S15.E01: Gatsby Chocolate; Gently Soap; Worthy Brands; Pie Wine

[JTMacc99]

Products include a low calorie chocolate, a wine to pair with pizza, a medical eye patch for children, and an herbal soap for eczema. 

[CrazyInAlabama]

Season 15, episode 1, 29 September

Sharks-Guest Candace Nelson (founder of Sprinkles, Pizzana, and Sugar Rush [on Netflix]),  Mark, Kevin, Barbara, Lori.

Gatsby Chocolate-Low Calorie Chocolate-half the calories, and 75% less sugar than most chocolates, with great taste.  Brothers founded Halo Top ice cream, they sold that company out $500k for 5%.  All of the Sharks love the taste. Sold at Walmart, and other national retailers. Sales were $2.5 last year.  35 to 40% margins.  They need national awareness marketing.   Forecast sales this year near $2 million, they lost money last year.  $10 million valuation.  Daymond out. Lori makes an offer equity, and loan mixed. Candace dislikes the packaging, and she drops out, after saying Lori is a good partner for them.  Kevin wants a deal too. Even though Lori wants the deal and to be the face of the brand, the brothers pitch to Mark.   Now, Lori and Mark team up.  One brother says when they hit 50 million in sales, they’ll sell the company. (Lots of company founders develop products to license out, or sell at a certain point.  I guess they like the challenge.)

Lori and Mark make the deal, with a sale of the company at $50 million in sales.  

Pie Wine- made to pair with pizza.  $200k for 7.5% of the company. Pie wine is a sweet pizza wine. They have three different drinks, Red Wine, White Wine, and Sweet Wine. (Sorry, I don’t drink wine, so I have no idea what I’m typing). Why is sweet wine an option for pairing with pizza?  It doesn't sound good to me. 

Sales since two weeks ago, sales in eight states, talking with 18 other states for distribution.  They think $1.5 million in a six months. One man hosts a morning radio show in L.A. The other partner runs a huge video game company. Margins are good.  It’s a sparkling, canned wine.     Kevin is launching his own sparkling wine line, so he’s out.  Mark is out,   One partner says if the Sharks don’t like the deal in a year, they’ll buy the Shark out. Daymond is out. Lori says it’s too early to invest, so she’s out. Candace is out.  

No Deal.

See Worthy Brands Medical Eye Patches- a medical eye patch designed for children. $200k for 10% of her business. Her daughter had amblyopia, treated with an eye patch.   It’s an innovative, fun eye patch for kids.  About 2 million kids have amblyopia. There are competing companies, one is bigger. Sales in 2019 $150k sales, $1.7 million in the past 4 years. $27.50 on her website, with 50 patches. She doesn’t do much marketing. She’s looking for a partner that can open doors and help her market. Kevin is out, Mark is out, says she doesn’t need a partner, she wants to license the patches, and partner with cartoon and superhero brands.   Lori is out, but offers to help seller with marketing.   Candace says the seller doesn’t need a partner.  The founder also has a line of patches for covering and easing the discomfort of chemo ports.   I wonder why she didn't mention that? 

No Deal.

Gently Soap-an herbal soap for eczema. Kristen Dunning, the seller is so dynamic.  $75k for 10%, she’s had eczema her whole life, so developed a plant based gentle soap with a mild  aroma.  There are four varieties. She’s an agricultural researcher. Everything online, launching on Amazon soon.  Sales are good and profitable.   78% customer retention.   Margins are great. 71% of the population have sensitive skin, and that’s up sharply from 55%, a couple of decades ago. Lori has a conflict so drops out, Mark drops out, Daymond drops out.

Kevin loves her, but her margins even more, and wants a royalty deal.   Kevin wants the deal for equity shares , plus a royalty. Candace likes the product, and wants to make a better deal than Kevin. Candace will hook Kristen up with a friend that has a beauty platform, for a 30% profit share, adding her marketing expertise.  

Candace makes the deal at 25%.

