S02.E09: Beyond The Tank Episode 209

[yeswedo]

Robert Herjavec and Mark Cuban made a deal in season 4 with Nuts N More, a protein-packed peanut butter. They now need advice on expanding into mass-market retail. Bambooee, a "green" paper-towel alternative that Lori Greiner invested in during season 5, prepares for a QVC appearance. Kevin O'Leary saw potential in the single-serve wine glass made by Zipz during Season 6. Kevin wants to set up a meeting with a hospitality giant, but Zips needs a co-packer who can handle the high volume.

[ae2]

Has this show gotten any better since the first couple episodes of the season? In other words, is it worth continuing on for someone who loathes the emotional sap stories but likes the business part?

[Good Queen Jane]

This episode was really focused on the business aspects, so focused that it almost put me to sleep. If I ever invent a product, the first thing I'm going to do is line up a co-packer and get into trade shows.

[bilgistic]

One of the nut guys (really, they were interchangeable) had a nameplate outside his office. It read "Hollywood Pete". For some reason, the camera showed this a few times as part of a long shot down the hallway. "Hollywood Pete" strikes me as a really douchey nickname.

Why did the completely bald wine guy wear a hair net at the co-packing factory?

[starri]

Probably for the same reason that drive up ATMs have Braille keypads.

 

I learned the answer to one of life's great mysteries:  Lori does in fact own a pair of pants.

 

I think Bambooee is an interesting product, but Noam the salesman would be exhausting after about 30 seconds.  But I still thought Lori was being awfully passive-aggressive when she was trying to muzzle him.

 

I actually did think the Zipz segment was fairly interesting.  The company still seems to be circling the drain, but I guess they've got a chance to save themselves.  I'm not really interested in their house label toilet wine, and I'm no that keen on wineries that use cutesy brand names (Chillin' for a Chilean label), particularly if it's a box wine.  I mean, Robert Mondavi and Yellow Tail aren't exactly quality either, but they would still be much bigger gets than that.  And if a competitor is already using the Zipz glass, why would someone else want to sign on?

 

And I'm really not sure that the Beautiful People who are STK One's target market are going to be that into drinking from something that looks like that.  Their rooftop bar in the Meatpacking District, Plunge, doesn't even have Kevin's wine on the menu, so that deal doesn't look like it was the roaring success we were meant to think.

[bilgistic]

Toilet wine!

Kevin's wine label looked like something Lori and her "brand expertise" cooked up. It looked like the frame design on paper money, with "O'Leary" something or another in the middle. Cash money!

This may be an unpopular opinion, but I think the world could do with fewer winemakers. Maybe I should put "winemakers" in parentheses.

[phoenix780]

I couldn't get past the nuts people because it felt like a commercial more than anything. They just kept talking about how great their ingredients are.

It's a shame, I'm curious about shark tank businesses, watching this just felt wrong.

[Amarsir]

On 4/20/2016 at 5:46 PM, phoenix780 said:

I couldn't get past the nuts people because it felt like a commercial more than anything. They just kept talking about how great their ingredients are.

It's a shame, I'm curious about shark tank businesses, watching this just felt wrong.

Call me cynical, but it made me wonder if they followed up that segment by cutting the ingredient quality.

If your margins aren't good, you have to cut costs. Lowering the ingredients is a common way to do that. And if I was going to do that, the best time would be immediately after a segment aired on national television proclaiming how great our quality is.