Joyebells Update | Shark Tank Season 16
When Joy B. Moore started selling Joyebells pies in big stores, they wanted her to add preservatives so the pies could sit on shelves longer. This changed the taste, and even though sales went up, she wasn’t making enough profit. To fix this, she went back to selling refrigerated pies and found a new partner to help lower costs while keeping the homemade flavor people love. Will the sharks take a bite and invest? Let’s get into our Joyebells update and pitch recap to find out.
If you’re short on time, here’s a quick overview of what happened to Joyebells after
Joy entered
In terms of a Joyebells update, the company expanded its retail presence, securing deals to launch its original recipe pies in Schnucks and Kroger.
| Shark | Result |
| Mark Cuban | No offer |
| Barbara Corcoran | No offer |
| Kevin O’Leary | No offer |
| Lori Greiner | No offer |
| Robert Herjavec | No offer |
Shark Tank Joyebells Pitch
- Entrepreneur: Joy B. Moore
- Business: Premium refrigerated pie
- Ask: $600,000 for a 10% equity
- Result: No deal
- Sharks: None
Joy runs Joyebells, a company that sells Southern-style peach, pumpkin, and sweet potato pies.
The recipes have been in her family for six generations, and now she is bringing them to customers nationwide.
Her goal is to share comfort food that brings people together, and to do that, she sells her pies through major retailers like Sam’s Club and Food Lion.
At first, Joyebells made pies that could sit on store shelves for a long time to meet the needs of big retailers.
But adding preservatives changed the taste, and they no longer had the homemade flavor she wanted to keep.
So, Joy decided to go back to selling refrigerated pies instead. This choice cost her two major clients, but she believed staying true to the original taste would bring long-term success.
Talking about her background, Joy narrated to the sharks that she had been baking for over 30 years while working in nonprofit education. However, her journey to entrepreneurship was not easy.
She shared that she had been homeless as a teenager but still managed to graduate high school with a 3.79 GPA.
Her resilience was inspiring, but the sharks needed to understand if her business could be just as strong.
Kevin O’Leary quickly turned the conversation to valuation, questioning why the company was worth $6 million. In response, Joy revealed that she had $16.1 million in lifetime sales, which impressed the sharks.
In 2023, she made $7.7 million in revenue, an 8.85% gross profit, and a 1.38% net profit. However, the sharks were alarmed to hear that sales were expected to drop to $4.3 million in the coming year.
Robert Herjavec pressed for answers, and Joy explained that stepping away from shelf-stable pies had temporarily reduced sales but was necessary for maintaining product integrity.
At this point, Robert asked for clarification on the term “ambient,” and Joy explained that it referred to shelf-stable products with preservatives.
She further noted that major retailers preferred ambient pies for mass production, but those high-volume sales didn’t translate to higher profits for her business.
Therefore, she decided to focus on refrigerated pies, even if it meant scaling back temporarily.
Each pie cost $5.23 to make, and she sold them to stores for $7.84. Retailers then priced them at $10.99. While that seemed like a decent margin, Kevin pointed out that her net profit was too low.
He asked how she planned to cut costs down to $4.25 to improve profits. Joy explained that she had partnered with a new manufacturer, which would lower costs to $4.96.
But Kevin argued that the savings weren’t enough to make the business profitable. Barbara Corcoran said she helped Daisy Cakes raise prices and suggested that Joy do the same.
Joy said she was open to it, but the final decision would be up to the retailers.
Even though the sharks loved the pies, they saw problems with the business model. Robert called them the best pies ever featured on the show but admitted he couldn’t solve the pricing issues.
Kevin was blunt, saying, “Your costs are too high. You will never make money this way.” Mark Cuban agreed, adding that while the product was great, Joy’s $600,000 ask for 10% equity was too high for an investment.
And so, one after another, all the sharks declined to make an offer, and Joy left without a deal.
Let’s get a Joybells update to see if the sharks’ rejection spurred Joy to change her story one more time.
Shark Tank Joyebells Update
Our Joyebells update found that the company received a big boost in sales after airing on
These pies are perfect for upcoming occasions like Easter, Mother’s Day, and Father’s Day.
Excitingly, our Joyebells update found that it is expanding its retail presence. They plan to launch in Costco locations in the Northeast in late 2024.
Furthermore, their original recipe pies will soon be available in Schnucks stores across the Midwest and in Kroger stores in the Mid-Atlantic region.
Pies can be purchased from retailers or online through the Joyebells website.
Once the dust settles we will be back with another Joyebells update.
For other company updates from
Before you go, be sure to check out our list of all the Shark Tank Season 16 pitches.
Marvin Uzor
Marvin Uzor is a content contributor for Shark Tank Recap. He specializes in crafting engaging, well-researched content that delve into the latest Shark Tank stories, keeping readers hooked. He has a soft spot for his favorite Shark Tank companies, Bombas and Doorbot, known for their innovation and impact.