The show update talks about the top 15 companies in retail sales, with the 15, 14, 13 companies, three more companies listed next week. (I guess this replaced the update segments). #15 Blueland, #14 Simply Fit Board, #13 Phone Soap.   

(One of next week's pitches should be a sharp departure for the Sharks. )

Edited October 2, 2023 by CrazyInAlabama

[Quickbeam]

There have been fun eye patches for amblyopia for many years…I’m a pediatric nurse. I’m thinking back 10 years so they have been around. My spouse has amblyopia related blindness in one eye and he used to say they had nothing like that for him but we’re talking the 60s.

I test market for a major online retailer and I’ve gotten at least a hundred soaps like the Gently Soap lady was pitching. But good on her for getting a deal.

[bilgistic]

I have eczema and sensitive skin, so the soap was interesting, but $11 a bar (before shipping) is too much for me. I use Dr. Bronner's castile soap in baby mild. One 16-ounce bottle lasts forever.

[Quickbeam]

9 minutes ago, bilgistic said:

I have eczema and sensitive skin, so the soap was interesting, but $11 a bar (before shipping) is too much for me. I use Dr. Bronner's castile soap in baby mild. One 16-ounce bottle lasts forever.

Yes, Dr. Bronners is fabulous and inexpensive. 

[Kleav]

In Peanuts, Charlie Brown’s little sister had to wear a patch for amblyopia. I was surprised that none of the Sharks had ever heard of it. 

[Vermicious Knid]

Every Farmer's Market, craft fair, and community event features at least one seller with handcrafted soap without artificial ingredients and oils. For well under $11 a bar. Also Lush already exists and has a devoted following, I think is going to be a failed investment. 

Lambrusco is one of the extremely small number of red wines I will drink, because it's a sweeter wine. Considered to be pretty low-brow as these things go ($6-$8 a bottle generally). I might try Pie if they are selling singles at Total Wine. They guy who is the morning DJ at KROQ, does that mean he took over for Howard Stern when he went to satellite?

There are now Halloween novelty Scrub Daddies. 

[tired and hungry]

I completely forgot the new season episode 1 had aired!! I'm glad its back! The new set looks quite refreshing and modern! I liked the first episdode, all the people who pitched seemed nice and weren't overly dramatic.

Have we seen the guest shark before? I feel like I have seen her in some other reality based show but just cannot remember which one. Also her Cupcake ATM sounds like a silly idea to me. I can't imagine people who get a craving for a cupcake thinking "I wish there was an ATM nearby that dispenses cupcakes". But then again I have seen Cake vending machines so maybe they are popular in places that get a lot of foot traffic?

I agree with y'all. Herbal soaps for sensitive skin aren't new and there's plenty of options on the market. People even make their own soaps and sell them on platforms like Etsy so they're definitely a dime a dozen. Guess that's why she asked for 30%.

The only gripe I had this episode was the first pair of entrepreneurs didn't really seem too invested in the really growing the business. Like they just wanted to quickly get to X million and then sell the company. Like they were looking for the fastest exit strategy.

And lastly how casually the sharks asked the Pie Wine guys "What did you do?" after hearing the first guy sold his 401K. The second guy mentions he had to sell his house to start the business! As if that is a means to gauge how passionate you are about your business? Kinda sad tbh

[CrazyInAlabama]

I know there are a lot of gentle soaps out there, but I've had friends who had skin issues, and they have to try each new product, and see if it works for them.   So, even though it's a crowded sector of the market, I bet that Kristen's soaps will do very well.   

Candace Nelson not only has Sprinkles stores and vending machines, but Pizzara, and a show on Netflix, "Sugar Rush".    I know she's been on Cupcake Wars too.  She was a guest judge on Masterchef, and producer on Best in Dough.  (From other articles, she apparently sold Sprinkles in 2014, and started Pizzana in 2017, and  moved on to the TV shows). 

I think she'll be a great partner for Kristen with Gently Soap.    I'm hoping having the soap on Shark Tank helps someone discover it for their skin issues, and it helps them.   I have a relative with skin issues, and he's tried everything on the market, so I'm betting he'll try this one too.  

