Fila Manila Filipino Foods Update | Shark Tank Season 15
Entrepreneur Jake Deleon pitched his food company during
If you’re short on time, here’s a quick overview of what happened to Fila Manila after
Jake Deleon appeared on
| Shark: | Result: |
| Daniel Lubetzky | Accepted deal for $250,000 for 20% equity, plus option to get back 5% |
| Kevin O’Leary | $250,000 for 10% equity, plus a royalty of 5-8% until $500,000 is recouped |
| Lori Greiner | No offer |
| Daymond John | No offer |
| Mark Cuban | No offer |
Shark Tank Fila Manila Update
- Entrepreneurs:Â Jake Deleon
- Business:Â Packaged Filipino food
- Ask:Â $250,000 for 5% equity
- Result: $250,000 for 20%, with the option to get back 5% equity
- Shark:Â Daniel Lubetzky
Jake Deleon is a first-generation Filipino American, but he says it’s nearly impossible to find representation in grocery stores. Until now, that is, because he’s developed a line of packaged Filipino foods, called Fila Manila.
He’s hoping to bring Filipino flavors to every home in America. However, he needs help from a shark to expand his business.
Of his products, his first is Banana Ketchup, which is a nostalgic Filipino food. It’s made with bananas instead of tomatoes, and it also contains less sugar, carbs, and calories than tomato ketchup.
He also makes an Adobo Sauce, because as he says, Chicken Adobo is the unofficial national dish of the Philippines. Thirdly, he makes a sauce called Kare-Kare, which is a Filipino peanut sauce.
The cooking sauces simply need to be added to the vegetable or protein of choice, helping to make a quick meal.
Last but not least, he makes Ube and Coconut Jam which is the perfect topping for a dessert. The sharks have the pleasure of taste-testing all of his products and seem to be blown away by the flavors.
In terms of sales, 2020 brought in $6,000, which grew to $50,000 in 2021. In 2022 he did $400,000, while YTD he’s at about $150,000. That said, he anticipates ending the year with $800,000 in revenue.
As far as costs are concerned, Jake manufactures a sauce pouch for $1.60. These pouches then wholesale for $3.33, and retail for around $5.99.
Fila Manila began in one Whole Foods store, which eventually grew to an entire region, then into 4 regions. This breaks down into 90% of their sales being from retail, and 10% online, mostly coming from Amazon.
Lori Greiner chimes in to add that she thinks Jake needs to do a better job at enticing people who are not of the Filipino community to buy the products. However, because he didn’t present a plan on how he would do that, she’s out.
Jake interjects that he does have a plan, which includes building content. Mark Cuban interrupts at this point, to tell him that’s a terrible plan.
Furthermore, Mark doesn’t think there’s enough demand, so he ultimately goes out next.
Next is Daymond John, who says he’s got terrible heartburn from the food, though delicious, drops out. He says if he can’t eat it, then he can’t be an advocate for it.
For Kevin O’Leary, the numbers just aren’t adding up, so he’s also out.
Last but not least, guest shark Daniel Lubetzky is the only shark willing to take a chance on Jake. He offers $250,000 for 20% equity.
Unpredictably, Jake pulls out a golden ticket that says “Royalty”. With that, he counters Daniel, along with the 4 sharks who have already dropped out, with $250,000 for 5%, plus 5%-8% in royalties until they get their investment back.
Before Daniel can respond, Mr. Wonderful, the king of royalty deals, is suddenly back in the game. Kevin offers $250,000 for 10% equity, with royalties of between 5-8%, until he doubles his money.
Before answering, Jake asks Daniel what he’s thinking, to which he counters Jake with $250,000 for 20% equity. This deal includes an option to get 5% of equity back if he meets certain sales benchmarks.
Without hesitating any longer, Jake takes Daniel’s deal. Keep reading our Fila Manila update to find out what happens following
We got a chance to chat with Jake for an exclusive Fila Manila update. “I’ve been a fan of
Jake told us that being on the show was one of the best experiences he has had and he was proud to put a national spotlight on Filipino cuisine and culture.
Of course, the spotlight also led to a massive increase in sales. “Both our online sales and retail stores immediately spike from the moment I walked on the carpet to pitch,” Samuel told us. “For online, we generated more dollar sales within 48 hours of airing than we did in online sales in 2023.”
As for his deal with Daniel, it’s currently going through the due diligence stage. But in the meantime, he has partnered with Camino Partners, which helped grow KIND to a national brand.
Looking toward a future Fila Manila update, Jake told us that he is working hard to continue to expand “both at retail with more national retailers as well as online.” At the time of writing, you can find products in Whole Foods, Target, Stop & Shop, and a variety of privately owned grocery stores all around the country.
If products aren’t available where you live, you can also order them from the Fila Manila website.
The future is looking very bright for Jake and we cannot wait to see where our next Fila Manila update takes us!
In the meantime, you can check out our other company updates from Season 15 Episode 16 by following the links below!
For even more on companies and products, be sure to stop by our Season 15 Products Page before you go!
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!
