking experiences for the last 200+ years.
When we founded Golden Coast Mead 10 years ago, we decided that making a positive impact was just as important as growing our brand. We also knew that quality products start with quality ingredients.
We’ve never lost sight of these simple philosophies. That’s why every step of the way, we’ve worked to incorporate regenerative farming and pollinator protectors (beekeepers) into our production process.
Mead is one of the oldest fermented beverages. It even predates beer and wine! Now we’re in a place where we’re ready to take on the next fad, with our responsible, environmentally ethical Golden Coast twist. We’re entering the $4.4 billion global hard seltzer market with a magical new honey-based mead seltzer.
If our lifetime $2.2 million in mead sales is any indication, we think we’ll be hearing it for the bees for a long time to come.
The Problem
Catering to the healthy drinker, hard seltzers have recently become the belle of the ball, attracting legions of fans across all segments of society.
Yet for all the billboards and streamed ads selling this version or that of hard seltzer, we believe these brands have become all but indistinguishable, all made from the same environmentally detrimental corn or cane sugar.
The Solution
For us, it’s all about the honey, honey, and our mission is to light up people's lives and regenerate the earth. Our delicious mead seltzer is gluten-free, preservative-free, cane and corn sugar-free.
Environmentally friendly mead doesn’t require ripping up nature to produce the sugar source at the base of the alcohol. Our sugar is made by bees, and we attend to our relationship with bees with the utmost respect and care.
The Market
In 2019, hard seltzer sales grew more than 220% with the global market being valued at $4.4 billion, even as total beer sales grew less than 1% in the same year. Hard seltzer sales are expected to reach $6.5 billion by 2024.
This boom aligns with recent health-conscious trends, as well as the overall market’s desire for innovation in the alcohol industry and excitement about craft breweries.
We believe this is a meaningful opportunity for investors to not only be a part of a trend but also to treat the earth with equally opportunistic value creation through improved ecosystems.
Our Traction
We have been handcrafting our meads in North County, San Diego since 2010. In that time, we’ve created 350+ new recipes and sold more than 200,000 bottles of mead. We’ve closed three separate private fundraising rounds (raised as convertible notes) with more than 38 investors.
In 2020, during the pandemic with over half our revenue streams shut down,we still saw $200,000 overall in sales. Now, after soft-launching our Hard Honey Seltzer at the end of last year, it’s already sold in more than a dozen stores across Southern California. We are confident this is the formula to take Golden Coast Mead to the next level - selling across the Western US and Internationally.
As we expand throughout the U.S., we have secured a contract for an exclusive distributor that will help us successfully launch in chain retail stores (e.g., Whole Foods). Our plan is to do this by Q3 of 2021.
With this raise, we plan to continue expanding our reach in the seltzer market, pushing our products to new accounts, regions, and people who have eagerly been awaiting our arrival!
What We Do
The average lifespan of a honeybee during the work season is about six weeks. Throughout its lifetime, one bee will make just 1/12 teaspoon of honey.
Bees work hard, of course, flying around 8 hours per day collecting nectar from 50-100 flowers. Twelve bees spending eight hours a day, seven days a week for six weeks to create just one teaspoon of this valuable golden syrup. Let’s say they work for California minimum wage, $14 per bee-hour. At 4,032 hours, that means the labor alone costs $56,448 per teaspoon.
Now, there are 27 teaspoons of honey in a 355ml can of our Hard Honey Seltzer. Delicate work in each can.
So how valuable is this delicate producer for our life as stewards of the landscapes? Priceless.
That’s why we take our work so seriously. And now we’re taking our values around protecting the environment—and the bees who serve it—even further as we work to start an organic “Honey Bee Sanctuary” in California.
Because ultimately, we believe that by building up the mead industry, we can create more demand for high-quality, ecologically responsible honey that will help regenerate the beekeeping industry.
The Business Model
We intend to sell our Hard Honey Seltzer to popular off-premise locations, such as grocery stores including Whole Foods and Sprouts, as well as on-premises locations (i.e., local restaurants and bars).
How We Are Different
Our industry competitors use fermentable sugars from corn, cane sugar, and grain, a commercially mass-produced monoculture taken from the earth over and over without ever giving anything back.
