The Eastman Egg Company Raises $1.5M to Seize on Enormous Fast-Casual Opportunity
The Eastman Egg Company, the technology-enabled restaurant line at the intersection of the fast-casual and breakfast markets, raised $1.5M to open two new locations, launch the next version of its mobile app, and accelerate its already rapid growth. Hyde Park Angels led the Series A-1 round, with participation from both new investors SLoFIG(Sustainable Local Food Investment Group), and previous investors Bluestein and Associates, Caretta Partners, JumpStart Ventures, and Trunk Club co-founder John Tucker. The Eastman Egg Company Founder and CEO Hunter Swartz also participated in the round, along with COO and Executive Chef Drew Davis.
“We are delivering a radically better breakfast by combining locally sourced and humanely raised ingredients with empathetic hospitality and technology to seamlessly integrate The Eastman Egg Company experience into our customers’ lives. This raise lets us constantly deliver on the perfect breakfast sandwich, even as we grow beyond Chicago,” emphasized Founder and CEO Hunter Swartz.
The Eastman Egg Company first launched with one food truck in 2013. Since then, it has opened two stores and a coffee café located inside of Trunk Club and released a proprietary mobile app focused on delivering an end-to-end experience to its customers. The company has consistently exceeded its growth targets as it pursues the $27.4B breakfast market opportunity. In addition to taking a technology-focused approach, Eastman Egg has differentiated itself by sourcing values-oriented and sustainable ingredients like cage-free eggs for its made-from-scratch offerings from local providers, optimizing its operational efficiencies to serve customers in under four minutes, and utilizing its team of expert food and hospitality professionals to find new opportunities to enhance the customer experience.
“Eastman Egg is uniquely positioned to dominate the enormous fast-casual market, both because of its all-star team’s focus on developing some of the most efficient and hyper-focused operations we have seen, and its understanding of the breakfast space,” said Hyde Park Angels Member and Fulcrum Investing CEO Kevin van Eekeren, who joins The Eastman Egg Company board as part of this round of funding.
The team behind the Eastman Egg Company has decades of experience across the restaurant, hospitality, and food operations industries, running and representing companies like Lettuce Entertain You, Hannah’s Bretzel, Momofuku, and AVI FoodSystems. Moreover, the Eastman Egg Company team’s novel concept and unique approach have attracted investors who double as experts in disrupting and scaling traditional markets, such as Eric Becker who co-founded Roti Mediterranean Grill, and the founders of Trunk Club, Brian Spaly and John Tucker.
“Eastman is solving customer experience problems like wait times by building innovative mobile software for their customers and team members. Technology is a critical component of delivering delightful service at scale and Eastman gets that.” said John Tucker, Co-Founder and VP of Member Experience at Trunk Club and The Eastman Egg Company Board Member.