Kodiak Cakes Shark Tank Update

Kodiak Cakes Shark Tank Pitch

Joel Clark used to sell his mother's whole wheat pancake mix from a red wagon. Now Cameron Smith and Joel created Kodiak Cakes to sell pancake and waffle mix that uses all whole grains. They also sell syrups and a few other products.

Cameron and Joel have previously received a $260k order from Target and plan to get $1 million in orders from Target this year. Total sales last year were $2.5 million, with projections of $5 million this year. Cameron and Joel want to use the investment to pay slotting fees, which buy Kodiak Cakes a place on the store shelf. Joel sees Kodiak Cakes doing $20 million in annual revenue four years from now and selling the company for around $30 million.

The sharks see Kodiak Cakes as nothing but a brand name going up against the massive competition. Cameron and Joel still get offers from the sharks, but the offers are beyond what Cameron and Joel are willing to give up, so they pass. Mark says Cameron and Joel were smart for passing.

Kodiak Cakes After Shark Tank

Joel Clark went on the How I Built This

John maintained a full-time job while running Kodiak Cakes on the side. Joel came on board and started hustling. The early days were a long grind and after three years, John was stressed. John wanted to go back to college and tried to sell the company but found no buyers, so John sold Joel the company for $1.

In 1997 annual revenue was $29k. In 1999 Joel officially incorporated the business and gave John half the shares back out of the goodness of his heart. When Joel graduated college, he negotiated to work 30-hour weeks for a management consulting job, flipped cars on the side, and worked on Kodiac Cakes.

Joel reached out to a local newspaper before the internet was largely used, and they ran a story on Kodiac Cakes. Joel was personally delivering Kodiak Cakes to five local grocery stores in Utah. When the newspaper article went out, Kodiak Cakes quickly sold out.

Joel accepted a $13k investment from a neighbor, Gary, to help expand the business. Joel hustled to get Kodiak Cakes in around 150 grocery stores, with revenue for the year at $150k. Joel took a break to go to grad school while his brother-in-law ran the business for a few years.

Joel returned from school and picked up again on Kodiak Cakes. In 2004, Joel cold-called Safeway and got Kodiak Cakes into 1200 stores, which led Joel to go full-time on Kodiak Cakes. Joel even added a cookie business as a side venture that lost him a bunch of money.

Joel and his dad built the Kodiak Cakes up to around $800k in annual revenue in 2007. Wheat prices were going up and crushing their margin. Joel had three kids and was barely making ends means. Joel also bought real estate as another side hustle in 2007, which led to financial troubles. Joel tried to sell Kodiak Cakes in 2007 but failed. In 2008 Joel licensed Kodiak Cakes to another brand that paid Joel a 5% royalty, and Joel took another job.

The company licensing Kodiak Cakes made some mistakes and lost some accounts over a few years, and revenue dipped by 25%. Joel took over Kodiak Cakes again and took a quick loss of $50k due to a marketing mistake that sold Kodiak Cakes at too steep of a discount. Joel was distraught and thought the business was done until Joel's dad took a $50k mortgage out on their house to save the business.

In 2009 Joel's dad was 70 and was ready to retire. Joel posted a job at the University of Utah's career services center, which Cameron Smith responded to. Cameron brought energy, made sales with many businesses, and even locked up a deal with Target, which thrilled Joel. Joel's dad took out more money to fund the $260k Target order. Cameron then pursued Shark Tank, which of course, he succeeded with.

Demand was crazy after Shark Tank. The business was growing rapidly, and Kodiak Cakes expanded into a protein skew of their pancake mix, which was a huge hit. In 2016 Kodiak Cakes accepted money from the investment firm Sunrise Strategic Partners, which helped relieve Joel and his dad's financial risks.

In 2018 Kodiak Cakes was the best-selling pancake mix at Target. In 2020 the Covid panic increased demand for Kodiak Cakes as an easily shipped at-home meal. They did 100 million in revenue in 2019 and projected $200 million in revenue in 2020.

According to foodmanufacturing.com

According to Joel Clark's LinkedIn

Kodiak Cakes website is kodiakcakes.com