The food sector has proven to be one of the most resilient in times of pandemic, and although it is considered a traditional business segment, it is in full swing. In addition to the innovations and adaptations to new consumer appetites that companies in the sector constantly make, new transformative trends are emerging, such as the challenge of sustainability and food waste, digitalization, e-commerce, the commitment to healthy, organic, and local products, or the rise of plant-based protein and meat substitutes.
In this context, it is more important than ever to control the entire value chain, that is, to promote the development of vertical business models that control the entire production process, from farm to table. This requires companies in the sector, mainly SMEs, to lead these processes, ally or merge with each other to be more competitive, internationalize, and adapt to all the social and market changes that are occurring.
To facilitate these concentration processes among companies with strong growth potential, Workerbee Capital has been established in Barcelona, a new venture capital company (SCR) that plans to invest 50 million euros in SMEs in the food and health sector. The objective is to create five verticals in the coming years in these two areas through the acquisition of healthy companies with solid and proven business models in specific market niches that are scalable and have the potential to internationalize.
Behind this initiative are two former executives of the Bidfood Iberia group, a food distribution company for the hospitality sector that is precisely the result of a successful process of company concentration built on the basis of the former Guzmán Gastronomía. They are Jordi Franch ---who was the general director of Bidfood--- and Jesús Saiz, who left the company last July to embark on a new stage as investors.
Franch has extensive experience in the food sector, as before leading Bidfood he had worked at Torres wineries and in the GBfood group (Gallina Blanca). Saiz, for his part, is an expert in mergers and acquisitions and prior to Bidfood had worked in the Miura investment group, which was the fund that bought and grew Guzmán with integrations, until the sale of the company to the South African group Bidcorp with abundant capital gains.
"We believe that our experience in food and venture capital can bring a lot of value to SMEs that want to make the leap and that are not only looking for capital, but a partner that offers them active, close management and that accompanies them in the growth process," explains Jordi Franch, founding partner and co-director of Workerbee in an interview with The New Barcelona Post.
Our experience in food and venture capital can bring a lot of value to SMEs that want to make the leapAccording to Franch, the name they have chosen for the company refers to the tenacity of worker bees, in a simile with this active management they want to offer and this accompaniment throughout the entire life cycle of companies.
The goal is to invest in the next five years ten million euros in each of the five verticals that are to be developed in the food and health and wellness market, that is, it is a budget that will be distributed among different companies that will merge to create a larger operator in a specific market niche. The idea is to enter the capital of leading companies "with a distinctive added value" that bill between 10 million and 50 million euros and that have an EBITDA of between 1 million and 2.5 million. According to Franch, this segment of companies "is underserved", since it is usually not the object of attention by large funds, focused on investing in larger companies.
Registration with the CNMV
Workerbee is now in the phase of obtaining the authorization they need to operate venture capital firms from the National Securities Market Commission (CNMV). In parallel, the two partners are holding conversations with multiple investors ---business profile and family groups--- interested in being part of the company. The challenge is to raise capital of 50 million euros, of which they now have a good part. "We estimate that by autumn we will have 60% of the fund covered and that we will execute the first acquisition before the end of the year," Franch anticipates.
Workerbee, which already has multiple operations on the table, will study the type of transaction in each case, although the bet is to take majority stakes in the capital of the companies in which they invest. The SCR, however, will prioritize that the founders of these companies accompany them and remain in the capital with a minority stake that, over the years, may end up having more value than when they owned 100% of the company. "We like to know and share the project with the owners; our investment philosophy is very artisanal," Franch highlights.
Franch and Saiz will create an advisory board made up of three people; one of them will be Ernest Quingles, vice president of Epson in Europe and vice president of Foment del Treball.
Before creating Workerbee, the two partners did a proof of concept to validate their model. In alliance with Josep Font --- former owner of 50% of Bon Preu ---, last December they bought the Japanese food restaurants Monster Sushi and Robata and created Umai Group, a company that will now promote a growth plan for these brands. The Umai Group will not be part of Workerbee's portfolio of investees, as it is a previous project.