Black Point Seafood, LLC

Black Point Seafood is a direct-to-consumer meal kit company. It delivers fresh seafood through its website, GetMaineLobster.com.

Since 2010, Black Point has generated more than $6.5 million in sales, and delivered more than 250,000 meals to 100,000 customers across the U.S.

Now the company is aiming to reach 1 million customers and become an attractive acquisition target for a large company such as Amazon or Walmart.

According to company research, in the past year, there's been a 30% increase in seafood consumption by “millennials” — in other words, people between 22 and 37-years-old. That’s because 70% of this demographic has reportedly switched to following a "healthier diet."

Furthermore, according to Technomic Surveys, 71% of consumers are interested in where their food comes from and how it's grown or produced.

Black Point is targeting these trends — along with the growing popularity of meal-kit services — with its direct-to-consumer (D2C) seafood meal kits.

Online seafood is currently a $4.75 billion market. But despite this high figure, consumers and businesses still have challenges buying and selling seafood — for example:

Consumers often have trouble finding fresh lobster. In addition, many consumers have trouble preparing it as a meal. According to a survey from the Maine Lobster Promotion Council, 50% of people don’t know how to cook a live lobster.

Businesses, meanwhile, run into several problems trying to sell lobster. Many grocers don’t want to invest in tanks or shelf space, while order sizes are typically too small to generate consistent revenue.

Lobster also has a short shelf life, which leads to high losses for grocers. As a result, grocery stores have to deal with what’s called “shrink.” This is the product that ends up being thrown away after it fails to sell.

Black Point solves these problems for consumers and businesses by selling its meal kits direct to consumers, and selling fresh packaged seafood to grocery stores. In addition, the company has partnerships with multiple third-party sellers including Groupon, Living Social, Touch of Modern, and Rue La La.

As the company states, it delivers fresh Maine lobster and other seafood dishes “From Dock 2 Doorstep.”

The company’s meal kits feature lobster dinners, assorted fresh fish, prepared appetizers, as well as desserts. 30% of customers who purchase a meal kit from Black Point order a second time, and of that group, nearly half order again.

Black Point's customer acquisition cost is $9.62 and each customer’s lifetime value is $265.56. The company achieves approximately 30% gross product margins.

Since inception, Black Point has sold more than 250,000 meals to 100,000 customers across the U.S., including shipping lobster to Martha Stewart’s studio in New York City. Because the company ships so many orders each year, it receives highly competitive shipping rates, giving it an advantage over its competitors.

In 2016, Black Point designed a customized gift redemption experience for corporations. This enabled the company to target the $22 billion corporate gifting industry.

The company is having success building its brand name. For example, it was featured in a national advertising campaign for Chase Bank, and USA Today chose it to represent the state during its “50 Tastes from 50 States” series. In addition, the company has been featured in several media outlets, including Inc. and The Wall Street Journal.

Team Background

Andy Desgrosseilliers - VP of Operations

Before working for Black Point Seafood, Andy served as a programmer for Low Entropy Systems.

He studied Culinary Arts at Johnson & Wales University, and Baking and Pastry Arts at Lincoln Culinary Institute.

Mark Murrell - Founder

Mark has served as the Founder of Black Point Seafood for eight years.

Prior to that, he spent 12 years as the Founder and President of Mark Interactive, a company providing marketing and communication strategies for businesses.

In addition, he was a partner for InFilm Marketing, a company specializing in interactive mobile communications between moviegoers and studios.

Mark spent six years as Director of Internet Communications and Marketing at Hyde School.

He earned an Associate’s degree in Hospitality Management from Newbury College and a Bachelor’s in Media from the University of Southern Maine.

Marc Beaudry - Director of Customer Experience

Marc was born and raised in Maine.

He has a background in customer service and sales, and is in charge of the company’s customer relations department.

Co-Investors