Mark Sisson discusses Primal Kitchen's ill-fated attempt to launch a paleo-friendly restaurant franchise business.
Insight
Sisson: Running 100 miles a week is bad for human health
“No, no, no, it's not. I am here to tell you it's not good for you. It is something that humans can do, but it's not good for us.”
Insight
Endurance athletes expect sponsorships and resist buying nutritional products, says Sisson
“And I quickly found out that those Guys and girls don't like to buy product. They all want to be sponsored.”
Disclosure
Sisson personally guaranteed a $6 million credit line to fund operations
“I had a line of credit, and I was a guarantor on six million dollars worth of credit that we were using to finance the operations, finance receivables, to prepay for avocado oil that wasn't due to arrive in, until eight months down the road.”
Assertion Supported
Sisson: Kraft Heinz acquired Primal Kitchen for $200M in January 2019
“It's public knowledge, but it was for two hundred million dollars, and then we spent, you know, November hammering out the details of the deal. ... The deal almost fell apart three or four times. But we hammered something out the two days after Thanksgiving, a…”
What-if
Sisson: Primal Kitchen would have failed if launched five years earlier
“I think if I'd started Primal Kitchen five years earlier, it would have failed, because five years earlier, there wasn't the awareness of healthy fats, of avocado oil being a beneficial oil, and seed oils being as bad for you as come to find out.”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Sisson: Cool Licks Netted $175,000 Profit in First Year
“So we open in Early 83, I think, and it was a great success. We probably netted a 175,000 dollars on that 550 square foot location the first year.”