Maniac Pumpkin Carvers | Shark Tank Season 15
Artists and pumpkin carvers, Marc Evan and Chris Soria, pitched their carving business during
If you’re short on time, here’s a quick overview of what happened to Maniac Pumpkin Carvers after
Marc Evan and Chris Soria appeared on
| Shark: | Result: |
| Kevin O’Leary | No offer |
| Mark Cuban | No offer |
| Barbara Corcoran | No offer |
| Lori Greiner | No offer |
| Jason Blum | No offer |
Shark Tank Maniac Pumpkin Carvers Update
- Entrepreneurs: Marc Evan and Chris Soria
- Business: Pumpkin carving business
- Ask: $150,000 for 8% equity
- Result: No offer
- Shark: None
High school best friends, Marc Evan and Chris Soria presented the sharks with an impressive display of their carved pumpkins. These Maniac Pumpkin Carvers have mastered the skill of pumpkin carving and are now ready to help others learn how to do it like the pros too.
Although they say that their school of pumpkin is still ‘growing on the vine’, they’re looking for a shark to make this dream of theirs a reality. They’ve been teaching art for well over a decade already, so this is a natural next step for them.
They want to help people get away from the classic jack-o-lantern carvings, and move onto bigger and better designs with ease. Lori Greiner wants to know more about the business, and what they’re actually buying into, as well as what the tangible thing is that the consumer is buying.
Marc shares that throughout the last 3 years, the pandemic really drove a wedge into their business. Since they had relied on in-person events, the pandemic really hurt their sales.
However, they eventually shifted to an online business model to offer classes, events, and demonstrations.
Guest shark Jason Blum, CEO of Blumhouse Productions, wants to know more about sales.
Marc says that in the last 3 years, they’ve sold over $170,000 in virtual class experiences to corporate clients. Additionally, they also sold $90,000 in tool kits.
Lori points out that they didn’t bring the tool kits with them to
Additionally, in the prior year, they did sales totaling $294,000, which included all things pumpkins, including custom orders. While they do much of the work themselves, they also have a team of carvers that they pay during the peak weeks of October.
Kevin O’Leary wants to know how they would get his face on a pumpkin, and wonders if they’re using some kind of laser. Marc says they’re lifelong artists and do all of the carving by hand.
This prompts Mark Cuban to ask how much it would cost to get Mr. Wonderful’s face carved into a pumpkin so that he can smash it on Halloween. The tank erupts in laughter, and Marc quotes him $600-$800, and Mark says it’s worth it!
Jason wants to know more about how they work around such a short timeframe, with it being a seasonal business. Marc says that between August and September, they stay busy with custom orders for promotional pieces.
Barbara Corcoran believes that the guys are barking up the wrong tree, so to speak, and should be using their carving skills to make sand castles too, as an example. Because they’ve limited themselves to pumpkins, she is out.
Kevin doesn’t think that the business is actually scalable. For that reason, he is also out.
Mark doesn’t really want to invest in a pumpkin carving business, so he is out next.
Lori says it doesn’t make any sense to compete with the other pumpkin carving tools and stencils that already exist. She is also out.
This leaves Jason, but he’s not interested in investing. He thinks they’d eventually need to sell a lot more product, but also doesn’t feel that the artists would be happy doing that, so he’s out.
Without any offers, Marc and Chris are ultimately forced to leave
Research for our Maniac Pumpkin Carvers update revealed that the company is still in business. Although it’s too soon to report on year-end sales, we’re sure that the company will get a nice boost in sales and marketing from their appearance on
You can find information on seminars, news, and events on the Maniac Pumpkin Carvers website. Further, you can also find merch, however, there are no signs of pumpkin carving kits yet.
As we get more news on a Maniac Pumpkin Carvers update, we will let you know!
In the meantime, check out our other updates from the companies featured on Season 15 Episode 5:
For even more on companies and products, be sure to stop by our Season 15 Products Page!
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!