I'm just glad that they didn't do another season premiere live episode, the way they did for season 14.  That was horrible. 

Edited October 1, 2023 by CrazyInAlabama

[bilgistic]

Halo Top is mediocre IMO, so I don't know that I would be so crazy over chocolate the same creators invented. I don't understand why actual millionaires need to be in the Tank. They can't hire marketing experts? Meh.

I'll never forget that Lori wanted to call Bantam Bagels "Bagel Stuffins". I have forever doubted her so-called marketing panache.

I read that Candace sold Sprinkles in 2014 to a private investment group.

At least the soap woman is the kind of entrepreneur that "Shark Tank" used to feature.

Edited September 30, 2023 by bilgistic

[tired and hungry]

1 hour ago, CrazyInAlabama said:

I know she's been on Cupcake Wars too.

Yes! That's where I remember her from! Thanks!

[seacliffsal]

I'm surprised that Mark wasn't interested in the soap as he invested many years ago in Simple Sugars due to his son's skin issues.

Didn't care about the guest shark, there was something off-putting about her, at least to me.

I don't like premiere episodes without all original sharks-save the guests for other episodes.

I am glad the show is back, but the episode seemed kind of 'meh' to me.

[eel2178]

20 hours ago, Kleav said:

In Peanuts, Charlie Brown’s little sister had to wear a patch for amblyopia. I was surprised that none of the Sharks had ever heard of it. 

Amblyopia is the medical term for "cross eyed."

I guarantee that the snarks had at heard of it even if they didn't realize it.

Just like the elephant thing from season 1 that was supposed to make kids more interested in taking their medicine, the novelty of designer eye patches will wear off very quickly with the kids. Besides, I thought her designs were pretty ugly although being brightly colored may help with the sales pitch. (On second thought, the beige patches from the days of old didn't make it look as though you'd been permanently blinded from having had your eye poked out in a sword fight the way her patches which can be seen from 50feet away would do).

While patching was considered first line (and often the only) treatment for amblyopia in prior to the early 1970s, it is now considered a treatment of last resort just because of the sigma of having to wear a patch affects children's self esteem starting at a very young age. Now, glasses, eye exercises and surgery are considered to be the preferrable methods of treatment with patching coming in last place if nothing else works. Wearing glasses and frosting one of the lenses also works as well as a patch with a little less of the stigma. At one point, I know an opaque contact lens was used on the "good" eye in place of a patch, too. I don't know what happened to that method.

She also didn't say how many of the 2million children with amblyopia do need to eventually wear a patch versus those who are successfully treated with other methods.  

[eel2178]

3 hours ago, seacliffsal said:

Didn't care about the guest shark, there was something off-putting about her, at least to me.

I found her annoying as hell, too. I kept asking myself why I was so annoyed by her, then in the only deal she offered through the entire episode, she asked for 30% of the company, and I'm pretty sure her greed had a lot to do with why I don't like her. She definitely gave me a Gwenyth Paltrow vibe.

 

3 hours ago, seacliffsal said:

I'm surprised that Mark wasn't interested in the soap as he invested many years ago in Simple Sugars due to his son's skin issues.

I was waiting for him to say it would be conflict of interest for him because of this.

 

[Kleav]

17 minutes ago, eel2178 said:

Amblyopia is the medical term for "cross eyed."

Amblyopia = lazy eye. Strabismus = cross-eyed. 

[eel2178]

On 9/29/2023 at 7:01 PM, CrazyInAlabama said:

Gatsby Chocolate- Lori wants the deal and to be the face of the brand, the brothers pitch to Mark.   

 

7 hours ago, bilgistic said:

I'll never forget that Lori wanted to call Bantam Bagels "Bagel Stuffins". I have forever doubted her so-called marketing panache.

Her arrogance knows no bounds. Even after that had pretty much flatly rejected her as the face of the company, she decided to pair up with Mark to further her own agenda.

