Dance with The Gallivanting Goat
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This is a work in progress...
The Gallivanting Goat, LLC started as a way to make a few extra dollars while I was working at a low paying job while I was job hunting for a "real" job near Glacier National Park (GNP) in Montana. My Mom has Carolyn's Cafe in Hungry Horse, Montana. Huckleberries are a wonderful wild fruit here (cannot domesticate the plant) and is widely sold. The problem is most companies producing huck jam with the primary ingredient sugar or a 1:1 ratio of berries to sugar. I developed my own recipe with a very high ratio of berries to sugar (low-sugar) while allowing the robust flavor of the tart berry to flower.
I started selling syrup and jam out of my Mom's cafe. It really started selling well. I'm now selling it out of three different retail locations.
I originally started with the name Carolyn's to leverage the popularity of her cafe on Yelp and Tripadvisor. I've since had the logo developed (pic included) and named renamed the brand The Gallivanting Goat, LLC.
Why The Gallivanting Goat? After Carolyn's I chose The Purple Mountain Goat. Purple to reflect the color of the huckleberries and the goat as a mascot since we are just outside of Glacier National Park and the park mascot is a mountain goat (similar to Yellostones bear mascot). I've named him The Huckleberry Kid (get it? Goat... Kid...) Anyway....
Now while the name was still The Purple Mountain Goat I was explaining that the logo was more cartoonish than I expected. I asked, "Who has ever seen a mountain goat kicking their front legs in the air"? His response, "Nobody"!
IN YOUR FACE MY FRIEND... The next day The Daily Interlake published a real photograph of a mountain goat in Glacier National Park on their front page kicking his front feet in their. Perfectly mirroring my logo. The headline of the photo/article was "The Gallivanting Goat". Hence my new company name. I have a copy of the newspaper pic I'll gladly send you if you contact me here.
In the background of the logo is the most technical of mountains to climb in Glacier National Park - Mount Saint Nicholas. Serious - you can look it up here:
http://www.summitpost.org/mount-saint-nicholas-mt/151136
I currently make the following condiments in various sizes including 1.5oz, 8oz, and 16 oz sizes:
-Huckleberry Jam
-Huckleberry/Lemon Jam
-Huckleberry/Pinot Jam
-Huckleberry Dessert Topping
-Huckleberry/Pinot Dessert Topping
-Huckleberry Syrup (8 fl oz and 12 fl oz)
I'm currently testing the following combination flavors:
-Sugar Free Huckleberry Jam
_Sugar Free Huckleberry Syrup
-Huckleberry/Mint
-Huckleberry/Bourbon
-Huckleberry/Mojito
-Huckleberry/Spice
-Huckleberry/Lime
-Huckleberry Honey Lavender
-Montana Bar Fight Jam (Hucks, Blackberries, Jalapenos, Bourbon)
Other products I'd like to work into is Huckleberry Liqueur and Huckleberry Vinaigrette.
In order to expand revenues I need approximately $5000 for a minimum order quantity of 1000 stuffed mountain goats. I've sourced them from several companies on Alibaba. The difference is these will be PURPLE mountain goats-not white. Here is a link as a sample:
https://www.stuffedsafari.com/Little-Rocky-the-Stuffed-Mountain-Goat-by-Aurora-p/ar-31325.htm?gclid=CjwKCAiAjuPRBRBxEiwAeQ2QPsfW1D_Zov6SAYbWxL5pydrZtlJyGtescW6h8CfIWB1u7bCw0c5hSBoC4RYQAvD_BwE&gdffi=0e6ca3dd0b78439d88dd8067460e01d8&gdfms=90A552E5EBC244F7A358B08626F21C1C
These currently retail in surrounding gift shops for $20. They will be marketed with the huck condiments through custom displays. Aiding the sale of the goats and the condiments is a childs book. So ultimately the display will have a color cut out of Mount Saint Nicholas, shelves for the various huck products, the childrens book(s), and the purple mountain goats and T-shirts and caps. I'd also like to develop window stickers, tote bags, and other gift items. In addition to the various retail spaces I will develop a headquarters with full production capabilities and retail area to sell a wide range of Glacier National Park gifts and curious. This will include an area for a range of artwork (photographs, prints, paintings, sculptures) related to the area.
