The Very Good Butchers IPO on Canadian Stock Exchange

The Very Good Butchers, a Canadian plant-based butcher brand and shop, has gone public. It’s the second vegan meat brand to IPO after California-based Beyond Meat in May 2019.

Founded by trained chefs James Davidson and Tania Frieson, the Very Good Butchers is more than a deli. It’s a food technology company; it designs, develops, produces, and distributes a variety of plant-based meat products.

The first shop opened three years ago in Victoria, B.C. It was the first vegan butcher shop on the west coast of Canada.

The Very Good Butchers has appeared on the reality series Dragon’s Den, where entrepreneurs pitch business plans to five multimillionaires for the chance of an investment.

The company has also opened a bigger shop and launched a manufacturing facility in Victoria. Now, the company has gone public.

‘This IPO is a Critical Milestone’

The Canadian Securities Exchange lists The Very Good Butchers as The Very Good Food Company under the symbol VERY. Per the press release, It has commenced trading today, at a “price of $0.25 per Common Share for gross proceeds of $4,025,000.”

Scott told LIVEKINDLY in an email that the “IPO signals a broader interest in the plant-based market as a whole.” 

“More and more people are choosing plant-based protein options and this lifestyle change is starting to guide investment decisions as well,” he continued. “As the second company to IPO in this space we very excited that our customers can now own a piece of our company and share in our growth!”

Currently, the company has a team of four scientists in Vancouver. They work to develop new products and improve the taste and texture of the brand’s plant-based meats. It is in the process of building another factory in Vancouver.

The Very Good Butchers’ products—which include The Very Good Steak, Pepperoni, and Ribz—are in over 150 Canadian retailers and restaurants. It also offers Butcher Boxes for delivery, which can be bought as a one-off or on a monthly subscription basis.

Scott continued: “We have seen significant growth in our eCommerce and in-store sales, including a rapid increase in subscriptions to our monthly recurring delivery service.”

“We intend to scale our operations aggressively and continuously reinvest in creating the highest quality, most innovative plant-based products for our customers.“