'Shark Tank': Why did Truffle Shuffle founders close $501,000 deal with Mark Cuban instead of Robert Herjavec?
Who doesn't love some yummy gourmet food made with high-end ingredients? Unfortunately due to the pandemic eating out at our favorite restaurants has become a far-fetched dream, and most of our culinary skills won't hold a candle to the gourmet food that we crave. So two chefs Jason McKinney and Tyler Vorce teamed up to create meal kits with high-end ingredients, and online cooking classes to accompany them and named it Truffle Shuffle. Due to the current environment, the product became an instant success and began raking in some good money. The duo stepped into 'Shark Tank' to pitch to the famous Sharks and raise some capital for their business.
Mark Cuban managed to close a deal with the Truffle Shuffle founders in his typical style despite initially backing away from making an offer, Mark's fellow Shark on the other hand was extremely interested in the product from the get-go and made a very tempting offer, yet he didn't manage to bag the deal. In case you're wondering why then we got you covered.
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Jason and Tyler entered the Tank seeking an investment of $500,000 in exchange for a 5% stake in their company. Although they had an impressive sales figure, their profits were unfortunately very low. This put off Daymond John, Lori Greiner, and Mark Cuban from making an offer. But Kevin O'Leary aka Mr Wonderful was intrigued by the business model and made an offer that unfortunately didn't exactly seem very tempting to the entrepreneurs.
Luckily for them, Robert Herjavec stepped in and made a better offer than Kevin's. The Shark was willing to part with his $500K but only in exchange for a 20% stake. Jason and Tyler liked the offer, but they had their heart set on closing the deal with 'Dallas Mavericks' owner. So they wondered if Mark would be open to jumping back in and making a joint deal with Robert. The billionaire Shark agreed and asked them to come up with a counteroffer for him. After some deliberation, the duo decided that they would like to bring on both the Sharks for $500K in exchange for a 7% stake for each of them in the company.
Both Mark and Robert weren't pleased with the offer as they felt that they deserved more equity in the company. So, they slyly turned to Mark and asked him if he would be willing to invest more in exchange for a higher stake in the company. Mark agreed and made a final offer of $501K for an 18% stake. The duo agreed and the deal was made, while Robert just watched in shock.
The entrepreneurs later explained that they came into the Tank with Mark as their target, as he was a great entrepreneur and felt that he would be able to take Truffle Shuffle to the next level.
'Shark Tank' Season 12 airs every Friday at 8/7c on ABC.
