Burlington, Iowa · Investor overview

Chasity's Garden

A farm-to-fork bistro, hot take-out meals and frozen meal prep, and a subscription brand that ships nationwide.

The concept

One clean kitchen, three ways to sell

The Bistro

Breakfast and lunch in a restored downtown building. Mornings and afternoons, all organic and locally grown vegetables, fruits and meats.

Frozen pickup

Premade frozen meals, picked up at the bistro to heat and serve at home.

Ecommerce

A separate subscription brand that markets the meals online, local and nationwide.

Farm to fork, nothing added

The food

Farm to fork, nothing added

  • Organic
  • Locally grown
  • Free of pesticides
  • Free of preservatives

The same standard runs through the bistro menu, the frozen meals and the ecommerce line.

La Bohème aesthetic, bistro format

The bistro

La Bohème aesthetic, bistro format

Reminiscent of La Bohème, run as a bistro rather than a bar.

Service

Breakfast and lunch. Pickup and online.

Build-out

4–6 months restoring the building and fitting upgraded equipment.

The Monday gap

Open on Mondays!

Many local restaurants close Sundays and Mondays. We'll serve breakfast and lunch on Monday, filling the gap and building the brand.

Pickup and ecommerce: Meal Prep Cubes

Freezer to sous vide to table

Popped out of trays
Popped out of trays
Assembled into delicious meals
Assembled into delicious meals

Why freeze food in components

Zero flavor fatigue

Freeze a complete dish and you lose the chance to adjust it to what you're craving. Freezing in components lets you mix and match, so you get more variety and less of the same dish again and again.

Precision portioning

Freezing food in portioned Souper Cubes trays lets you reheat the exact amount of each component of your meal.

Rapid assembly

The components are already cooked, so you aren't cooking dinner. You're assembling and reheating it. Your meal is ready in under 7 minutes.

The ecommerce engine

Subscription, shipped nationwide

Levels out seasonality

Online subscription revenue doesn't depend on local foot traffic.

Extends the market

Takes the food and the brand nationwide.

Its own brand

A dedicated ecommerce brand: [Brand and brand name in process].

Proven operator

Mark & Chasity helped grow BiOptimizers from $5.7M to $79M (2025). Targeting $98M (2026).

Behind the counter - Operations Software

Recipe and label studio: Chasity's software dev.

Screenshot of the Clean Kitchen Recipe Studio feature list

USDA nutrient data

Every Meal's Macro's and Ingredient Sources

FDA-Legal labels

Nutrition Facts, ingredients, allergens.

Easy QR sharing

For menus and packaging - Easy, Fast Inventory Management.

Year 1 projection

First Year Storefront Math

$12

average ticket (competitive & profitable)

50

customers per day

5

days per week

$156k+

gross revenue

$66k

profit after overhead and COGS

$12 × 50 customers × 5 days × 52 weeks = $156,000. Ecommerce revenue not included.

The Meal Prep Market Opportunity - National Brands

Meal kits and prepared meal subscription services at scale

#CompanyLaunchedLatest known revenueGrowth story (launch → today)Status today
1HelloFresh (Group)2012 (US)$7.3B (2025, global)€2M (2012) → €6.76B (2025) = ~3,380x growth (338,000%). Peaked at €7.7B in 2024 before intentionally shrinking for profitability in 2025Public (FWB: HFG), world's largest meal-kit company
2Factor (Factor75)2013~$2B (2024, est. — HelloFresh's ready-to-eat segment)$100M (2020, acquisition year) → ~$2B (2024 est.) = ~20x (1,900%) in 4 years — HelloFresh's fastest-growing brandOwned by HelloFresh since 2020 ($277M deal)
3Home Chef2013$1B+ (confirmed 2021; Kroger stopped breaking it out since)From a rented delivery truck to $1B+ in 8 yearsOwned by Kroger since 2018
4Hungryroot2015$700M (2025)$237M (2022) → $333M (2023) → $700M (2025) = +195% in 3 years; founder-bootstrapped to near-unicorn scalePrivate, profitable, reportedly eyeing an IPO
5Blue Apron2012$458M (2022, last full public year); peak was $881M (2017)$77M (2014) → $881M (2017) = +1,044% (11.4x), then −48% decline from peak by 2022Taken private by Wonder Group in 2023 for just $103M
6Marley Spoon (+ Dinnerly)2014$355M (2023, global)€401M (2022) → €328.5M (2023) = −18% decline YoYPublic (ASX: MMM), shrinking
7Daily Harvest2015~$200–250M (estimate; not disclosed)Bootstrapped → hundreds of millions in revenue; reached $1.1B valuation in 2021Acquired by Chobani, May 2025
8Sunbasket2014~$158M (estimate)Grew at a reported 80% CAGR (2016–2019) off $125M+ in fundingPrivate, still operating
9Green Chef2014~$60M/year at acquisition (2018); current figures folded into HelloFresh and undisclosedFounded in Boulder → acquired after raising just $15.5MOwned by HelloFresh since 2018

