Truffle Shuffle Update | Shark Tank Season 12
Truffle Shuffle is a company dedicated to providing restaurants with high-quality, 100% natural truffles with 0% artificial flavoring. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the founders, Jason McKinney and Tyler Vorce have since shifted their business model to a virtual cooking class. Although it has been quite successful, Jason and Tyler wanted to team up with a shark who could help them plot out their next move. After offering 5% equity in their business in exchange for $500,000 in funding, the founders ultimately ended up walking away from the
Shark Tank Truffle Shuffle Update
- Entrepreneur: Jason McKinney and Tyler Vorce
- Business: High-quality truffle supplier for restaurants with a virtual cooking class
- Ask: $500,000 for 5% equity
- Result: $501,000 for 18% equity
- Shark: Mark Cuban
Jason and Tyler founded Truffle Shuffle as a way of making money by hunting down truffles and supplying high-end restaurants with the hard-to-find ingredient. Unfortunately, because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the two ended up having to change their entire business model. To save their perishable products from being an expensive waste, the two chefs launched paid virtual cooking experiences that offered informative and instructional classes that made use of their provided ingredients, which, of course, included truffles.
Since shifting to a new business model, Truffle Shuffle grew exponentially, going from $486,000 in sales in 2020 to $1.4 million in 2021. This created an entirely new problem for Jason and Tyler. Do they continue pursuing the new business model or should they go back to their former model now that restrictions have eased up a bit? Stuck between a rock and a hard place, the two were desperate for some advice from a shark.
Kevin O’Leary, Robert Herjavec, and Mark Cuban, each had a different idea for Truffle Shuffle. However, Mark, who had already gone out after everyone had said what they wanted to say about Truffle Shuffle, went back in to offer to invest $500,000 for 20% equity. After some careful negotiations, the duo would end up agreeing to a $501,000 investment for an 18% equity stake, with the founders believing that Mark’s background in technology could help them improve the quality of the virtual classes that they offered.
Now that Truffle Shuffle is under Mark Cuban’s care, it’s time for a Truffle Shuffle update.
Since appearing on
Truffle Shuffle is currently in 75% of Whole Foods and is expanding, while also offering more classes than ever. So it looks like the future is bright for the mushroom-based company. When we get a more official Truffle Shuffle update, we will be sure to let you know.
Before you go, be sure to check out some updates on the other companies featured in Season 12 Episode 21:
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