Custard Stand Food Products Update | Shark Tank Season 7
Custard Stand Food Products started in a restaurant location owned by grade-school sweethearts Dee and Angie Cowger. With the wild success of their restaurants (including one charter location and five franchises), they decided to release their popular chili in retail stores. What will the sharks think about their chili on
Shark Tank Custard Stand Food Products Update
- Entrepreneurs: Dee and Angie Cowger
- Business: All-beef hot dog chili
- Ask: $400,000 for 10% equity
- Result: No deal
- Shark: None
During their at-home segment, Dee and Angie described their restaurant. They opened Custard Stand Food Products about 24 years ago, and it had a hometown feel that customers were drawn to. With all of the food they sold, their chili was the most popular. An investment could help them turn their hometown business into a national chain.
When they entered the tank, Angie explained that their chili recipe was from her grandfather. It had been in the family for generations and now keeps their customers happy. It was all beef and didn’t use any fillers or additives. The chili had no beans, but the chili soup they offered had beans and a little more heat. When they passed out samples, the sharks liked it.
Last year, the company had $1.6 million in revenue. $217,000 of that was in regional stores, but they wanted to scale to a national brand. Daymond John liked the chili but not the price. He didn’t think $400,000 was enough for what they wanted to do, so he went out.
Then, Dee and Angie explained that their company is about $700,000 in debt for their entire business. $300,000 of that debt was for their restaurant, but $400,000 was for the retail chili. Lori Greiner liked the chili as well, but she liked hers with a little spicier. She went out.
Robert Herjavec loved their story and the product, but rolling it out nationally was too challenging. He went out, and Kevin O’Leary followed. He had an issue with their high valuation and it wasn’t going to work for him.
This left Mark Cuban. Mark loved their story and said that they were the American dream. However, he didn’t want to deal with the moving parts of the business. He went out, leaving Dee and Angie without a deal. Where did that leave the business? Find out in our Custard Stand Food Products update.
Despite not getting a deal from the sharks, our Custard Stand Food Products update research showed that the company is thriving. Online sales increased over 5,000% since the episode aired. In 2022, they launched over 600 Kroger stores across the South and Midwest. With both online sales and retail, Custard Stand Food Products is doing about $15 million in annual sales.
But what about the other products featured in Season 7 Episode 19? You can find our company updates for those products here:
Before you go, make sure to stop by our Season 7 Products Page for even more on companies and products.
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!