Business

After a few years, it became a 200 million USD brand

As he pushed a cart filled with boxes of pancake mix (a type of cake made with flour, eggs, milk and butter, usually made in a pan), knocking on door-to-doors in the neighborhood to sell goods, the 8-year-old boy Joel Clark didn’t imagine that was the beginning of Kodiak Cakes, which would later be valued at nearly $200 million.

Kodiak Cakes is a pancake mix made from plant-based ingredients, which is healthier than traditional ingredients. Joel Clark, co-founder and CEO of the company, is also an 8-year-old boy.

In fact, Kodiak Cakes was developed from the recipes of Joel Clark’s mother, who was always interested in making healthy, healthy dishes for family members.

Startup priced at 1 USD on Shark Tank to raise capital, was commented by Shark as too trivial: After a few years, it became a brand worth 200 million USD - Photo 1.

Back in the past, in 1994, Jon Clark, Joel’s brother, decided to turn a pancake mix created by his mother into a serious business. Jon asks Joel for help. Their healthy, non-GMO products are quickly embraced by consumers.

In 1997, Jon reached an agreement with QFC Groceries, the first grocery chain to sell Kodiak Cakes. However, the sales speed was quite slow, the first two years the revenue was less than 30,000 USD. This frustrated Jon because he needed money to support his small family. He then offered to sell the startup to Joel for just $1, and Joel agreed to take over.

Wanting to expand his business, Joel found a way to get the product sold in more supermarkets and grocery stores by sending them some free samples. In 2004, Joel achieved initial success when Kodiak Cakes was sold in 1,200 Safeway stores, bringing in sales of $150,000. By 2013, Kodiak Cakes had achieved sales of more than $3.5 million and was available on the shelves of the Target supermarket chain.

1 year later, Joel and Cameron Smith, the company’s Chief Operating Officer decided to join Shark Tank to raise capital and expand the business. Despite using the mixture to create delicious pancakes to “fish” the program’s “sharks”, unfortunately, Kodiak Cakes was not successful.

Joel offers an investment of $500,000 for a 10% stake in the company. At that time, the two leaders revealed that they were able to enter the Target supermarket chain. The initial order at Target was $260,000, but the pair predict the number will soon surpass $1 million in the next year. They need an investment from the Sharks to expand the market, as well as support in marketing and product marketing.

Startup priced at 1 USD on Shark Tank to raise capital, was commented by Shark as too trivial: After a few years, it became a brand worth 200 million USD - Photo 2.

However, Shark Kevin O’Leary is not interested in those numbers. He thinks their products are too mediocre, and easily crushed by the big players in the industry. Still, Shark offered the couple $500,000 for a 50% stake in the company, a stake so high that “tankmate” Robert Herjavec called it a “deal with the devil.”

Robert Herjavec made a more favorable offer than Kevin O’Leary: $500,000 in exchange for a 35% stake.

One of the show’s two female sharks, Shark Barbara Cocoran, offers $250,000 in return for 20%, but the couple will have to convince the second shark to invest an additional $250,000. At this time, Shark Kevin O’Leary continued to offer to join but he wanted $ 250,000 for 25% of the shares, bringing the total investment of the sharks to $ 500,000 for 50%.

The other two sharks quickly left the tank because Shark Lori Greiner said she didn’t like pancakes. Meanwhile, Shark Mark Cuban feels this brand will face many obstacles from competitors in the industry and together decide not to invest.

Thus, in the hands of the heads of Kodiak Cakes remaining 2 investment proposals: Kevin O’Leary joins Barbara, with a total value of $ 500,000 for 50%. Robert Herjavec invests alone with 35% stake or $500,000.

In the end, the couple turned down both offers. They felt the valuation the sharks were offering was too low and left without a deal with Shark.

Startup priced at 1 USD on Shark Tank to raise capital, was commented by Shark as too trivial: After a few years, it became a brand worth 200 million USD - Photo 3.

Although Kodiak Cakes did not receive any investment from Shark Tank, in return, the company attracted a lot of attention from consumers. Six weeks after the show aired, they made $1 million in sales.

When the time came to stop, then, Joel and Cameron decided to launch a new product line containing a lot of protein, not genetically modified. At this time, the high-protein diet and the sports movement are on the rise, so the new product is well received.

Currently, Kodiak Cakes has dozens of different products with annual sales up to hundreds of millions of dollars. In 2019, Kodiak Cakes reached 160 million USD in revenue. In 2020, the company’s revenue is approximately 200 million USD.

In May 2021, the couple sold the company to the investment fund L Catterton for an undisclosed amount. However, as of November 2021, both Joel and Cameron are still working at Kodiak Cakes.

https://cafebiz.vn/startup-gia-1-usd-len-shark-tank-goi-von-bi-shark-nhan-xet-qua-tam-thuong-sau-vai-nam-thanh-thuong- understanding-triage-200-trieu-usd-20220525135502668.chn


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