The Living Christmas Company Update | Season 4
Modern day Santa Claus, Scott Martin’s company provides Christmas tree delivery and pickup services. Will he earn a deal
Shark Tank The Living Christmas Company Update
- Entrepreneur: Scott Martin
- Business: Christmas tree delivery and pickup
- Ask: $150,000 for 30% equity
- Result: $150,000 for 40% equity
- Shark: Mark Cuban
Sporting a stylish handlebar mustache and a Santa Claus cap, Scott appeared on the tank to pitch his company, The Living Christmas Company. He started the pitch by sharing a story that went back to when he was 17, delivering Christmas trees, only to find them curbed with the trash right after the season.
Scott felt there had to be a better way, so he created his company to deliver trees directly to customers, and pick them up after the holidays. The tree would then be replanted, and that same tree would be delivered year after year.
Robert Herjavec asked about the cost of getting the tree delivered and picked up, learning it ranged between $100 and $200. Barbara Corcoran commented that the price point seemed high, but Scott said that customers are paying for the service and convenience.
The sharks asked about sales to find out Scott had grossed $150,000 the previous year– an impressive figure considering that a business revolving around Christmas only operates two months out of the year. Scott added that from the $150,000, he made a net profit of $33,000, and collected no salary for himself.
Mark Cuban inquired what Scott planned to do with the money if they made a deal. Scott replied that he needed the capital to build infrastructure, outfit a nursery with an automatic irrigation system, and create control over his own inventory by growing trees from seedlings to maturity.
Kevin O”Leary shared that seasonal businesses were not for him, due to their relatively short time period. He also wasn’t pleased with the price point, plus felt plastic trees would look just as nice. For these reasons, he was out.
Daymond John felt differently. He liked that Scott created a green alternative to killing trees seasonally, only to wind up tossing them out with the trash. However, he was concerned that, as the price of gas increased and the trees became larger and required more land and fertilizer, operating costs would increase and hurt the profitability of the operation. For this reason, he was out next.
Robert said he didn’t want to be a Grinch, but he was “not seeing the growth curve.” Because he didn’t believe it would scale attractively, he too was out. Barbara applauded Scott’s mission, but urged him to consider his fairly meager profit of $33,000 as an indicator that something is wrong. For that reason, Barbara was out.
Mark, on the other hand, voiced his reservations but provided Scott the opportunity to explain the merits of his business further. When Scott said that scaling would create an estimated 200 additional jobs, Mark offered $150,000 for 40% equity.
Without negotiation, Scott accepted, and the deal was made. How did things go after the tank? Did Mark bring loads of Christmas presents to The Living Christmas Company in the form of big profits, or did they wind up with lumps of coal? Keep reading The Living Christmas Company update to find out!
We have great news! As promised, Mark helped grow The Living Christmas Company, and Scott created jobs for military veterans, homeless people, and ex-convicts in need of work. In the infamously short holiday selling season, Scott and Mark were able to bring sales up to $300,000 that first season. In 2023, Find out more about the company at The Living Christmas Company website!
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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!