3–5 year outlook

Where the combined business can go

$1.2M–$2M+

Average annual sales at each of Chasity's former restaurants. She is a domain expert at achieving these numbers.

We don't expect that from the Jefferson Street storefront alone. We believe we will significantly outperform these numbers with ecommerce.

In-restaurant

Frozen pickup

Ecommerce subscription

Combined

We believe all three together could grow to that level in the next 3–5 years, possibly faster.

Timeline

From local restoration to national rollout

Months 1–6

Restore and equip

4–6 months restoring the building, fitting upgraded equipment and building the La Bohème-style interior and exterior + indoor/outdoor dining.

Opening

Bistro and pickup

Breakfast and lunch, Monday service, and frozen meals for pickup.

months 9-12

Ecommerce brand

Subscription meals frozen, packed, marketed and shipped nationwide.

The team

Chasity Myers and Mark Effinger

Our combined history covers restaurants, ecommerce, marketing, branding and product development, including edible supplements, healthy baked goods and delicious, experiential non-alcoholic drinks.

Our history and passion lean into this opportunity.

Chasity and Mark at Vitafoods EuropeChasity holding a BiOptimizers product in a retail store
Chasity Myers

Culinary and operations

Chasity Myers

5-Star chef · Yum! Brands operations executive

3,000+

employees managed

89

stores as Director of Operations

~$130M

annual revenue P&L

$3M+/yr

products she developed for BiOptimizers

  • Has performed every task in the restaurant world
  • Built performance systems for restaurant teams
  • Trained thousands, including company executives
  • Ground-up builds and remodels, dozens of stores at once
  • Expert in food cost, FDA and OSHA requirements
  • Seasoned chef, flavorist, shelf-stability scientist
Mark Effinger

Ecommerce and brand

Mark Effinger

Chief Product Officer, BiOptimizers
CPO and Cofounder, Nootopia

18

companies launched since 1986

2

grew to Inc. 500 status

$79M

BiOptimizers in 2025, grown from $5.7M

28 years

in ecommerce

  • Last startup acquired by BiOptimizers in 2021 (WebNutrients)
  • Developed one of the first ecommerce shopping carts (1998–2000)
  • Responsible for BiOptimizers product development
  • 80% of my startups were bootstrapped to profitability
  • Moved to Burlington to make a positive impact on our city

The market

Built to stand on its own

Independent of Burlington

The ecommerce brand reaches customers nationwide, so the concept doesn't rely on local demand alone.

Local upside

The planned steel foundry in Weaver may prove to be a boon to Burlington. We intend to leverage this event into sustainable growth.

A local fixture

A sustainable presence on par with SOM, The Drake, Beancounter, Thyme & Spice, La Boheme and Martini's.

Upstairs apartment living room with tall windowsUpstairs apartment kitchen under renovation

Bonus Revenue Source

Upstairs apartment

The financial offset to the $175,000 building/restaurant acquisition.

$850/mo

Competitive rental income

$1,650/mo

Loan payment with PITI and flood insurance

-$800/mo

Remaining mortgage payment after rent

The cash equation

$50,000

Available by refinancing the 115 N 4th building to a conventional loan.
Increases balance from $118,000 @ $2,990/mo to
~$200,000 @ $2,220/mo.
Current gross lease income: $3,450/mo.

Use of fundsAmount
Building restoration and interior$6,900
Upgraded kitchen equipment$23,000
Frozen meal production and packaging$3,200
Ecommerce brand launch$1,900
Working capital$15,000
Total$50,000
Let's build this together.

Chasity's Garden

Let's build this together.

Chasity Myers and Mark Effinger

ExitPath@gmail.com

360.433.1525 (txt and phone)

Burlington, Iowa