diff --git a/cmd/cli.go b/cmd/cli.go
index 1035dc785..a337dfaea 100644
--- a/cmd/cli.go
+++ b/cmd/cli.go
@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@ func setCliOptions() {
 	// output & formatting options
 	flag = "output"
 	rootCmd.Flags().StringP(
-		flag, "o", presenter.JSONPresenter.String(),
+		flag, "o", presenter.TextPresenter.String(),
 		fmt.Sprintf("report output formatter, options=%v", presenter.Options),
 	)
 	if err := viper.BindPFlag(flag, rootCmd.Flags().Lookup(flag)); err != nil {
diff --git a/imgbom/presenter/option.go b/imgbom/presenter/option.go
index 354e84754..91f628fc1 100644
--- a/imgbom/presenter/option.go
+++ b/imgbom/presenter/option.go
@@ -5,15 +5,18 @@ import "strings"
 const (
 	UnknownPresenter Option = iota
 	JSONPresenter
+	TextPresenter
 )
 
 var optionStr = []string{
 	"UnknownPresenter",
 	"json",
+	"text",
 }
 
 var Options = []Option{
 	JSONPresenter,
+	TextPresenter,
 }
 
 type Option int
@@ -22,6 +25,8 @@ func ParseOption(userStr string) Option {
 	switch strings.ToLower(userStr) {
 	case strings.ToLower(JSONPresenter.String()):
 		return JSONPresenter
+	case strings.ToLower(TextPresenter.String()):
+		return TextPresenter
 	default:
 		return UnknownPresenter
 	}
diff --git a/imgbom/presenter/presenter.go b/imgbom/presenter/presenter.go
index ed2eab414..421618985 100644
--- a/imgbom/presenter/presenter.go
+++ b/imgbom/presenter/presenter.go
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ import (
 
 	"github.com/anchore/imgbom/imgbom/pkg"
 	"github.com/anchore/imgbom/imgbom/presenter/json"
+	"github.com/anchore/imgbom/imgbom/presenter/text"
 	"github.com/anchore/stereoscope/pkg/image"
 )
 