Our seltzers’ fermentable sugar is organic honey: the essence of thousands of flowers in a single sip. This alternative to environmentally damaging monoculture sugar is not only regenerative and increases biodiversity: to make more mead, all you need is more bees visiting more biodiverse flowering ecosystems.
The Vision
In three years, we hope to find ourselves deeply rooted in on- and off-premise locations throughout both the West and East Coasts.
As we expand, we intend to continue using hyperlocal ingredients—honey born of flowers and botanicals to create flavors that reflect unique geo locations around the world. We truly believe we are only at the beginning of the flavors and products we can offer.
In the future, we also hope to have an entire estate with a full floral and fruit garden for a tasting room, restaurant, and events, in addition to a world-class production site.
OUR LEADERSHIP
Golden Coast Mead Founder and former Naval Officer Frank Golbeck has more than 15 years of experience making the finest meads with the finest ingredients.
CEO Andrew Maffey has spent 10+ years in organizational leadership and is a seasoned hand with High Growth CPG experience. For example, as the Director of Business Operations and Development at Boochcraft Hard Kombucha, he facilitated 2x growth in revenue and a $5 million raise.
Why Invest
Do it for the bees. Or do it for the mead. Whatever the reason you choose to invest in Golden Coast Mead, though, know that you’re contributing to something larger than a seltzer.
The National Honey Board is proud to announce the Honey20, a list of made with honey alcoholic beverages that have impacted our drinking experiences for the last 200+ years.
Gold Medal 2020 - 93 Points. Golden Coast Mead, Something Something Sour Mead
San Diego Mead Makers - Golden Coast Mead: Oceanside (Est. 2010)
Breakout Brewer: Golden Coast Mead
This ancient booze is now growing faster than US craft beer
Need for Mead: For some of the country's best, go west
Company | : | Golden Coast Mead, Inc. |
Corporate Address | : | 4089 Oceanside Blvd. Suite H, Oceanside, CA 92056 |
Offering Minimum | : | $9,999.00 |
Offering Maximum | : | $1,069,997.50 |
Minimum Investment Amount(per investor) | : | $137.50 |
Offering Type | : | Equity |
Security Name | : | Common Stock |
Minimum Number of Shares Offered | : | 3,636 |
Maximum Number of Shares Offered | : | 389,090 |
Price per Share | : | $2.75 |
Pre-Money Valuation | : | $6,995,131.00 |
Voting Rights of Securities Sold in this Offering
Voting Proxy. Each Subscriber shall appoint the Chief Executive Officer of the Company (the “CEO”), or his or her successor, as the Subscriber’s true and lawful proxy and attorney, with the power to act alone and with full power of substitution, to, consistent with this instrument and on behalf of the Subscriber, (i) vote all Securities, (ii) give and receive notices and communications, (iii) execute any instrument or document that the CEO determines is necessary or appropriate in the exercise of its authority under this instrument, and (iv) take all actions necessary or appropriate in the judgment of the CEO for the accomplishment of the foregoing. The proxy and power granted by the Subscriber pursuant to this Section are coupled with an interest. Such proxy and power will be irrevocable. The proxy and power, so long as the Subscriber is an individual, will survive the death, incompetency and disability of the Subscriber and, so long as the Subscriber is an entity, will survive the merger or reorganization of the Subscriber or any other entity holding the Securities. However, the Proxy will terminate upon the closing of a firm-commitment underwritten public offering pursuant to an effective registration statement under the Securities Act of 1933 covering the offer and sale of Common Stock or the effectiveness of a registration statement under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 covering the Common Stock.
Investment Incentives and Bonuses*
*Maximum Number of Shares Offered subject to adjustment for bonus shares. See Bonus info below.
Time-Based:
Friends and Family Early Birds
Invest within the first 48 hours and receive additional 20% Bonus Shares.
Super Early Bird Bonus
Invest within the first week and receive additional 15% Bonus Shares.
Early Bird Bonus
Invest within the first two weeks and receive an additional 10% Bonus Shares.
Amount-Based:
$250+ |Drinks on the House!
$25 drink credit online and in the tasting room + Access to special promos.
