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Hi, there.

My name is Jared Cannon from the great city of Philly, and I'm seeking $500,000 for 7% equity in my company.

Sharks, if you couldn't tell, I'm a chef.

I've prepared some of the most exquisite meals you can even imagine.

But my favorite to prepare is, you're never going to guess, a salad.

But not just any salad, Sharks.

I make a mean smoked salmon salad with pearled couscous, fennel, radish, feta, and aji amarillo vinaigrette that will knock your socks off.

What if I told you you could have a five-star meal served to you right in a jar?

Well, that's where we come in.

At Simply Good Jars, we are revolutionizing the packaged salad to create simply delicious, simply beautiful meals bursting with every bite.

So say goodbye to messy, flavorless, and boring greens, and hello to fresh, vibrant, nutritious salads packed into our easy grab-and-go jars.

So just shake it up, and the salad will mix itself.

You can eat directly out of the jar.

And if you need to take a break or make a move, simply cap it, and you're good to go.

And the best part, all our jars are returnable.

So for every jar that we get back, we not only reuse it to help Mother Earth, but we also donate one meal to feed someone in need.

Good for you.

Sharks, at Simply Good Jars, we believe fresh, healthy food should be easy to grab as a bag of chips.

So tell me, who wants to shake things up and help us create the new standard for eating on the go?

Can we try it?

Of course.

It really shakes.

Yeah.

You know, I really thought seeing it all layered there that it wouldn't, but it does.

Yeah, it's very deceiving.

That's wild.

Wow, yeah.

Just want to shake the other one now.

Oh!

Okay.

Smoked salmon.

This is very, very good.

Thank you, thank you.

It's really good.

Thank you.

Yeah, it's fresh.

Wow.

It is fresh.

What's the shelf life of it?

So it's a nine-day shelf life.

Why can't anybody just put together a jar that's shake and bake, and I made it at home, right?

So the whole jarred salad thing is like a Pinterest fad.

It's been around forever, but nobody's ever commercialized it.

I see a cooler here.

Are you selling this where people are putting it into their own coolers?

So before COVID, the primary revenue driver for our business was, you know, really supported by this fleet of these smart coolers that we would put into places where there was kind of a captive audience, not a lot of access to food, let alone fresh food.

Like what kind of places?

Hotels, airports, convention centers, office buildings, universities.

So after COVID?

So, as you would imagine, all the places that we had distribution, 98% were gone.

Yeah.

So literally almost overnight.

So we had to figure out how were we going to follow that customer to where they were now, right, which was at home, working, shopping at their local store.

And we were able to very quickly make the pivot to retail.

And the reality was salad bars went bye-bye, right?

Grocery stores.

That will stay bye-bye.

Oh, yeah.

And they might not come back.

The industry thinks if they do come back, it's still going to be about two years.

Great point.

Yeah.

And Jared, how'd you get into retail?

How did you make that transition?

So between Easter and Memorial Day, we went from four locations to 230 doors.

Wow.

We launched Walgreens in Chicago, and then we launched 175 C stores.

And we partnered with Cloud Kitchens, and we're able to list our products on these meal delivery platforms, where now we get low-friction trial.

That's where you maximize your margin, and that's where you make the most money, right?

Can you afford the 30% that they take?

Oh, yeah.

It's only 10%.

Okay, but are you going to actually, as a company, set up a Cloud Kitchen for each major demographic?

Yeah, so our contract with Cloud Kitchens is national.

And what do you sell one for?

So jars sell from $8.99 to $10.99 today.

And what do you sell it to the retailer for?

So on the wholesale model, we're selling it $5 to $6.

It costs us about $2.50 to $3.60.

So you're making about $3.50 each.

All right, why don't we talk about your numbers?

So first of all, excellent, excellent, excellent.

Oh, thank you.

So what did you do last year?

And then what are you on track to do this year?

So last year we did just shy of about $300,000.

$300,000?

$300,000 last year.

Wait a minute, hold on.

Wait, I want to make sure that I heard the evaluation correctly.

You want $500,000 for 7%?

Oh, yeah.

All right, talk to me, baby.

What are you on track to do this year?

So we're already, we're $475,000 year-to-date.

We're on track to do about $700,000, $750,000 this year.

$750,000? And how much will you make on that?

We're not profitable.

We won't be for about a year.

And how much have you raised?

We've raised $2.5 million to date.

Oh, wow.

I know.

A lot of that was predicated on buying 60 of these things and really funding that model.

You did say that you're not going to make any money this year.

Correct.

What did you lose last year?

