The Sharks Accuse The Creator of Wanna Date? of Having Everything Handed To Her | Shark Tank US

[Music] next into the tank is an entrepreneur's obsession turned into a business [Music] hey sharks my name is melissa bartow i'm from new york city and i'm seeking 100 000 for 20 of my company wanna date i had my first date just three years ago during college and let me tell you i've had a lot of dates ever since at least a few every day sometimes even more sharks i love dates so much that i created [Music] want a date a line of date-based spreads that are natural vegan and get this they're totally allergen free you see sharks dates are my absolute favorite fruit these tasty little things satisfy all my cravings pound me through my workouts and keep me energized all day long i love dates so much that i wanted to spread them on everything and the best part is that my date spreads come in all of your favorite flavors chocolate vanilla cinnamon and let's not forget pumpkin spice and at just 30 calories per serving wanna date is the perfect go-to alternative for any nut butter or syrup out there so sharks then we're cheating on your diets what do you all say want a date on a date yep well you'd love to try it yes i know you could all use a little more love in your life [Music] thank you that's a big tree of food thank you do you have just a natural date or they're all flavored all flavors shame you didn't get us enough food yeah really yeah thank you all right thank you melissa you are welcome [Music] to last a lifetime thank you wow oh yeah what is this yogurt base that is an acai bowl with mixed berries on top and chocolate date spread drizzled next to that is a bowl of overnight oats sweetened only with vanilla wanna date a stack of pumpkin spice wanted date pancakes and then a date butter and banana sandwich with cinnamon water and a side of cinnamon dates spread bacon so delicious i like them that but it tastes so sweet are you sure it's only um 30 calories per serving dates typically have a lot of calories yes so if you think about it most jams and jellies are actually 40 or 50. nut butters are actually 80 to 90 calories plus we don't add any oils we mix with water here's a fact melissa you may not know the date fruit along with camel milk can sustain a human being indefinitely that's how many bedouins centuries ago lived in the desert absolutely this is the remarkable you know because i know what people don't understand about the date is one of the healthiest fruits on earth and actually is lower cal than many fruits no the dates are super fruit i tell everyone dates are the next like it is those are cauliflower in terms of food they're delicious but so underutilized tell us about your sales and how you're selling it it's been about 10 months to date i've sold to date just under 31 000 10 of that's been through my website and then 35 is through events i go to christmas markets around new york city on the weekends vegan fares and 55 is wholesale melissa tell us about you originally i'm from just northwest georgia a town called kennesaw and i just graduated from nyu actually three weeks ago are you working on this 100 of the time because 31 000 in sales living in new york city you know how do you support yourself my dad supports me still so how much does one jar cost you to make uh right now it cost me two dollars and forty cents to make with the label and all i sell it excuse me that's a lot yes i can get costs down though to about a dollar seventy or eighty and what do you sell it for on my website for twelve dollars twelve dollars yes and people are willing to pay twelve dollars a jar yes i've actually never had anyone complain about twelve dollars per jar yeah did you do any type of market research though where you would like reach out to people and ask them would you buy this how often would you use it things like that um not formally but also i've learned people have no idea what they do want you know amen the challenge with that is you're there right and you're educating them right when i first started i used to stand out on 125th street in harlem right outside the apollo when the apollo theater let out and i got really good responses they told me what they thought about my t-shirts and my mama everything right um but then when i went to put it in stores it didn't move when nobody was there to tell the story i got stuck so i think it's a crowded market that i know nothing about and i think it's going to be a challenge really just educating people on how badly they need this so i'm out okay i feel like it's very early for us to know if people want dates or not it was delicious um i wish you good luck but i'm going to go on i hope you change your mind i'm going to make dates mainstream the same way avocados and cauliflower everything that's why i chose flavors to lower the inhibitions of customers who have never had dates heard of dates some of the health benefits but melissa why didn't you do just a plain flavor for people who like dates so i do have actually i just developed a plain flavor but why are the flavors at all to start if you're going to turn dates into a superfood you got to let the star of the show be the star of the show so where you going i'm just i'm disappointed in some respects [Music] two sharks are out and mark has an issue with the line of flavors of melissa's date butter company wanna date the plain flavor's coming i know but would you do just that and then the band in all the places right now yeah because if you want to make it a superfood make it the star of the show here's where for me it falls apart when i was starting my business if i didn't make a deal within two weeks i was dead i needed to live somewhere and eat what is in your way i believe is that your father is helping you because succeeding is an option versus a necessity and i found that the people that really succeed have a real necessity they have to do it or the sky's going to fall in with the absence of that i can't believe enough to put my money in so for that reason no well i won't be homeless if this fails but i do everything on my own i've i run my webs sorry like my dad just believes in me you know like i'm i'm i've never had anything handed to me in my whole life i'm not like a rich kid i don't sleep i carry cases of this all over new york i work events i do them all myself nobody helps me but take away that security blanket of having a rent paid and the comparison would be like night and day what you can accomplish i've seen it over and over again with so many people failure is just when you quit i don't quit so this won't fail because i will go until it succeeds listen i i started out and my mother mortgaged the house and without her mortgaging the home i couldn't have financed my first couple of shirts so i mean that's barbara's opinion you know what melissa i don't agree i understand from an investment perspective there really there is value in someone's backs against the wall we've all faced it right but that's like saying the barber's right that means none of our kids can never do anything on their own and i can't i refuse to believe that like i hate asking him for money and this is the first time i've ever had to and i'm gonna pay him every single penny back that's why i work hard every day melissa my problem with your deal is it's too early to be worth half a million bucks there's a lot that's going to happen before you actually get scale and i wish you the best but i'm out [Music] so now there's me and you do you have competition is there anybody else selling date butter the closest thing is one that's full of coconut oil coconut butter it's hot 10 times the calories it has fat it has cholesterol i just went vegetarian so i'm always looking for things that are healthy healthy for my family absolutely when you walked in and other than thinking what the hell was this initially the idea of a date spread was great because i love dates but you got to be smaller cheaper easier to ship and you have to make dates just plain are you willing to do all that absolutely we can look into other packaging options absolutely okay so i'll make you an offer a hundred thousand dollars but i want 33 33 right because it's going to take some time it's going to take some effort but there you go that's your you got an offer what do you want to do [Music] because i've learned that it never hurts to ask no no oh my gosh i have it already you can counter do it go with your gut this is your business just tell mark cuban to take a walk i'm excited [Music] i've been an underdog my whole life barbara not believing in me is just one in another million people and i always prove everyone wrong i just work harder i put my head down and hustle and i'll just keep doing that that's what i've always done and always will do you

Channel: Shark Tank Global

Views: 4,827,448

Keywords: Shark Tank, Shark Tank US, Shark Tank Australia, Kevin O’Leary, Barbara Corcoran, Daymond John, Robert Herjavec, Mark Cuban, Lori Greiner, Dragons’ Den, Money Tigers, Entrepreneurship, investment, reality tv, dates, vegan, vegan spread, nutrition, date spread, rich kid, shark tank us season 11, shark tank season 11 episode 12

Id: 5hEeDh5hoPQ

Length: 10min 29sec (629 seconds)

Published: Tue Oct 19 2021