Choice Market, a small format grocer and restaurant based in Denver, Colorado, has created an advisory board and will finalize its Series A Capital Raise in the coming months to help facilitate growth plans.
Choice was founded in 2017 with a mission of making good food accessible and convenient by offering fast, fresh and delicious prepared food and high quality local groceries. Choice currently has one location operational in downtown Denver, with three additional units opening over the next 12 months.
The new advisory board consists of a cross functional team of industry leaders that will assist with developing and executing the Choice growth strategy. Members include:
Erik Oberholtzer—founder and chairman at Tender Greens and advisor at Cohere. He is the co-founder of Tender Greens, a pioneering fine casual brand founded in Los Angeles in 2006, with a mission to democratize good food. A vision of the future he continues to drive as a Food Forever Champion on global biodiversity for the Crop Trust, with whom he cooks globally alongside the world’s leading chefs. He joined the Rodale Institute’s board in 2019 to help drive awareness around soil health, regenerative organic agriculture and food as medicine. In 2019, Oberholtzer joined Cohere as an adviser to founders of conscious brands as they navigate the headwinds of scale. With the success of Tender Greens, he provides a founder-centered roadmap to growth with emphasis on culture, supply chain integrity and long term strategic planning. He will help define and help implement Choice’s new culinary program, customer journey and supply chain.
Antoinette Johnson—founder and CEO at Cohere. Johnson leads the creative agency’s mission to unite stakeholders in food and real estate around shared goals. Cohere has the ability to unify multiple entities around their desire to disrupt the status quo. Johnson helped build the Choice Market brand from scratch and has a passion for how Choice influences the development of a neighborhood. She regularly contributes to publications such as Forbes, The Business Journal, Technical.ly and other thought leadership outlets. Johnson will help define and implement Choice’s strategic marketing plan, brand voice and in-store experience.
Martin Dolfi—managing partner at M3 Ventures. Dolfi is the founder and managing partner of M3 Ventures, an early-stage consumer equity firm based in New York City that partners with the best next-generation entrepreneurs who are leading high growth consumer brands. M3V has created leading portfolios in the consumer sector since 2015 which have performed in the top 5 of U.S. based early-stage venture funds by vintage year. Selected portfolio companies include Rumble Boxing, Rhone, Carbon38, Van Leeuwen, Lavva, Choice Market, Kosas, Spiritual Gangster, Cotopaxi, Heyday, Recess and many others. Prior to establishing the Partnership, Dolfi was a partner at Relativity Media where he oversaw endorsements, licensing and business development for leading creative talent and brands from Kanye West to Drake. He will help define and implement financing, CPG and new market strategies.
Andrew Kortina—co-founder at Venmo and Fin. Kortina co-founded the social payment service Venmo with his former college roommate in 2009 and is now co-founder at Fin, building analytics software for operations and CX teams. He also occasionally writes kortina.nyc. He will help define and implement Choice’s technical road map, digital experience and payments strategies.
“We are excited to introduce this talented group of like-minded board members whose combined experience will help drive the evolution of Choice,” said Founder and CEO Mike Fogarty. “Each of these individuals has founded and led high growth companies and shares in our mission to make good food accessible and convenient. They will be an invaluable resource as we navigate scaling our brand.”
In addition to the advisory board, Choice has launched a Series A Capital Raise led by M3 Ventures and thus far has raised $1.5 million in equity investment. This capital will be used for new unit construction, tech development and working capital.
