On a recent episode of the popular show ‘Shark Tank’, a recent college graduate lander herself an opportunity with one of the sharks.
Only about 10 months ago, recent college graduate Melissa Bartow set out to create her own condiment brand. Fast-forward to a few days ago, Bartow successfully raised $100,000 in funding for her condiment brand after striking a deal with Shark Tank’s Mark Cuban.
The vegan condiment brand––called Wanna Date?––earned the funding deal after Bartow introduced the date-based spreads to the Shark Tank team on the show. In response, Mark Cuban offered the $100,000 in exchange for a 33 percent equity share in the company with Bartow.
The Wanna Date? line of spreads comes in several flavors––such as pumpkin spice, vanilla, chocolate, and cinnamon––that Bartow hopes will help satisfy her customer’s sweet tooth in a vegan and healthy way.
Rather than being chock full of sugar and other artificial sweeteners, Wanna Date?’s products are simply made with dates and natural sweeteners instead. The spreads are very comparable to apple butter or nut butter in texture and flavor.
On the show, Cuban told Bartow, “I just went vegetarian, so I’m always looking for things that are healthy for my family. 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?”
After an unsuccessful attempt to counter Cuban’s offer, Bartow gladly accepted Cuban’s offer.
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