Probably not next year either.

What did you lose?

$900,000.

Last year you lost $900,000?

Yep.

How much did you lose?

We're going to probably lose that this year again.

Ouch.

We more than doubled our revenue.

But hear me out.

So this is a food company that we're looking to take to a national distribution in 18 months.

We have the relationships, the production, and the distribution.

We're building this to a $50 to $100 million company in the next two years.

How much of your own money did you invest in this?

So I started this entire company on a $1,000 loan.

Really?

Oh, yeah.

I've been working on this for probably five years.

And how much of the company do you own?

51%.

Ooh.

Ooh.

Who owns the other $40?

We have probably about a cap table of maybe 12 other individuals and groups.

But I've assembled a team to take this to scale in a big way and do it smartly.

So we're paying for that.

Jared, I think you're in trouble.

I hope not.

I don't believe I'm in trouble.

You know, you're going to need several more raises.

You're not going to be in control of the company anymore because you're 51.

You're going to lose control right here today.

I'm not worried about that.

I'm worried for you, man.

Why?

Look, Yvette, if I'm going to raise a Series A, I'm going to lose control.

No entrepreneur that's going to take something to the level that we are shooting for is going to have 80% of the company in his pocket.

Do you remember plated?

Yeah.

Oh, yeah.

That was my deal.

Your numbers are identical in the second year.

We were losing between $900 and $1.5 million for three years in a row.

Right.

It is expensive, baby.

Sure.

So that was a big, big, big burn.

And it was scaring the living you-know-what out of me until we sold it to Albertsons for $340 million.

Sure.

So I'm a believer in this space, and I like the product.

So I'm thinking you're going to need to raise somewhere between another $5 and $10 million.

That's exactly what we're doing right now.

Okay.

And so that's extremely dilutive.

I'm going to make you the same offer I made the plated guys.

They choked on it, but we all made a lot of money later.

I will do the $500,000 as debt at 9.5%, and I'll take the 7% as equity.

Interesting.

So that you're not going to dilute yourself anymore.

And that 7% is going to get diluted down to about 4% by the time you finish.

Yep.

And it'll help you with the A-Round.

A lot more than that.

You know how to do that syndication.

I love the deal, so I'm definitely considering it.

It's not off the table.

Jared, I love it, except I just realized something.

I don't think it's going to work.

I actually think you're going to start losing far more money as you get bigger.

And the only light at the end of that tunnel is somebody buying you out.

You've got to be everywhere tomorrow.

I see too much risk for me in this.

I hear you.

I'm out.

I appreciate it.

Thank you very much.

Yeah, so I think you're in trouble.

But I actually like you so much, maybe because of the salad, that I...

You started with $1,000.

That's as underdog as you get.

I'm not mad at it, right?

I think you're going to have to raise a lot of money or you're going to die.

And I see a lot of these deals.

But I just don't know if you're going to be able to make it through that critical time.

Sure.

And this is the critical time, right?

And for us, $500 represents $5 million.

I know it is, but I don't want it to be a critical time for my money, so I'm out.

Listen, you were in a situation in COVID.

It wasn't working.

Everything closed down.

You created something new.

I would actually consider going in on this deal with Kevin.

Kevin.

I would consider that.

Because I don't normally...

I'm a loan shark.

I like to do things myself.

But the reason why I would consider is because I think with my sales and marketing skills, packaging skills, and I like Kevin and his experience with Plated.

I find very appealing.

I think it's a good combo because we get the marketing from Lori, but I want to work with you on the A round.

Look, I'll make it official.

I'll go in with her.

Same deal.

We'll go 50-50, exactly the terms detailed.

I want to work on funding the next round.

Or do you want to hear what Mark has to say?

Well, Mark's quiet over there.

Yeah, Mark's always quiet.

I always want to entertain what's in front of me, too.

If you want to throw your foot in, please do.

So, I'll match their offer, but at 3% interest.

But I'm going to suggest that we don't push for the Series A.

That's a mistake.

You will never be at Plated if you stay small.

Look, you're already positioned to scale.

Yes.

Right?

This is tough.

You know what?

I would not be a billionaire if I had just kept on raising money over and over and over again.

I'm with it.

Right?

Damn, that's nice to say.

We're not going to have to keep raising.

We're going to be doing so well, we won't have to keep raising.

Jared, here's how I look at it.

You know, you have three very different people sitting here.

I do.

I don't think we're going to have to worry.

Kevin wants to, like, raise more money, but what I like to do is I like to get so many sales and do it so fast and blitz out so fast.