$500+ | Golden Coast Mead Owners’ Bonus
$50 drink credit online and in the tasting room + Bespoke Business Owner Bee Pendant + Access to special promos.
$1000+ | Colony Member + 10% off for life!
2% bonus shares + 10% off tasting room for life + Invite to Grand Opening + 2 Golden Coast Chalices + Access to special promos.
$2,500+ | Hive Society Member
5% bonus shares + Invite to Farm to Table Dinner + 15% off tasting room for life + Invite to Grand Opening + 2 Golden Coast Chalices + Access to special promos.
$5,000+ | Apiary Member
10% bonus shares + Invite to Farm to Table Dinner + 15% off tasting room for life + Invite to Grand Opening + 2 Golden Coast Chalices + Access to special promos.
$10,000+ | Beekeeper
Custom mead party for 20 people at your location in Southern, CA or our location + 15% Bonus Shares + Invite to Farm to Table Dinner + 15% off tasting room for life + Invite to Grand Opening + 2 Golden Coast Chalices + Access to special promos. Cost of mead and staffing not to exceed $1,000.
*All perks occur when the offering is completed.
The 10% StartEngine Owners' Bonus
Golden Coast Mead, Inc. will offer 10% additional bonus shares for all investments that are committed by investors that are eligible for the StartEngine Crowdfunding Inc. OWNer's bonus.
This means eligible StartEngine shareholders will receive a 10% bonus for any shares they purchase in this offering. For example, if you buy 100 shares of Common Stock at $2.75 / share, you will receive 10 additional shares of Common Stock, meaning you'll own 110 shares for $275. Fractional shares will not be distributed and share bonuses will be determined by rounding down to the nearest whole share.
This 10% Bonus is only valid during the investors eligibility period. Investors eligible for this bonus will also have priority if they are on a waitlist to invest and the company surpasses its maximum funding goal. They will have the first opportunity to invest should room in the offering become available if prior investments are cancelled or fail.
Investors will only receive a single bonus, which will be the highest bonus rate they are eligible for.
A crowdfunding investment involves risk. You should not invest any funds in this offering unless you can afford to lose your entire investment. In making an investment decision, investors must rely on their own examination of the issuer and the terms of the offering, including the merits and risks involved. These securities have not been recommended or approved by any federal or state securities commission or regulatory authority. Furthermore, these authorities have not passed upon the accuracy or adequacy of this document. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission does not pass upon the merits of any securities offered or the terms of the offering, nor does it pass upon the accuracy or completeness of any offering document or literature. These securities are offered under an exemption from registration; however, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has not made an independent determination that these securities are exempt from registration.
As with everything else in the world, 2021 had its hard points.
We are happy to be here today in 2022 and report on the big wins from 2021 for Golden Coast Mead.
Production in 2021
- We produced 19,314 Cans of Hard Honey Seltzer for our Made Mead Brand; up 84% from the 10,488 Cans in 2020.
- We created 28 New Mead Recipes; up 100% from the 14 New Mead Recipes in 2020.
- We produced 16,942 Liters of Mead; up 33% from the 12,720 Liters of Mead in 2020.
Sales in 2021
- We are distributed in 72 retail accounts across Southern California; up 1,340% from the 5 retail accounts in 2020.
- We became the exclusive Hard Honey Seltzer or Mead in 3 locations; up 300% from the 1 Exclusive Partner in 2020.
- We generated ~$328,779 in Revenue; up 48% from the $222,163 in Revenue in 2020.
We look to continue all the growth trends in 2022, with the support of this campaign and a lot of great people in the right places doing the hard work.
Here's to an exciting year ahead. 🥂
We are so thankful for each and everyone of you. 🙏🐝
WOW - We are tremendously honored to be the Regenerative, Better-For-You, and the Environment Investment Strategy for so many.
There is a lot of ground we covered to get here and we are excited to share in the success of 2021 with all of you. Gratitude 🙏🐝
For example, this Holiday Season has been a shaping up to be a BANNER MONTH for us:
- All Year High Monthly Online Sales
- All Year High Monthly Mead Club Members
- All Year High Month over Month Tasting Room Sales
- 2 new Farmers Market sales locations added (7 Total); All Year High!
Here is to you!