When they turned to Mark and said (paraphrasing slightly) "do you think you could find someone to be the face of our company, so we don't get stuck using Lori?" she still persisted in wanting to be part of the deal and the face of the company.

Anybody with a normal sized ego would have gone out after they made it clear that they were pitching to Mark, not her.

[eel2178]

Just now, Kleav said:

Amblyopia = lazy eye. Strabismus = cross-eyed. 

Lazy eyes are crossed due to weak muscles.

[eel2178]

7 hours ago, bilgistic said:

At least the soap woman is the kind of entrepreneur that "Shark Tank" used to feature.

She's an MBA, and she gave up 25% of her company when Kevin only wanted 10% (what she had asked for) and a royalty.

She should have tried to negotiate down the royalty instead of giving away more equity.

[SG429]

17 hours ago, bilgistic said:

I'll never forget that Lori wanted to call Bantam Bagels "Bagel Stuffins".

Speaking of which, from https://www.foodrepublic.com/1342682/bantam-bagels-shark-tank-now/

Quote

 

In May 2022, Lancaster Colony, the parent company of T. Marzetti, made the decision to say goodbye to the Bantam Bagels brand for good. The main driver of the choice was poor financial performance due to pandemic-related factors like the cost of "raw materials, packaging, freight and labor, coupled with restructuring and impairment charges," notes Baking Business.

Starbucks, who had sold Bantam Bagels nationwide since 2018, decided to discontinue the product precisely because of that same pandemic pressure and decreased store traffic. It was a hit Bantam Bagels simply couldn't withstand, and Lancaster Colony basically decided to cut its losses.

 

[Sir RaiderDuck OMS]

12 hours ago, eel2178 said:

Amblyopia is the medical term for "cross eyed."

11 hours ago, Kleav said:

Amblyopia = lazy eye. Strabismus = cross-eyed. 

11 hours ago, eel2178 said:

Lazy eyes are crossed due to weak muscles.

My daughter (born in the mid-1990s) was diagnosed with Amblyopia when she was a toddler. Amblyopia is NOT caused by weak eye muscles, although the crossed eyes (Strabismus) may be. Amblyopia is what happens when your brain starts ignoring the crossed eye altogether. If it goes on too long, your brain will eventually forget how to use that eye and you'll be more or less blind in one eye permanently. When my daughter was diagnosed at four years old, she couldn't even read the top letter (the huge "E") on the eye chart with her bad eye. Fortunately, patching and glasses worked wonders for her, and her vision with glasses is fine today.

 

19 hours ago, bilgistic said:

Halo Top is mediocre IMO, so I don't know that I would be so crazy over chocolate the same creators invented. I don't understand why actual millionaires need to be in the Tank. They can't hire marketing experts? Meh.

Remember that a lot of these entrepreneurs come onto the show both to find a shark to partner with, AND for the free 10-minute prime-time advertisement for their product. They win either way as long as the Sharks like the product.

 

On 9/29/2023 at 9:46 PM, Vermicious Knid said:

Every Farmer's Market, craft fair, and community event features at least one seller with handcrafted soap without artificial ingredients and oils. For well under $11 a bar. Also Lush already exists and has a devoted following, I think is going to be a failed investment. 

It sounds like Candace may be developing some kind of Lush competitor (i.e. high-end, all-natural body products). If so, this soap would fit in perfectly. 

As someone who's suffered from intermittent eczema for most of his life, I was interested in her story, but I don't use bar soaps. I agree with the other posters that Dr. Bronner's soaps are awesome.

[KaveDweller]

On 9/30/2023 at 9:44 PM, eel2178 said:

When they turned to Mark and said (paraphrasing slightly) "do you think you could find someone to be the face of our company, so we don't get stuck using Lori?" she still persisted in wanting to be part of the deal and the face of the company.

Lori is rather arrogant, but it was Mark who called her over for them to talk about a joint deal. She looked like she was going to back out before that. I actually thought their joint offer was terrible, I am surprised the people agreed.

