‘Shark Tank’: Couple rejects $1 million offer as sharks try to take away ownership of their vegan-based chicken business
The drama on ‘Shark Tank’ is subtle but fun to watch. This week’s episode which aired on Sunday, October 6, saw a couple pitch their idea to the sharks and they even managed to get them interested before deciding to walk away from the offer.
Fans are divided over the couple’s decision to step away from the offer given to them by two sharks—Mark Cuban and Rohan Oza.
The young couple, Deborah and Jonathan Torres, came on the show seeking an investment of $500,000 for a 10% stake in their company Atlas Monroe, which sells a vegan version of chicken wings. The presenters made a very unconvincing pitch as the numbers stated by them were very confusing and had the sharks thinking that something wasn’t right with the company. Yet, they were hooked to the presentation owing to the yummy food.
By the end of the couple’s presentation, all the sharks passed on investing in the enterprise, except for Mark Cuban who saw great potential in the company. He initially made an offer of $500K as a line of credit for a 30% stake in the company. Later, he roped in Rohan Oza and made some changes to his initial offer. They both decided to shell out a whopping $1 million and 10% in royalties for a 100% stake in the company.
The couple didn’t seem too keen to take on the offer. They declined the offer citing that they didn’t want to work for someone and would rather own their own company and work for it.
The sharks tried their best to reason with the couple about how Rohan and Mark would help the company to go to the next level and the couple wouldn’t have to lift a finger. But they didn’t give in and walked away.
Fans were divided over the couple’s decision. Several fans criticized the couple for walking away from such a lucrative offer.
“That couple had no idea what they were doing , business-wise . Mark and Rohan would of blown that vegan chicken up big time, the 10 percent royalty ( in perpetuity) would of dwarfed the million dollar initial payment. Wow , they messed up big time #SharkTank [sic]”, a fan tweeted.
“Holy crap. These @atlas_monroe idiots on #sharktank just walked away from $1 million & 10% in perpetuity from Mark and the Vitamin Water dude. Good luck with that vegan chick'n, y'all, [sic]” another fan wrote,
Few fans came forward to extend their support of the couple’s decision to walk away from the offer and retain their ownership.
One pointed out, “Thank you for not taking the 1million deal, they only wanted the recipe so they could start a new company or sell it to whoever, they always wanna take everything from us instead of working with us #SharkTank [sic]”. Another fan wrote, “It's good they didn't take the offer for the fact it's worth way more than what they were offering them go back online and watch the show & you u can understand why they didn't take the million dollar offer smart move it's worth way more than 10% #SharkTank”.
New episodes of 'Shark Tank' Season 11 air at 9 pm ET only on ABC.