Stay tuned as we wrap 2021 shortly, and give you a peek of whats to come in 2022!
Invest Now to be a part of the team before the campaign closes!
Hello there Investors! Exciting update as we draw near and end of an epic 2022:
- We have increased our Monthly Mead Members Club to an all time high, and up 30% on the quarter! Keep encouraging any friends or family to join and we will ship for free!
- We have extended our Start Engine Campaign to January 7th, 2022 in order to capture the end of the year investors
To those that have pending investments, you will need to login to your account reconfirm their investment by Dec 13th at 11:59 pm PST.
We are grateful for everyone who is ordering Mead as a gift during these holidays (especially the one who went to an entire office). Don't forget to share how what they are tasting is sunshine in bottle goodness!
Cheers 🐝☀️😊👍
[The following is an automated notice from the StartEngine team].
Hello! Recently, a change was made to the Golden Coast Mead offering. Here's an excerpt describing the specifics of the change:
Campaign is extending offering by 60 days.
When live offerings undergo changes like these on StartEngine, the SEC requires that certain investments be reconfirmed. If your investment requires reconfirmation, you will be contacted by StartEngine via email with further instructions.
We have been hard at work hitting a goal of increasing our accounts from 35, to 100! A 180% increase!
Here is a quick highlight real of our expansion from the San Diego market, all the way up the coast to Santa Barbara, hitting locations in Newport Beach and Huntington Beach along the way.
Thank you for your continued support!
Stay tuned for our recent push into the nightclub experience with our premium Hard Honey Seltzer exclusive residency.
Cheers!
[The following is an automated notice from the StartEngine team].
Hello!
As you might know, Golden Coast Mead has exceeded its minimum funding goal. When a company reaches its minimum on StartEngine, it's about to begin withdrawing funds. If you invested in Golden Coast Mead be on the lookout for an email that describes more about the disbursement process.
This campaign will continue to accept investments until its indicated closing date.
Thanks for funding the future.
-StartEngine
Founder Frank was highlighted in our San Diego 'Out & About' section, with an amazing video to boot!
Exciting news coming soon, regarding our sales team expansion across Southern California.
Like most of us, you're probably alarmed by the rising immediacy of climate change impact. We're just in mid August, and California already suffers from the 2nd largest fire in its history! Farms and food supply are severely affected by the drought.
It's critical to be efficient with water.
Mead and Hard Honey Seltzer arguably make the most efficient use of water to make a ridiculously good alcohol, compared to any traditional alcohol when you consider no irrigation is needed to produce whats in our product (Honey) and their fermentable sugars (Fruit, Grain, Corn & Cane).
Check out our Founder Frank's pitch of this StartEngine Campaign with the Food Funded team, and feel encouraged to check out the other companies working to make an impact.
Over the last several weeks we were featured by a neighboring B-Corp business that focuses on sustainability and better-for-you consumer package goods; Mamma Chia!
Certainly, this phase of reaching into our community resources is an important step to reaching consumers who have yet to try our meads! We have several more cross-pollination announcements lined up, and we are always open for more 👍.
Let us know if you have a favorite local business that might benefit from our mission, vision, values, and product!
Feel encouraged to send an email to info@goldencoastmead.com with your inputs 😊
With the above art, we were able to capture on our social media campaigns, interactions that outperformed 90% of our recent posts ...it also helped that it was for the International Mead Day (Always the First Saturday in August)
Mead Day for Golden Coast Mead meant a lot of things:
- Increased traffic at our Oceanside Tasting Room
- Increased consumer awareness
- Increased camaraderie among mead makers
To the last point, our Founder, Frank Golbeck was invited, presented, and shared Golden Coast Mead's story with 3 different virtual celebrations:
- Golden Coast Mead was selected to represent the USA as mead maker of choice on a world mead day presentation across 6 continents
- As co-founder and board member, Frank held a Q&A with fellow professional and homebrewer mead makers alike
- Finally, a tasting and appreciation session with members
We hope you had an incredible weekend as Meadery owners yourselves!
Feel encouraged to share Golden Coast Mead and Hard Honey Seltzer, as more & more people commit to celebrating regeneratively 🐝🥂☀️🍯
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