@@ -16,6 +17,8 @@ func GetPresenter(option Option) Presenter {
 	switch option {
 	case JSONPresenter:
 		return json.NewPresenter()
+	case TextPresenter:
+		return text.NewPresenter()
 	default:
 		return nil
 	}
diff --git a/imgbom/presenter/text/presenter.go b/imgbom/presenter/text/presenter.go
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..016354526
--- /dev/null
+++ b/imgbom/presenter/text/presenter.go
@@ -0,0 +1,56 @@
+package text
+
+import (
+	"fmt"
+	"io"
+	"text/tabwriter"
+
+	"github.com/anchore/imgbom/imgbom/pkg"
+	stereoscopeImg "github.com/anchore/stereoscope/pkg/image"
+)
+
+// Presenter holds the Present method to produce output
+type Presenter struct{}
+
+// NewPresenter is a constructor for a Presenter
+func NewPresenter() *Presenter {
+	return &Presenter{}
+}
+
+// Present is a method that is in charge of writing to an output buffer
+func (pres *Presenter) Present(output io.Writer, img *stereoscopeImg.Image, catalog *pkg.Catalog) error {
+	tags := make([]string, len(img.Metadata.Tags))
+	for idx, tag := range img.Metadata.Tags {
+		tags[idx] = tag.String()
+	}
+
+	// init the tabular writer
+	w := new(tabwriter.Writer)
+	w.Init(output, 0, 8, 0, '\t', tabwriter.AlignRight)
+
+	fmt.Fprintln(w, "[Image]")
+
+	for idx, l := range img.Layers {
+		fmt.Fprintln(w, " Layer:\t", idx)
+		fmt.Fprintln(w, " Digest:\t", l.Metadata.Digest)
+		fmt.Fprintln(w, " Size:\t", l.Metadata.Size)
+		fmt.Fprintln(w, " MediaType:\t", l.Metadata.MediaType)
+		fmt.Fprintln(w)
+		w.Flush()
+	}
+
+	// populate artifacts...
+	for p := range catalog.Enumerate() {
+		fmt.Fprintln(w, fmt.Sprintf("[%s]", p.Name))
+		fmt.Fprintln(w, " Version:\t", p.Version)
+		fmt.Fprintln(w, " Type:\t", p.Type.String())
+		if p.Metadata != nil {
+			fmt.Fprintf(w, " Metadata:\t%+v\n", p.Metadata)
+		}
+		fmt.Fprintln(w, " Found by:\t", p.FoundBy)
+		fmt.Fprintln(w)
+		w.Flush()
+	}
+
+	return nil
+}
diff --git a/imgbom/presenter/text/presenter_test.go b/imgbom/presenter/text/presenter_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..797424b51
--- /dev/null
+++ b/imgbom/presenter/text/presenter_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,74 @@
+package text
+
+import (
+	"bytes"
+	"flag"
+	"testing"
+
+	"github.com/anchore/go-testutils"
+	"github.com/anchore/imgbom/imgbom/pkg"
+	"github.com/anchore/stereoscope/pkg/file"
+	"github.com/sergi/go-diff/diffmatchpatch"
+)
+
+var update = flag.Bool("update", false, "update the *.golden files for json presenters")
+
+type PackageInfo struct {
+	Name    string
+	Version string
+}
+
+func TestTextPresenter(t *testing.T) {
+	pres := NewPresenter()
+	var buffer bytes.Buffer
+
+	catalog := pkg.NewCatalog()
+	img, cleanup := testutils.GetFixtureImage(t, "docker-archive", "image-simple")
+	defer cleanup()
+
+	// populate catalog with test data
+	catalog.Add(pkg.Package{
+		Name:    "package-1",
+		Version: "1.0.1",
+		Source: []file.Reference{
+			*img.SquashedTree().File("/somefile-1.txt"),
+		},
+		FoundBy: "dpkg",
+		Type:    pkg.DebPkg,
+	})
+	catalog.Add(pkg.Package{
+		Name:    "package-2",
+		Version: "2.0.1",
+		Source: []file.Reference{
+			*img.SquashedTree().File("/somefile-2.txt"),
+		},
+		FoundBy:  "dpkg",
+		Metadata: PackageInfo{Name: "package-2", Version: "1.0.2"},
+		Type:     pkg.DebPkg,
+	})
+
+	// stub out all the digests so that they don't affect tests comparisons
+	// TODO: update with go-testutils feature when issue #1 is resolved
+	for _, l := range img.Layers {
+		l.Metadata.Digest = "sha256:ad8ecdc058976c07e7e347cb89fa9ad86a294b5ceaae6d09713fb035f84115abf3c4a2388a4af3aa60f13b94f4c6846930bdf53"
+	}
+
+	// run presenter
+	err := pres.Present(&buffer, img, catalog)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	actual := buffer.Bytes()
+	if *update {
+		testutils.UpdateGoldenFileContents(t, actual)
+	}
+
+	var expected = testutils.GetGoldenFileContents(t)
+
+	if !bytes.Equal(expected, actual) {
+		dmp := diffmatchpatch.New()
+		diffs := dmp.DiffMain(string(actual), string(expected), true)
+		t.Errorf("mismatched output:\n%s", dmp.DiffPrettyText(diffs))
+	}
+
+}
diff --git a/imgbom/presenter/text/test-fixtures/image-simple/Dockerfile b/imgbom/presenter/text/test-fixtures/image-simple/Dockerfile
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..79cfa759e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/imgbom/presenter/text/test-fixtures/image-simple/Dockerfile
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+# Note: changes to this file will result in updating several test values. Consider making a new image fixture instead of editing this one.
+FROM scratch
+ADD file-1.txt /somefile-1.txt
+ADD file-2.txt /somefile-2.txt
diff --git a/imgbom/presenter/text/test-fixtures/image-simple/file-1.txt b/imgbom/presenter/text/test-fixtures/image-simple/file-1.txt
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..985d3408e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/imgbom/presenter/text/test-fixtures/image-simple/file-1.txt
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+this file has contents
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/imgbom/presenter/text/test-fixtures/image-simple/file-2.txt b/imgbom/presenter/text/test-fixtures/image-simple/file-2.txt
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..396d08bbc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/imgbom/presenter/text/test-fixtures/image-simple/file-2.txt
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+file-2 contents!
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/imgbom/presenter/text/test-fixtures/snapshot/TestTextPresenter.golden b/imgbom/presenter/text/test-fixtures/snapshot/TestTextPresenter.golden
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..7e3610bde
--- /dev/null
+++ b/imgbom/presenter/text/test-fixtures/snapshot/TestTextPresenter.golden
@@ -0,0 +1,22 @@
+[Image]
+ Layer:		 0
+ Digest:	 sha256:ad8ecdc058976c07e7e347cb89fa9ad86a294b5ceaae6d09713fb035f84115abf3c4a2388a4af3aa60f13b94f4c6846930bdf53
+ Size:		 22
+ MediaType:	 application/vnd.docker.image.rootfs.diff.tar.gzip
+
+ Layer:		 1
+ Digest:	 sha256:ad8ecdc058976c07e7e347cb89fa9ad86a294b5ceaae6d09713fb035f84115abf3c4a2388a4af3aa60f13b94f4c6846930bdf53
+ Size:		 16
+ MediaType:	 application/vnd.docker.image.rootfs.diff.tar.gzip
+
+[package-1]
+ Version:	 1.0.1
+ Type:		 deb
+ Found by:	 dpkg
+
+[package-2]
+ Version:	 2.0.1
+ Type:		 deb
+ Metadata:	{Name:package-2 Version:1.0.2}
+ Found by:	 dpkg
+