I felt like Lori didn't come off well in this episode though. She told multiple people who she was confused by their packaging and couldn't tell what the product was. While she may have a point about bad branding, it is not that hard to read a label and figure these things out.

[JTMacc99]

23 hours ago, Sir RaiderDuck OMS said:

Remember that a lot of these entrepreneurs come onto the show both to find a shark to partner with, AND for the free 10-minute prime-time advertisement for their product. They win either way as long as the Sharks like the product.

Getting the free advertisement was the first reason I thought those guys were here. But it became pretty clear (by the way they were super willing to take any decent offer) that what they were looking for was real help to fix the problems with their product.

Having already been successful entrepreneurs, they were much more capable than most of the people on this show of seeing that they were NOT on the path to $50M of annual sales, which is (per them) the number they need to hit to make it a win.

I thought this was a really good example for everybody who comes on this show with their first product. Identify what a shark can do for you; identify the financial goal you need to hit; be willing to trade off a stake in your company that assures that the shark wants a bite of that carrot as much as you do, and make a deal when all of that lines up.

[potatoradio]

Did the pie wine people actually say that wine with pizza was pretty unheard of or novel or did I make that up (because this was kind of a snoozer for a premiere)? If they actually said that? My dudes....wine and pizza is not exactly the mind-blowing pairing you think it is. Not that far a stretch from wine and pasta, ya know? Now, if you were talking WHITE wine and pizza...that might have sent Mr. Wonderful into convulsions of wine snobbery, but psssst, it's pretty decent. 

Or was their point that instead of buying a whole bottle, you could get single serve wine to go with a pizza? Anyway, the packaging looked really busy to me so for once I agreed with Lori's "I don't understand what this is" critique. If I see a busy, busy package in a store, I walk by. 

And shut up, Gatsby people. If I were worried about sugar and calories in chocolate, I wouldn't eat it. But I'm not and I do. Also, super thrilled to hear of yet another artificial sweetener being introduced. Loved the dodge on the question "Are there artificial sweeteners in here?" "We use alluose." So.....answer is yes. Go away. 

Soap woman seemed awesome and I think Candace is a good partner for her who can blow up her brand, but I would not want to try to stand out in the handmade, natural, hypoallergenic, blah blah blah soap market that is more crowded than a pre-pandemic New York rush hour subway. 

 

[Cotypubby]

I was not a fan of the guest Shark. “Knowing how many calories are in a product is a part of toxic dieting culture.”

Fuck off with that bullshit.

[CrazyInAlabama]

Knowing the calories and fats in a product is also a requirement for consumers.  Nice to know that the cupcake and pizza marketer thinks nutrition labeling is part of the 'toxic diet culture'.   Nope, it's a requirement for a lot of people to limit certain items in their diet.   

After my gall bladder removal, I had to stay under 30% fat intake, or suffer the consequences, so I understand why the nutrition labeling is necessary.  If someone doesn't care about the fats and calories, and what's in their food they can just not look at that.   

[Shrek]

Fiona makes cupcakes, she should be on Shark Tank as she would make more sense than the "guest shark" on this show. Almost but not quite as bad as that idiot Paltrow.

[eel2178]

On 9/30/2023 at 10:47 AM, tired and hungry said:

her Cupcake ATM sounds like a silly idea to me. I can't imagine people who get a craving for a cupcake thinking "I wish there was an ATM nearby that dispenses cupcakes". But then again I have seen Cake vending machines so maybe they are popular in places that get a lot of foot traffic?

 

I've seen a cupcake vending machine at the Las Vegas airport (also where the DoughP vending machine is). I've never checked the brand name, so I don't know if it's one of hers. I've never checked the prices either.

I had thought we had moved on past cupcakes being en vogue a long time ago.

I've used Buddy V's Cake Slice vending machine at Harrah's Casino in Las Vegas. It's a pretty big slab of cake for ~$9. It's pretty comparable to buying a slice of cake at a sit down restaurant. The cake is good but not outstanding. It's worth it if you want cake and happen to be in the vicinity of the machine. It's not worth going out of your way to find the machine.

