Chocomize Chocolate Bar Customization Update | Shark Tank Season 5

Chocolate is a popular sweet treat, but innovation in the dessert hasn’t changed much over the years. That’s why Joey Dauenhauer has created a company offering chocolate bar customization. Will he earn a sweet deal on Shark Tank Season 5? Find out in our Chocomize update!

Shark Tank Chocomize Update

Chocomize Update

  • Entrepreneurs: Joey Dauenhauer
  • Business: Custom chocolate bars
  • Ask: $500,000 in exchange for 20% equity
  • Result: No Deal
  • Sharks: None

Joey brought his custom chocolate bars to the tank. His company Chocomize, allows customers to create their own chocolate bars online, choosing from different flavors and toppings, then adding custom messages, edible photos or corporate logos

He told the sharks that his German business partner, Fabian, started the company in 2010. Joey joined 18 months later, and became an 18% shareholder. Fabian’s share was half of the company. Joey later revealed that Fabian couldn’t join him for the pitch because only U.S. citizens or legal residents can appear on Shark Tank.

The bars cost about $2 to make, and sold for about $6 each. In their first year, Chocomize had $500,000 in sales. In the following year, the year prior to filming, they had $440,000 in sales.

Kevin O’Leary wondered how he would be able to get his investment back from “a guy with 20%” of the company. Joey said it would take three to four years, and that their company would be a lucrative acquisition for any of the companies that mass-produce chocolate. Mark Cuban disagreed, saying that those companies could do it themselves, if they really wanted to.

In an unexpected twist, Kevin asked Joey to leave the company, saying he would give him $500,000 to start from scratch with 25% equity in the business, and Joey could be his “chocolate guy.” Joey declined.

Robert Herjavec didn’t like it when Joey said his company dominated the custom chocolate market with only about $500,000 in sales per year. He felt that Joey was fudging the numbers on the size of their market share. Mark wasn’t nuts about the fact that the company hadn’t done anything to differentiate themselves from similar companies.

Barbara Corcoran said the customization process was too expensive, and the dated packaging was too vanilla for her taste. Robert, Mark and Barbara were out. Lori Greiner was next. She said the business made a very niche product with limited demand. Preferring to invest in companies with wider appeal, Lori was out.

Kevin wasn’t kidding about his earlier offer, so he gave it one last shot, asking Joey to accept his offer. Joey declined and left the tank without a deal. What happened next for this chocolate company? Keep reading our  Chocomize update to find out!

We’ve done the research for our Chocomize update and we’re glad to report that, despite not getting a deal, the company is still in business! As the show was airing, they received a huge boost in sales. Then in 2017, they shifted their focus to big-batch orders, such as corporate clients and weddings. Products are available for order on the Chocomize website.

Would you like to learn about the other companies featured on Season 5 Episode 10? Follow the links below for our other company updates from the episode.

For even more on companies and products, be sure to stop by our Season 5 Products Page!

 

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Andrew Smith is the founder and owner of Shark Tank Recap. He is a longtime Shark Tank fan that has been watching it for years and has seen every episode multiple times. His friends know him as the Shark Tank expert, because he can answer any question about the show! His favorite Shark Tank products are Bertello's pizza oven and Bug Bite Thing!