Proper Good, a US-based shelf-stable food business, believes there is further to go in disrupting an area of the supermarket it believes has become stale.
The Austin, Texas-based business, established by British expatriate brother and sister duo Christopher and Jennifer Jane in 2020, has taken a product type that has existed in Europe and Asia for some time and launched it in the US market where it is less well known.
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Essentially, the product range is packet-based ready-meals – soup, oatmeal and pasta – that provides a meal in around one to two minutes.
The products, which include world food flavours such as chana masala curry, Jamaican jerk chicken soup and Thai red curry, won approval from panellists on US TV business investment show Shark Tank in 2021 and the backing of ‘Shark’ Mark Cuban.
That appearance led to an approach from Walmart and Proper Good now supplies thousands of the retailer’s stores all over the country.
Proper Good secured additional funding of $3.5m in the fourth quarter of 2024 and with 19 SKUs already in existence plans to use the money on marketing to promote the brand.
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By GlobalDataChristopher Jane, the company’s CEO, told Just Food that although the product idea may be a familiar one to shops and shoppers outside of the US, it resonated with American buyers.
“America has amazing food at the edge of store but the centre part of the store for shelf-stable food is so archaic. It’s ruled by huge brands and hasn’t changed in decades. It’s very different to the UK, Japan etc,” he said.
Jane, a former finance and business student who started a condiments company before establishing Proper Good, admits, though, it was Shark Tank that gave his current business the publicity boost it needed.
“Shark Tank created great awareness. It has more than three million viewers per episode. That’s great for a brand that was just one year old,” he said.
“It definitely sparked retail interest – Walmart reached out to us as a result. Because the centre-store area lacked innovation, retailers were very excited.”
But Jane argues that, above and beyond the novelty value of its product range, a clean-label approach and low pricing – most meals cost less than $5 – have helped the company to grow.
“These are healthy and convenient snacks. There are lots of meals at the lower end of the market, high sodium etc, for $2-3 and then, at the other end, you’ve got salads going for $10-15. We thought $5 for a meal with clean ingredients was affordable as part of a daily routine,” he said.
Proper Good, which also has an e-commerce operation that contributes about 15% of its revenues, says its focus is on the US market and, specifically, its deal with Walmart.
And, as with all innovative companies, it can expect would-be buyers to come sniffing around. But Jane said that, with a loyal group of backers, the owners have no exit plans at this stage.
“We chose not to raise venture-capital money, its mostly family office money. We’ve built an investment network and most of the recent funding was from there,” he said.
“Certainly for now we want to keep the business in our own hands. We’re not looking to get out. It’s early in our journey.”