The beauty of this branding is that it introduces into an intense vacation area an element of fun with huckleberries. If you research the local companies the labels/marketing is drab, boring, and uninteresting.
I am not exaggerating when I say I have heard multiple times, "this is the world's best huckleberry jam" or "Oh my God, this is delicious". I've done non-statistically valid taste tests against the top three products in the area and my first batch (huckleberry/lemon) came out second. A re-engineered regular huckleberry jam came out on top. This is a high berry content and high quality product.
I own the url's thegallivantinggoat.com and thehuckleberrykid.com. I need to develop these into fully functional web sites.
The business is highly seasonal. Tourist season. So that is roughly May to October.
The funds will be used in order of priority for the following:
-Jar inventory. I can decrease price of containers by nearly 75% by ordering bulk from China.
-Purple plastisol jar lids. This goes to branding and reduction in labor using the typical dual piece band/lid technique. Competitors use white plastisol lids (boring). Also sourced from China.
-Raw Huckleberry inventory (~$40/gallon) One gallon will produce about 20-22 8 oz jars of jam.
-Commercial displays
-Purple stuffed toy mountain goats
-The Huckleberry Kid childrens books
My lifelong dream has been to have my own business. I started with one 12 count case of 8 oz huckleberry jam. Not because I wanted to start small, but because that's all I could afford. This is my opportunity to break out of the rat race. It might sound like a silly concept. But it's mine and I love it. I know all my costs. I know all my margins. I have an MBA and years of experience in developing pricing, market, and margin analysis for the technology and transortation sectors.
Thanks for taking a look. I'll be updating details periodically.
Sincerely,
Dave
The Gallivanting Goat, LLC started as a way to make a few extra dollars while I was working at a low paying job while I was job hunting for a "real" job near Glacier National Park (GNP) in Montana. My Mom has Carolyn's Cafe in Hungry Horse, Montana. Huckleberries are a wonderful wild fruit here (cannot domesticate the plant) and is widely sold. The problem is most companies producing huck jam with the primary ingredient sugar or a 1:1 ratio of berries to sugar. I developed my own recipe with a very high ratio of berries to sugar (low-sugar) while allowing the robust flavor of the tart berry to flower.
I started selling syrup and jam out of my Mom's cafe. It really started selling well. I'm now selling it out of three different retail locations.
I originally started with the name Carolyn's to leverage the popularity of her cafe on Yelp and Tripadvisor. I've since had the logo developed (pic included) and named renamed the brand The Gallivanting Goat, LLC.
Why The Gallivanting Goat? After Carolyn's I chose The Purple Mountain Goat. Purple to reflect the color of the huckleberries and the goat as a mascot since we are just outside of Glacier National Park and the park mascot is a mountain goat (similar to Yellostones bear mascot). I've named him The Huckleberry Kid (get it? Goat... Kid...) Anyway....
Now while the name was still The Purple Mountain Goat I was explaining that the logo was more cartoonish than I expected. I asked, "Who has ever seen a mountain goat kicking their front legs in the air"? His response, "Nobody"!
IN YOUR FACE MY FRIEND... The next day The Daily Interlake published a real photograph of a mountain goat in Glacier National Park on their front page kicking his front feet in their. Perfectly mirroring my logo. The headline of the photo/article was "The Gallivanting Goat". Hence my new company name. I have a copy of the newspaper pic I'll gladly send you if you contact me here.
