SANDBAR Oyster Company is a collaboration between UNC Marine Sciences Professor Niels Lindquist and NC commercial fisherman/oysterman David “Clammerhead” Cessna. The team developed Oyster Catcher, a patent-pending, biodegradable hardscape upon which immense numbers of native oysters attach and grow. Oyster Catcher’s primary application is to create nature-based shoreline protection called “living shorelines” and to restore oyster-based ecosystems. Living shorelines protect against erosion and storm damage and serve as substitutes for artificial bulkheads and seawalls. Oyster Catcher is also used to source seed oysters for aquaculturists and to produce a rare variety of oysters (green gill) prized as an epicurean delight.
The Company is the recipient of numerous entrepreneurial venture awards and cash grants:
SANDBAR has engaged NCGrowth to assist the company in the following:
SANDBAR and NCGrowth have over the last few months held a series of physical and remote meetings and phone calls, providing the NCGrowth team the opportunity to perform its due diligence, gather necessary information, and gain a deeper understanding of SANDBAR’s business model, value proposition, and organizational needs moving forward. These meetings have also served as brain-storming sessions for SANDBAR management and NCGrowth to debate various operational and strategic considerations as SANDBAR begins to commercially deploy its product and expand into new markets.
Most recently, SANDBAR invited the NCGrowth team to Morehead City, NC for a first-hand tour of NCGrowth’s operations and Oyster Catcher project test sites. The trip provided invaluable insight not only into SANDBAR as a company but the immediate threat posed by coastal erosion and the effectiveness and myriad applications of Oyster Catcher in combatting this issue.
Having returned from the coast with a much deeper understanding of SANDBAR and its mission, the NCGrowth team is in the process of finalizing a financial model to support future decision making, and is making progress toward identifying the appropriate candidate pool and recruitment tactics for a senior executive needed to lead operations and business development efforts.
Andrew Anderson and Sam Nasser are NCGrowth Analysts and MBA candidates at UNC’s Kenan-Flagler Business School.
Sandbar Oyster Company[/caption]