BFY Opps: Wicked Kitchen acquires seafood company (Score 76)

Sales Lead: Wicked Kitchen (WK) recently acquired plant-based raw seafood company Current Foods.

• It was an all-stock transaction, but the company did not disclose further terms.
• WK has been working to expand into this category and has relied heavily on acquisitions to do so.
  • For example, the company acquired a similar plant-based seafood maker, Good Catch, last year.
  • While Good Catch's products are cooked seafood analogs, Current Foods will not compete.
    • Instead, it will appear in various food service types and in different retail store areas.
  • This extension allows WK to expand its food service and retail options and become a larger force in the market.
• The company will likely:
  • ​​​​​​​Ramp up spend
  • Pursue similar acquisition opportunities
  • Seek new agency partners
• Target demographic: 
  • Better-for-you (​​​​​​​​​​​​​​BFY) Gen-Z and millennials

Additional spending insights:

• Digital and social insights (digital ad spend, effectiveness, impressions, and performance)
  • YTD spend: WK has allocated roughly $14.4k toward digital ads YTD, a massive decrease from the roughly $89.2k allocated by this point last year.
  • YTD data: Since the beginning of 2023, the company has earned approximately 1.8m digital impressions, 98% via Facebook ads and 2% via Instagram ads.
  • Last year: WK allocated around $173.7k toward this channel last year after having spent less than half of this, around $69.9k, in 2021.
• Additional channel insights  
  • WK also utilizes experiential marketing with efforts such as a recent initiative in Las Vegas, Venice Beach, and Hollywood.

Additional agency insights:

• Opportunity: Reach out if you haven't yet done so since we haven't yet heard of any roster shits following last year's funding round.
• Current agency roster:
  • Spark Foundry​​​​​​​: Media AOR

Insight Sources: Digital spend insights estimated by Pathmatics.