Shark Tank Pitch

Chocomize Shark Tank Update

Published:

4m

Saugus, MA

Chocomize Shark Tank Update

Pitch Overview
NameChocomize
Main PresentersJoe Dauenhauer
Presenter Image
Chocomize Entrepreneurs: Joe Dauenhauer
Product Image
Chocomize Product Image
Last Known in Business12/15/2022
Main Location

Saugus, MA

Order Shown in Episode3
Final DealAll Sharks went Out

Chocomize Shark Tank Pitch

Fabian (not present in Shark Tank) is from Germany and created Chocomize to allow people to create custom chocolate bars. Chocomize can also add photos or special messages, which work great for doing business for company events. Joe Dauenhauer joined Chocomize a year and a half ago and owns 18% equity, and is representing Chocomize in Shark Tank by himself.

Two years ago, sales were $500k, and last year they dropped to $440k, which Joe attributes to the complexity they had in building a new production facility. Joe says they are the biggest player in the customizable chocolate space but admits that it's a small, costly space. Joe feels he and the Chocomize team differentiate themselves from the competition by being good at their jobs. Joe wants to use part of the money to create new packaging.

Kevin offers Joe $500k to leave Chocomize and start a new company with Kevin. The rest of the sharks go out, and Joe is loyal to his Chocomize team and doesn't even consider Kevin's offer. Kevin promised to order a "You're dead to me" bar and send it to Joe.

Offers

Made ByLabelSharks Part of DealSummary
CompanyOffered$500k for 20% of company
SharksOfferedKevin O'Leary$500k and for 75% of a new company and Joe leave Chocomize and get 25% of new company
SharksOutRobert HerjavecOut
SharksOutMark CubanOut
SharksOutBarbara CorcoranOut
SharksOutLori GreinerOut
Mark Cuban
Mark Cuban

Mark Cuban

Out

Barbara Corcoran
Barbara Corcoran

Barbara Corcoran

Out

Kevin O'Leary
Kevin O'Leary

Kevin O'Leary

Offered

Lori Greiner
Lori Greiner

Lori Greiner

Out

Robert Herjavec
Robert Herjavec

Robert Herjavec

Out

Updates in Shark Tank Episodes

Update SeasonUpdate Episode
No Episode Updates

Chocomize After Shark Tank

According to a 2010 article by nytimes.com and cnn.com , Eric Heinbockel, Fabian Kaempfer, and Nick LaCava met while attending Columbia University in New York City. They were all surprised when they could not find a job after college. They had discussed business ideas for months but came across the idea when Nick accidentally left candy in his car, and it all melted together. They were able to sell what they could including Fabien's car and raise money from family and friends including Nick's grandparents. Fabien's brother worked for a company in Germany, Chocri, that successfully ran a similar business which validated their idea. Fabien even interviewed at Chocri. Chocri's COO, Carmen Magar, stated, "We warmly welcomed Fabian to see the production only for our idea, website, and processes to be copied two months later."
Chocomize was mentioned in Oprah Winfrey's magazine and caused a surge in orders. Nick had been the captain of the Columbia rowing team and called in rowers to help pack chocolate bars. Within six months, Chocomise was profitable and soon earned $400k in annual revenue. According to Nick's LinkedIn , he left Chocomize in 2011. According to Eric's LinkedIn , he left in 2012.
Joe Dauenhauer did an interview with Shark Tank Blog after airing on Shark Tank. Joe was running a hedge fund in New York City and had a room to rent. Fabien Kaempfer responded to the Craigslist ad and moved in. Joe decided to work with Fabien because they had complementary skills. Fabien was not allowed to pitch on Shark Tank because Shark Tank's rules were that you had to be a U.S. citizen, and Fabien was German.

In 2012 sales dipped because Chocomise received a $200k investment which they were deploying into their new facility. In 2013 they had done $800k before the end of the year Shark Tank airing surged them past $1 million in revenue for the year. Some of their clients included Buick, Google, and many weddings.

According to Joe Dauenhauer's LinkedIn , he left Chocomize in January 2014 and went to Singapore for a currency trading job. Joe wrote an article in his Medium account, @JoeyDauenhauer , in August 2017, informing people about the potential of cryptocurrency. Crypto exploded in value for a few months following this. His next and only other post came in 2018 where he said he was spending much of his time in both Singapore and the U.S. as Head of Business Development USA for a crypto company called Centareum appears to have died in 2019.
The last info I found on Joe was his 2018 Medium article. I would guess he is somewhere in the range of broke, living on a friend's couch, to wealthy, living it up on a beach. His name will probably pop up again somewhere in the future. According to Fabien's LinkedIn , he still runs Chocomize in 2022.
The Chocomize Facebook , Twitter, @Chocomize , and Instagram, @chocomize , have been silent since 2021 but the website, chocomize.com , appears to be active and selling customizable chocolate as of 2022.

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