Background: Earlier this year, two young Boston entrepreneurs were in the thick of starting a food business called Fresh Food Generation (FFG). Their mission was to cook and serve on-the-go meals made with ingredients sourced from local farms out of a food truck in low-income neighborhoods of Boston. Through this venture, the duo aimed to increase access to healthy, affordable, cooked foods for populations with limited access to quality foods and with high rates of diabetes and obesity.
Legal Need: FFG launched a successful Kickstarter campaign and raised more than half of what they needed to get their first food truck equipped and out on the road. When they had two investors at the table who were willing to supply the rest of the financing if FFG crafted the equity financing structure, co-founders Cassandria Campbell and Jackson Renshaw recognized they needed professional legal help to do so properly.
The Relationship: Cassandria and Jackson heard about the Hub through their partners at Commonwealth Kitchen, a local culinary business incubator (also a Hub participant). Through the Legal Food Hub, CLF matched these two young entrepreneurs with a set of skilled attorneys at WilmerHale specializing in equity finance agreements. With this legal assistance, the team now has the appropriate foundational documents to help launch a strong and successful business. “The lawyers have been really responsive,” said Cassandria. “We take our work very seriously, and we needed people on the other end to take it seriously as well. They have done a great job.”
Elizabeth Ryland, a WilmerHale attorney who worked with FFG, agreed that the process went smoothly. “It was very enjoyable to work with them,” she said. “We work with a lot of start ups, and [FFG] has the same needs as any start up. It’s a great opportunity to work with people who are active in the community, people with interesting ideas that might just be smaller scale than what we normally work with. At the end of the day, it is always great to work with passionate founders.”
“I like being able to donate time and work with people who have a dream and a vision and want to do good in the world.”