Kelvin Slush
Kelvin Slush

This week, Tilman Fertitta meets with Alex Rein and Zack Silverman, lawyers turned entrepreneurs, of Kelvin Slush.

Kelvin Slush offers organic frozen cocktail mixes. Their slush is gluten-free, vegan, all-natural and kosher. They also do not use any high-fructose corn syrup or artificial colors/flavors. According to their website, it all started with a Brooklyn-based food truck back in 2010 and has since grown to an award-winning mix that is now served in restaurants and bars around the country. Their base syrup flavors include ginger, citrus, tea, margarita and pina colada and can be used in non-alcoholic beverages or cocktails. Their website features numerous recipes, in addition to an online order form. Most of their cocktail mixes cost $109.95 for a four pack on Amazon.

Fertitta likes the taste and is impressed by their business operations. He is not as impressed, however, with their cost per serving of 80 cents, which does not include a machine upcharge. He challenges them to test their frozen cocktails in one of his restaurants using a blender, rather than their machine.

Despite getting numerous requests for the drink, speed and consistency for producing the drink are not there. Customers also do not like the noise from the blenders and the ingredients get stuck at the bottom of the blender. The customers like the taste but Fertitta realizes the drinks cannot be made with a blender given consistency issues. He also still has his concerns over the price point. He decides to test the frozen Moscow Mule in other locations.

In the boardroom, they tell Fertitta they got the cost down to 66 cents per 12-ounce serving, which impresses him. However, their projections of 20 per location per day for three years concern Fertitta, in addition to needing the machines, increasing again to 77 cents per serving. Fertitta thinks it’s too much of a niche product and given the high costs, he declines to make a purchase order.

According to CNBC, the reality television show “introduces promising companies across the country to one of America’s most successful businessmen: billionaire hospitality mogul Tilman Fertitta, Chairman, CEO, and sole shareholder of Landry’s, Inc.” Featured entrepreneurs present their small business to Fertitta in the hopes that he will place a large purchase order. But before they make their pitch, they must prove to the hospitality mogul that their product is worth it through challenges and customer feedback.

Social Media Reacts to Kelvin Slush’s Appearance on “Billion Dollar Buyer”

What are your thoughts on Kelvin Slush? Do you think Fertitta should have made an offer? Sound off in the comments section below!