In the background of the logo is the most technical of mountains to climb in Glacier National Park - Mount Saint Nicholas. Serious - you can look it up here:
http://www.summitpost.org/mount-saint-nicholas-mt/151136
I currently make the following condiments in various sizes including 1.5oz, 8oz, and 16 oz sizes:
-Huckleberry Jam
-Huckleberry/Lemon Jam
-Huckleberry/Pinot Jam
-Huckleberry Dessert Topping
-Huckleberry/Pinot Dessert Topping
-Huckleberry Syrup (8 fl oz and 12 fl oz)
I'm currently testing the following combination flavors:
-Sugar Free Huckleberry Jam
_Sugar Free Huckleberry Syrup
-Huckleberry/Mint
-Huckleberry/Bourbon
-Huckleberry/Mojito
-Huckleberry/Spice
-Huckleberry/Lime
-Huckleberry Honey Lavender
-Montana Bar Fight Jam (Hucks, Blackberries, Jalapenos, Bourbon)
Other products I'd like to work into is Huckleberry Liqueur and Huckleberry Vinaigrette.
In order to expand revenues I need approximately $5000 for a minimum order quantity of 1000 stuffed mountain goats. I've sourced them from several companies on Alibaba. The difference is these will be PURPLE mountain goats-not white. Here is a link as a sample:
https://www.stuffedsafari.com/Little-Rocky-the-Stuffed-Mountain-Goat-by-Aurora-p/ar-31325.htm?gclid=CjwKCAiAjuPRBRBxEiwAeQ2QPsfW1D_Zov6SAYbWxL5pydrZtlJyGtescW6h8CfIWB1u7bCw0c5hSBoC4RYQAvD_BwE&gdffi=0e6ca3dd0b78439d88dd8067460e01d8&gdfms=90A552E5EBC244F7A358B08626F21C1C
These currently retail in surrounding gift shops for $20. They will be marketed with the huck condiments through custom displays. Aiding the sale of the goats and the condiments is a childs book. So ultimately the display will have a color cut out of Mount Saint Nicholas, shelves for the various huck products, the childrens book(s), and the purple mountain goats and T-shirts and caps. I'd also like to develop window stickers, tote bags, and other gift items. In addition to the various retail spaces I will develop a headquarters with full production capabilities and retail area to sell a wide range of Glacier National Park gifts and curious. This will include an area for a range of artwork (photographs, prints, paintings, sculptures) related to the area.
The beauty of this branding is that it introduces into an intense vacation area an element of fun with huckleberries. If you research the local companies the labels/marketing is drab, boring, and uninteresting.
I am not exaggerating when I say I have heard multiple times, "this is the world's best huckleberry jam" or "Oh my God, this is delicious". I've done non-statistically valid taste tests against the top three products in the area and my first batch (huckleberry/lemon) came out second. A re-engineered regular huckleberry jam came out on top. This is a high berry content and high quality product.
I own the url's thegallivantinggoat.com and thehuckleberrykid.com. I need to develop these into fully functional web sites.
The business is highly seasonal. Tourist season. So that is roughly May to October.
The funds will be used in order of priority for the following:
-Jar inventory. I can decrease price of containers by nearly 75% by ordering bulk from China.
-Purple plastisol jar lids. This goes to branding and reduction in labor using the typical dual piece band/lid technique. Competitors use white plastisol lids (boring). Also sourced from China.
-Raw Huckleberry inventory (~$40/gallon) One gallon will produce about 20-22 8 oz jars of jam.
-Commercial displays
-Purple stuffed toy mountain goats
-The Huckleberry Kid childrens books
My lifelong dream has been to have my own business. I started with one 12 count case of 8 oz huckleberry jam. Not because I wanted to start small, but because that's all I could afford. This is my opportunity to break out of the rat race. It might sound like a silly concept. But it's mine and I love it. I know all my costs. I know all my margins. I have an MBA and years of experience in developing pricing, market, and margin analysis for the technology and transortation sectors.
Thanks for taking a look. I'll be updating details periodically.
Sincerely,
Dave
Organizer
Dave Thompson
Organizer
Hungry Horse, MT
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