[DEL901]

With the name Gatsby, I’d be thinking rich and decadent, not low calorie and that big number on the front…I’d think it was a cocoa count or something similar.  

Lori was right…confusing packaging.  

[Kiss my mutt]

I couldn’t stand the guest Shark. I had to guffaw when she told the pizza wine that they are too kitsch-says someone who sells cupcakes from a vending machine. 

[Vermicious Knid]

I knew there were cupcake vending machines here in Las Vegas but didn't realize they were Sprinkles. Apparently there was one at the Linq but it closed. I believe the airport and the Fashion Mall still have theirs. 

[seacliffsal]

I don't know how much I would trust a cupcake/cake vending machine.  I would feel like the items might not be fresh.  I guess it's more of a "I want it and I want it now" item.  When I was in Vegas, part of the fun was going to the amazing restaurants,etc., so I would rather find a bakery and savor the environment as well as the dessert.

[marny]

I don’t think the guest shark was voicing her own opinions about nutritional content on packaging. She was saying younger people now see the focus on calories as a part of toxic diet culture (which, it is) and their marketing won’t work on them. Gen Z cares more about health than weight, and sees the notion of pushing “diet food” as toxic. I wish I’d grown up that way too but unfortunately I was part of the Snackwells generation. While people may watch calories for health reasons, those same people shouldn’t be eating artificially sweetened diet chocolate. They’re better off just eating less actual chocolate. And Halo Top is disgusting. 

[DEL901]

4 hours ago, marny said:

I don’t think the guest shark was voicing her own opinions about nutritional content on packaging. She was saying younger people now see the focus on calories as a part of toxic diet culture (which, it is) and their marketing won’t work on them. Gen Z cares more about health than weight, and sees the notion of pushing “diet food” as toxic. I wish I’d grown up that way too but unfortunately I was part of the Snackwells generation. While people may watch calories for health reasons, those same people shouldn’t be eating artificially sweetened diet chocolate. They’re better off just eating less actual chocolate. And Halo Top is disgusting. 

The low calorie/low fat versions are never as satisfying so you end up eating more.  I agree,  Best to have a smaller portion of the real thing. 

[LuvMyShows]

On 10/1/2023 at 10:07 PM, KaveDweller said:

I felt like Lori didn't come off well in this episode though. She told multiple people who she was confused by their packaging and couldn't tell what the product was. While she may have a point about bad branding, it is not that hard to read a label and figure these things out.

Lori was absolutely right about both the Gatsby's and especially the Pie Wine. For PIe Wine, the only place that the word "wine" appears is in teeny-tiny letters at the very top. The huge part is "PIE", and "Pizza's new side piece" along with the flavor name are the only other readable words without doing a super-close examination. Their website is super-horrendous, and mainly features begging for investment money. I'd say the Sharks were right to pass on this.

For Gatsby's, they do have new packaging. The logo still features the martini glass in the Y of Gatsby, but the color and design are brighter and less masculine/liquor-bottle looking. Interestingly, they have changed the calorie count on the front from being 180, which was the calories of the total bar, to 60, which is the calories per serving. I'm guessing the deal with Lori and Mark fell apart, because the website mentions "WE DON'T HAVE THE SHIPPING CAPABILITIES OF A BIG COMPANY YET, BUT WALMART HAS YOU COVERED". It's available at Walmart on-line and in their stores, but that's it...other than someone on Amazon selling a 6-pack of two of the flavors, and when you click on their GATSBY STORE, it takes you to a GATSBY site for Japanese hair wax!

On 9/30/2023 at 12:41 AM, Kleav said:

In Peanuts, Charlie Brown’s little sister had to wear a patch for amblyopia. 

I was coming to post this exact thing...nice to find another old-school Peanuts fan!  I found that in 1968 the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare published "Security is an Eye Patch," a pamphlet collecting strips dealing with Sally’s amblyopia.