Binghi Bar

I am an attorney who has been vegetarian/vegan throughout my entire life.  In 2015, I trained my niece, Franchesca Cheney, in health through nutrition and later helped her to open a juice bar in Brooklyn: Sol Sips.  A quick google search for Sol Sips, Brooklyn will provide a background showing the popularity of the business.  (https://www.instagram.com/solsipsnyc/#; #solsips)

In the first of a series of unfortunate events, in 2018, I had to turn over management of the business to Franchesca and her mother so that I could take care of my father who was dying of prostate cancer.  The business closed during the pandemic.    With my father, I utilized my health through nutrition training to, according to the doctors, "bring him back to life."  The doctors could find no trace of the cancer when he passed away in 2020 due to medical malpractice.   I returned to New York in 2020 and resumed my practice as a public finance attorney.  

On my way to work each day, I noticed that there is a higher population of obesity and chronic poor health in my community in East Flatbush.  It took a toll on the community during Covid-19.  Friends and family would seek advice during the pandemic and found their Covid-19 symptoms less severe with my remedies.  Word got out and upon request, my fiancé and I began making nutrient rich smoothies for some of the elder people in my community.  One older resident stood with his waist at a 90-degree angle and walked with a cane.  After drinking one of my smoothies for three days, he was able to stand straight and walk unassisted.   People in the community began asking that we sell the drinks, bottle them and put them into stores.  Others, remembering me from the early days of Sol Sips, asked if I could bring back that menu as well. 

I recently secured a 5-year lease for a 1300 sq ft space in a busy corridor in the Flatbush neighborhood of Brooklyn.  Located on Church Avenue, just blocks from Utica Avenue, this space in East Flatbush already sees heavy foot traffic throughout the day for restaurants, goods and services.  This majority Caribbean neighborhood is rapidly gentrifying and the demand for more diverse and healthy eating establishments is rising.  We have gutted the space and our contractors have run the required electric and plumbing.  We are currently working on obtaining licenses and permits.  We hope to open in September to provide services to the community in the fall. 

Binghi Bar will provide a much-needed food service to an underserved community.  We will open early to provide on the go breakfast items, including vegan breakfast sandwiches, porridge, baked goods, patties, teas, specialty coffees from family-owned farms in Kenya and Jamaica, smoothies and smoothie bowls.  A simple lunch special will include a Subway/Qdoba styled - build your own vegan sub/panini bar, with burger options including our secret recipe Chick'n burger made from oyster mushrooms.  Our original Chick'n burger recipe made several publications through Sol Sips.  We have improved on the recipe and, through local farming initiatives, can reduce the overall cost of the burger.   House made ice-cream and sorbets will be available as desert with other seasonal offerings such as brownies, mini peach cobblers and blue berry pies, and hot chocolate.

Our lounge menu will offer alcohol free mock tails and small plates inspired by cultures where Rastafarian influence can be found.  The menu items will be very simple and most can be pre-made and frozen until ordered and heated on site.  An example of some menu items include: jackfruit and cheese taquitos, smothered enchiladas, curry G.O.A.T. bites, portobella sliders, air fried mac and cheese balls, and a neighborhood favorite, classic rice and peas with Ital stew.   Menu items will be adjusted in the first year to perfect the franchise model and may be change seasonally according to the availability of certain food items.  From our app, each menu item will carry with it a background story of the joining of cultures bringing people together over the dish. 

Throughout the day, our resident "Coconut Man" will chop fresh sweet coconut and sugar cane.  The Coconut Man has been an attraction at this location for 2 decades, and his eldest daughter has taken up the craft.  We have designed a mobile coconut bar as a part of our outdoor eating set up where the Coconut Man can continue to delight patrons and pedestrians throughout the year.   Grab and go items and baked goods will be made in house and sourced from local businesses.  The space, including a full-size yard is also large enough to accommodate live entertainment and events.  We will host new artist listening parties and open mics throughout the week.  The space will also be available to rent for private events.  These offerings will be exclusive to the flagship location in Flatbush and will not be included in the franchise model listed below.

On December 26th we will launch our Binghi Bar health club.  Utilizing the science of food, we have formulated a number of excellent tasting and satiating smoothies that "work miracles."   We make no claim that we can cure any disease and encourage our customers to use their diets as preventative medicine, but always consult a doctor before starting any new diet or supplement program.  However, we will create memberships with a get fit challenge for the new year.  In early November, we will begin to market to the New Year's Resolution consumer to "resolve to get healthy for the new year."  With a holiday promotional get fit challenge, customers will be required to "buy-in" at $100 to show that they are committed to the challenge.  Additional incentives, such as live coaching sessions with one of our personal trainers or one-on-one consultations with our nutritionist can be purchased as an add on.  The pricing for these sessions are currently being negotiated with our professionals to ensure adequate profit margins for both parties.   Customers who reach their fitness goals will be featured on our website each year, plus one fitness champion will win a $1000 prize.  The winner will be chosen based on a social media-based polling platform that will allow participants to engage their followers which will result in additional marketing for the brand.

Year-round healthy memberships will also be available with the most basic membership as a rewards card with free bites or smoothies after a certain amount in purchases which will allow us to build a database for marketing purposes.  At the first "paid level" the members will get a free Binghi Bar tumbler, which will give them $1.00 or more off of each smoothie if they bring it in clean for a refill.  At the highest level, online members can order kits customized to their dietary needs.  Plans include: skinny me (weight-loss/detox), glow-up (skin and hair), viral bust (for cold, flu and viral outbreaks), the Sebi (slows the mutation of cancer cells and boosts the immune system), and other custom-made health specific recipes designed by our in-house nutritionist, Samantha Bailey (https://www.instagram.com/sameatsplants_/#).With refrigerated shipping capabilities through Fed-Ex, our Binghi Bar health club can reach beyond the Brooklyn brick and mortar location.  With word of mouth and viral marketing strategies, we will build a virtual health club across the U.S. as part of our national branding strategy in the first two years.  

We have also, recently secured a LOI with a New York boutique hotel owner to provide bottled juices and smoothies to 3 hotels of his hotels in New York.  Through this partnership, we will launch our bottled juice and meal in a bottle brand. While there are many bottled juice and meal options on the market, most do not contain the superfood packages that can provide immediate alertness, all-day fullness, or overall general health benefits that come from just one serving of our specially blended products. Within 3 years we plan to place certain bottled juices, such as our hangover cure (currently in very high demand) in local grocery stores and warehouse wholesalers (BJs/ Costco).
  
Within five years, we plan to open an oyster mushroom and mung bean farm with a food processing facility where we can pre-package prepped recipes with specific instructions for corporate owned and privately owned franchise locations.  In years 5-10 we will identify franchisee partners throughout the five boroughs and Long Island with a goal of 1-2 locations in each borough.  In years 7 through 10 we will also establish corporate franchises in Atlanta, Colorado, Miami, Las Vegas and California.  These areas were chosen due to our personal contacts who have retail food establishment experience and have shown interest in our business model.   We have also begun communications with several airport authorities for P3 franchise opportunities as well. We will work with a real estate franchise specialist to identify locations for corporate owned franchises across the US with a goal of 20 franchises within 5 years.

We are seeking an investment of $120,000.  We will use these funds as a liquidity reserve for equipment financing.  It will also cover the costs of marketing, labor, inventory, rent and utilities for one year while we fine tune and adjust to uncertain market conditions, including the residual effects of Covid-19, inflation, and shifting government policies.