Cacao Prietro
Cacao Prietro might be one of the most interesting investments that I have ever made. Cacao Prietro is the brainchild of Daniel Preston. This is Daniels third entrepreneurial endeavor the others being lightbulbs and jet packs for the armed forces. That alone has to pique your interest.
Daniel has family in the Dominican Republic and through his travels there he became interested in the cacao plant. Daniel has an incredibly curious as well as analytical mind and he began to drill down on the properties of the cacao plant. Fast forward, he is producing chocolate ( which is exceptionally delicious ) from the beans that the company owns. What is interesting about this is most of the new chocolate companies that are on the market have to buy their beans in order to produce their product. We own the beans and make our own chocolate as well as sell beans. Nice business but that is only one part of this business.
Making Mash from fredwilson on Vimeo.
The other part of the business is rum and eventually whiskey. Believe me there is much more to this because between the chocolate and the liquor business there is also other new food and medical products lurking in the wings.
When I first met Daniel and he took me through his business and his vision it took about 2.5 hours and in the back to my head I was thinking you have to get this down to 20 minutes dude. Fred was seriously skeptical and although he rarely expresses an opinion on what I am investing in I thought he should come out and see Daniel. After another 2.5 hours he was just as blown away as I was. Then the process began of getting other people excited too.
Fast forward, Daniel has in his hands the first permit in 87 years to distill in Brooklyn, his chocolate business is growing and so damn good and the food/medical product business is just beginning to percolate. All of this off the cacao plant.
Last night was the party to kick off the company. Located in Red Hook, Brooklyn the neighbors came and so did many friends. It was fantastic. I have said this before and will continue to say that I am so lucky to have the opportunity to meet and work with an incredible group of entrepreneurs. Help them execute on their dream and watch them grow. At every turn Daniel has impressed me and just when I think he can’t possibly impress me anymore he does. He continues to blow me away at every turn.
Pay attention to Cacao Prietro…more will be coming your way.
Comments (Archived):
Interesting. All the best to him! 🙂
beautiful and fun packaging!are they selling at Bittersweet?http://shop.bittersweetcafe…
only selling to a handful of places right now in brooklyn. just kicked off.
I see the “U” Kosher cert on the package. Happy to review the product on Kosher Like Me. think he would be interested?
let me pass that one. yes, we are kosher.
Four things I will not invest in, gambling, guns, tobacco and booze. why not do the chocolate, medical stuff etc part but not the rum and whisky. booze is not cool. just cannot justify investing in it.
i get it. i would not invest in tobacco, gun or gambling. otherwise, i’m good
not sure this inquiry is interesting or of use to you so please feel free to ignore and delete me – i intend no ill will or obnoxiosness and am never sure if it is impolite to dissent on someone’s site (is it?) but i do not see the ethical line you draw that separates guns, tobacco and gambling from alcohol. If you exclude war, alcohol kills way more people every year than guns not to mention car accidents, domestic violence, date rape, campus violence etc. Plus unlike guns and tobacco whose marketing is limited booze is promoted in ways that glamorize it and make it seem sexy often in ways that are utterly demeaning to women. they do not show the black eyes, the drunk drivers, the car accidents. they show handsome guys getting laid by models. what utter BS. I am not suggesting prohibtion, just suggesting not feeding the beast with investment dollars.
some people enjoy alcohol. it is social, relaxing and enjoyable. i hear you and you have seen a dark side but that isn’t the case for everyone.
right, same as gambling, smoking and recreational gun use so why the ethical objection to investing in them? Are we talking taste or ethics?
i like alcohol. i drink it, i enjoy it. i do not like smoking cigarettes, shooting guns or gambling. that is my ethical line
For the love of god, it’s Cacao PRIETO! Not prieTRO!One of them means dark chocolate!
ugh.