Simply Good Jars on 'Shark Tank': What is the cost, who is the founder and are these salad jars good for your health?
Hunger and wastage of food is a major problem in our world today. While there are thousands of people who go hungry as they can't afford food or have no time to prepare it, several tonnes of food is wasted every single day. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations estimates that one-third of the food that is produced for human consumption is wasted in the United States alone. According to the United States Department of Agriculture, nearly $160 billion worth of food is wasted in the country annually.
Chef Jared Cannon, who worked as a chef in several prestigious restaurants, was no stranger to this fact. Watching the amount of food that was being thrown away from the kitchen and restaurants used to make him extremely uncomfortable. So, the young chef launched Simply Good Jars, with the aim of not only reducing food waste and combatting hunger but also giving people access to healthy and nutritious food. As Cannon prepares himself to pitch for his brand on 'Shark Tank', here is all you need to know about this passionate entrepreneur, and his interesting product.
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What is Simply Good Jars?
While most of us prefer to eat healthy food regularly, thanks to our demanding daily lives and time constraints, we often have to turn to fast food to satiate our hunger pangs. When the founder of Simply Good Jars, Jared Cannon, found himself in a similar situation, he decided to take charge of the matter, and came up with the idea of packaging fresh, locally sourced, chef-made, and most importantly ready-to-eat food that has all nutritious ingredients so that there's no excuse to eat junk food anymore. Simply Good Jars was launched in November 2017 with $1,000 and motto of "Eat well, feel good, waste less".
The brand's website describes their jars as, "These aren't your typical to-go meals. Our founder + chef put immense thought into each recipe, sourcing high-quality, whole-food ingredients, and invented a patent-pending packaging technique to preserve freshness + flavor." "Our promise is under 600 calories, super tasty and five-days fresh,” says Cannon. “We aren’t trying to hide anything. The ingredients are simple; it’s an easily-understood product. You know, it’s a clear jar — you can literally see what is in it.”
Alongside providing nutritious food, the company also aims at reducing plastic wastage, and combatting the hunger problem by donating a meal each time one of the jars is pledged for "repurpose, reuse, or recycle."
"We do not believe plastic should become waste. Our signature durable jar is designed with the goodness from the start. After enjoying your meal, scan the QR code on the jar + pledge to repurpose, reuse, or recycle your jar. In doing so, you’ll help us keep our jars out of landfills. For every pledge received, we will donate to a local food organization to help feed someone in need," the website explains.
Who is the founder?
Chef Jared Cannon is the mastermind behind Simply Good Jars. "Working full time and studying to earn my MBA at night — eating a meal usually meant something fast, easily available, and often unhealthy. My fast-food choices had me feeling guilty, tired, and never satisfied. I realized that this wasn’t a challenge for just me — that there was an incredible need outside of traditional eateries for faster, healthier, food options that are actually delicious…so I took the leap," Cannon shared on the brand's website.
In 2017, Cannon took a huge risk by leaving his 18-year career as a chef to star Simply Good Jars. Within just six weeks of its launch, Simply Good Jars managed to amass a waitlist of 400 people, who were keen on trying out this unique salad jar. The waitlist has more than doubled ever since, and people still can't wait to try out these uniquely crafted salad jars.
What is the cost and where to buy it?
Currently, there are five variants of Simply Good Jars available in the market — SouthWestern Cobb, Smoked Salmon, Simply Greek, Heavenly Pesto, and Chicken Quinoa. The SouthWestern Cobb variant has the goodness of chicken, spring mix, corn, cheddar, tomatoes, bacon, red onion and chipotle-ranch dressing. While Smoked Salmon jar contains Israeli couscous, arugula, smoked salmon, cucumber, radish, fennel, scallions and Aji-lemon vinaigrette.
Simply Greek contains farro, arugula, tomatoes, feta, red onion, cucumber and Kalamata olive vinaigrette. Heavenly pesto has Israeli couscous, basil pesto, spring mix, mozzarella, sweet peppers. Chicken Quinoa variant has red quinoa, spring mix, chicken, aji-lemon vinaigrette, cucumber, fennel and pine nuts. These jars retail for between $9.49 to $10.99, depending on the salad jar variant. You can buy it online here.
What is the company up to now?
In October 2020, the brand announced on their Instagram page that the founder Chef Jared Cannon had been selected as EY Entrepreneur of the Year Award for 2020. "We are excited to share that our Founder + CEO, Jared Cannon, has been selected as an Entrepreneur Of The Year® 2020 Greater Philadelphia Award Winner! Jared has been recognized for his leadership in overcoming adversity, financial performance, societal impact and commitment to building a values-based company, innovation, and talent management. @ey_us has been at the forefront of identifying game-changing business leaders around the world for over 30 years with the Entrepreneur Of The Year Award. It is an honor to be recognized among other visionary leaders and by a program with such a legacy."
Who will steal the deal?
Lori Greiner or Mark Cuban might most likely close the deal. But since the sharks are extremely unpredictable, we will just have to watch the episode to see if Cannon does manage to close a deal with a shark.
'Shark Tank' Season 12 airs every Friday at 8/7c only on ABC.