Crispý Cones reels in a deal on Shark Tank
REXBURG, Idaho (KIFI) – Crispý Cones, a local business out of Rexburg, appeared on the hit national television show Shark Tank on Friday night.
As a way to celebrate, they held a watch party in their new headquarters in Rexburg. The room was filled with family, friends and employees. Owner Jeremy Carlson and his wife Kaitlyn Carlson were gearing up to watch themselves along with everyone else for the very first time.
They went into the Tank asking the Sharks for $200,000 for 10% of their company.
Jeremy says all the Sharks loved the product but were skeptical because of the Carlson's age, growing too fast and limited experience.
"It was also, like, a vulnerable experience. Like, they share numbers on there, they give their opinions. Like, Mark Cuban liked the product, but he didn't like how young we were."
Four out of the five Sharks backed out, leaving Barbara Corcoran the last one standing. Corcoran made a counter offer of $200,000 for 20% of the company.
Jeremy walked in the Tank knowing he didn't want to give up more than 15% of his company.
Jeremy went back and forth with Corcoran asking 15%, then 17% percent, but Corcoran was stuck on 20%. After Corcoran almost backed out of the deal, Jeremy decided to accept her offer.
"Knowing what I know now, that was the best decision I've ever made for the company... When Barbara Corcoran gave us the offer... It just felt different and it felt right," Jeremy said.
You can watch their episode HERE.
The episode was filmed back in Sept. 2022. Since then, the Carlsons have been working closely behind the scenes with Corcoran. They say they have already learned so much from her.
Kaitlyn said, "If there's one thing that we've learned from Barbara, it's fun, to have fun," and, "So far, she's been giving us advice with what to do with our finances and where to put our money as we start to franchise. And I think also just advice of taking our franchising not too fast, making sure we're being smart with how many stores we're selling and at what speed and just making sure that we have the infrastructure to support them."
Their goals now for Crispý Cones is to take give everyone a chance to taste their cones.
"We definitely see this brand to be a nationwide brand and Barbara Corcoran sees this to be a nationwide brand. When our deal closed with Barbara she sent us an email that said, 'Congratulations you two, I'm excited to help make this a nationwide brand.' And we got chills reading that. And we're like she sees the vision to make it a nationwide brand, we see it, it's a mutual understanding now let's just do it," Jeremy said.
But most importantly, they want to take all their success and be able to serve. Jeremy said, "We really want to be an avenue, as a company, to share what we've been blessed with with people who have helped us get here."
