Guy Vaknin, executive chef and owner of NYC’s Beyond Sushi, enters The Shark Tank seeking $1.5 million for a 25% share of their west coast business and 5% of the business on the east coast.

Key Takeaways:

  • Product: Vegan sushi and plant-based food chain.
  • Investment Ask: $1.5 million for 25% of west coast business and 5% of east coast business.
  • Shark Response: Secured a deal with Lori Greiner and Matt Higgins for $1.5 million, with 30% equity in the west coast and 15% in the east coast operations.
  • Latest Update: Beyond Sushi is scaling operations to meet the rising demand for plant-based cuisine on the west coast.

What is Beyond Sushi Exactly?

Beyond Sushi is a vegan grab-and-go casual style restaurant that serves high-quality plant-based sushi.

Beyond Sushi’s extensive menu includes salads, wraps, dumplings, and plant-based sushi rolls. This year, Beyond Sushi is projected to make $5.6 million and enjoys high profit margins on their traditional rolls.

The company was created in 2012, currently has six locations around New York City and is looking to expand to the west coast where the vegan push for clean living is arguably more substantial than in Manhattan. Although Beyond Sushi is well-established on the east coast and having a higher share in those profits would be attractive to The Sharks, Guy is offering a higher share in the west coast operations which are still unproven and unknown.

This can be very scary to an investor and creates a lot of concern for Matt Higgins who currently has businesses in this industry.

What Did the Sharks Decide?

As The Shark’s discuss Beyond Sushi’s business model and financial request, Matt Higgins appears very interested but is concerned by the misalignment of the amount of ownership in what’s already successful in the east coast business and what has yet to be proven in the west coast business.

To strike a deal, Matt is looking for a higher percentage of the east coast company. Matt and Lori Greiner both think that Beyond Sushi would be even more popular on the west coast than it is the east coast, due to the culture and popularity of clean living and the vegan movement, but they want to be sure that their investment is more inclusive of the already profitable side of the business.

They make an offer to Beyond Sushi and settle for a combined investment of $1.5 million for a 30% share of west coast business and a 15% share of east coast operations.

Closing Thoughts

What are your thoughts on Beyond Sushi’s deal with Sharks Lori Greiner and guest Shark Matt Higgins?

For a full summary of this episode, check out this article. Shark Tank airs on Sundays at 9:00 PM EST on ABC.