Next, Marti Wymer and Scott Gustafson of Spoonful of Comfort enter “Shark Tank,” seeking $400,000 for 10 percent equity.
Spoonful of Comfort literally sends a “spoonful of comfort” to those who need some ready-to-eat comfort food. Their website explains that “if you can’t mail a hug, this is the next best thing.” The founder was inspired to deliver chicken soup in order to provide comfort to her mother, who had been diagnosed with lung cancer in 2007. Sadly, her mother died weeks later and never had the opportunity to try her soup.
But since 2008, Wymer’s goal has been to deliver as much comfort to as many people as possible in her mother’s honor. “Whether you have an ailing mother, a child away at college with the flu, or a grandchild with an ear infection, Spoonful of Comfort can help you show that you care with gourmet gift baskets.”
The care packages include gourmet soup and hand-made cookies and bread rolls. The sharks find the food delicious, but not the price. The boxes cost $69.99 and standard shipping runs at $14.99. They’ve made $1.08 million to date.
Barbara Corcoran thinks the practicality lacks in that sick people can’t receive the soup overnight without extra shipping charges. She also thinks it’s a “nutty” idea and goes out. Mark Cuban thinks they’re more so in the marketing industry and goes out.
Daymond John finds issue in scalability so goes out as well. Lori Greiner doesn’t like the model either and goes out. Soup-lover Robert Herjavec goes out too because they didn’t iron out all of the kinks in the business. Mr. Wonderful Kevin O’Leary says he doesn’t know how to reduce their customer acquisition costs and is the last to go out.
Each week on “Shark Tank,” budding entrepreneurs have the opportunity to pitch their emerging business to six multi-millionaire and billionaire investors, known as sharks: Mark Cuban, owner of the Dallas Mavericks; Daymond John, fashion mogul and founder of FUBU; Kevin O’Leary, self-proclaimed Mr. Wonderful and founder of O’Leary Financial Group; Barbara Corcoran, real estate maven; Lori Greiner, queen of QVC; and Robert Herjavec, technology guru and founder/CEO of the Herjavec Group.
“Shark Tank,” which is based on “Dragons’ Den,” is produced by Mark Burnett and first debuted in 2009. To date, the sharks have invested more than $87 million in various companies after engaging in numerous bidding wars and shark fights. A new episode airs each Friday at 9 p.m. on ABC.
To view the social reactions to Spoonful of Comfort’s appearance on “Shark Tank,” click here.
Do you like the idea behind Spoonful of Comfort? Would you send one of their care packages to someone? Share your thoughts in the comments section below!