The lunchbox industry is outdated and underserved for the modern woman

Bringing lunch to work is greener, cheaper, and healthier. The lunchbox industry is filled with options for little kids and men; but there's none for women who want to look good and do good. 

Modern Picnic:

One of the first to market stylish, insulated, vegan leather lunchboxes for women

We are a community-driven brand creating multi-purpose products that have become not just an accessory in women's closets, but an essential. We provide women with a chic, functional and sustainable alternative to the traditional lunchbox we all know (and hate). 

We set out to be the female, cosmopolitan version of Yeti (currently valued at over $5B).

Strategic product assortment 

Varying in price point, functionality, and versatility—all with insulated interiors and vegan leather exteriors

Where MP is today

What makes Modern Picnic so special is not just our product, but also where we've been and the community we've built. We started selling DTC as of May 2018, and have since doubled and tripled gross revenue every year. We’ve done over $3M cumulative gross revenue from 15,000 units sold—all while maintaining an incredibly lean team of only 4 full time employees. 

We have hundreds of customer testimonials on our website. 

We've been featured in over 300 press hits in every major publication, including Forbes, The New York Times, The Today Show, & Vogue, amongst others. 

We've also built strategic relationships with other like minded brands, including Splendid Spoon, Lively, S'well, American Express and more. Last year, American Express chose MP as one of 10 businesses to represent for a small business initiative.

We've built a program of 600+ brand ambassadors from across the country. Our brand ambassadors have a $0 acquisition cost, meaning we do not pay anything to get our ambassadors to join our program—it is 100% organic. Our ambassadors are a powerful acquisition engine; and more importantly, they are a community-first group of women made to last.

Demographic representation

Over the past few years, we have been amazed by the varying professions, interests, ages, demographics, and more that our customers represent. Whether she is a vegan who cares about what her products are made out of, a new mom who needs a way to store her breast milk, or a healthcare worker who simply does not have time to leave in the middle of the day to get food—Modern Picnic is for her. 

The top MP customers are female, living in cities, and ages 18–54; all with mid-to-high discretionary income, valuing the attainable luxury price point of our product. 

3-dimensional
distribution strategy

1. E-Commerce:

We started selling DTC as of May 2018, and have since doubled and tripled gross revenue every year. We’ve done over $3M cumulative gross revenue from 15,000 units sold—all while maintaining an incredibly lean team of only 4 full time employees. While we do especially well during the holiday season, we’ve shown  consistent growth during off-season months, demonstrating strong product market fit and traction. It’s also worth noting we’ve been able to double and triple our business across the two years hit hardest by COVID and the societal shift to work from home—showing that our functionality and brand value goes way beyond the “work lunchbox." 

On e-commerce, paid ads have historically been a major form acquisition for us. However, in 2021 we have invested in diversifying our marketing mix. We created a sense of urgency around getting into more channels and implementing new tactics and tests. In 2021 alone, we introduced an affiliate program, Tik Tok advertising, SMS marketing, SEO marketing, & more—all seeing incredibly strong early traction. 

2. Wholesale: 

We work closely with Gilt & Dillards, and are excited to have just launched in Saks in April 2022. We strongly believe that with funding and a dedicated resource, Modern Picnic will be able to accelerate our wholesale channels. We project that wholesale will account for 10% of our 2022 sales. 

3. Retail: 

We are able to further foster and establish community footholds by holding yearly pop ups and events. These pop-ups have allowed us to really connect one-on-one with both customers and influencers to further grow our brand.

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E-commerce product unit economics

On e-commerce, we've maintained strong product margins of 80-90%, that will continue to improve as we scale.

TAM: Cross section of global food container market ($280B) and global accessories market ($500B)

SAM: $30B

SOM: 75M working women in the US who live in metro areas * our Customer Lifetime Value of $175 = $13B

Where we’re going

Modern Picnic will start expanding outside of
the lunchbox through 3 Pillars of Growth

Product: Part of Modern Picnic’s next phase of growth will be focused on launching a best in class product portfolio of smart storage solutions—universally carried products like food storage containers ($250B+ market), backpack (launched 3.14), hard-shelled coolers, and more.

Partnerships and Licensing:  We have been committed to strategic brand partnerships, but are now ready to talk licensing deals. S'well has done an amazing job with licensing and distribution, appearing in every “back to work” gift, conference, and more. We want to do the same with Modern Picnic.

Distribution:  We started as a DTC brand in an effort to prove the concept, build our brand equity, and tighten our supply chain. We are now ready to open up into strategic wholesale partnerships, and leverage the distribution and manpower of retailers.

$900k financing to date

Raised through our Friends +
Family Round in 2020–2021

Strategic Investors/Advisors

• Backstage Capital
• Alexandra Wilson: Co-Founder, Gilt/Glamsquad
• Michelle Grant: CEO/Founder, Lively
• Monica Royer: CEO/Founder, Monica + Andy
• Michael Setola: CEO/President, Tharanco Lifestyles
• Michael Cline: Founder, Fandango

Rooted in giving back

Modern Picnic has made a meaningful and quantifiable impact in the work we do, partnering with leading global organizations, including:

• PETA: Long-standing PETA Business Partners. All products are vegan-friendly and reusable to minimize plastic and paper waste | 2018-Present

• The Pink Agenda: Launched annual limited edition pink croc collection for Breast Cancer Awareness Month. 20% of proceeds are donated | October (annually)

• Trevor Project: Partnered with influencer, Zac Mathias, to create a Pride collection, donating 20% of proceeds to Trevor Project | June 2021

• I Am a Voter: Created a limited edition “VOTER” hand-painted collection. Donated 20% of sales to assist election program and voter turnout | November 2020

• Presidents’ Day: Launched custom “I am Speaking” products to honor Vice President Kamala Harris | February 2020

• Dress for Success: Promoted educational programs for women and youth during Women’s History Month | March 2021

Ali Kaminetsky

Founder & CEO

Ali Kaminetsky began the entrepreneurship journey when she started working at Macy’s one week after graduation. She would bring her lunch to work everyday because of how much faster, cheaper and healthier it was. However, she quickly realized she did not have a chic or functional way to do so. When she googled “lunchbox” she saw options for little kids and men, but nothing for women who wanted to look good or do good.

It was clear the outdated lunchbox needed a makeover, and from there, Modern Picnic was born. Kaminetsky launched MP with no prior experience, connections, funding or resources. Her first prototype was made out of a Whole Foods paper bag, showcasing Kaminetsky’s commitment and innovation (photo available upon request).

Kaminetsky's leadership began when she was young and shone during her time at Lehigh University, where she served as the captain of the Division 1 Tennis Team. Shortly after graduating, and starting Modern Picnic, she was accepted into an investment readiness accelerator program, Project Entrepreneur, a program catered toward founders ready to raise and scale. She then went on to complete the Start-Up Leadership Program Accelerator Program. 

Kaminetsky also recently participated in the Dream Ventures Accelerator Program. Part of the program included competing in a pitch competition, which she won on behalf of Modern Picnic. Judges included Imaginary Ventures, Female Founders Fund, Inspired Capital, Ali Wyatt, amongst others. 

Kaminetsky has additionally been recognized as the "Forbes Next 1000"—a list made up of country's leading entrepreneurs redefining what it means to build and run a business today.

Since launching Modern Picnic, Ali has grown the company exponentially—and is now ready and excited to take the business to the next level.