'Shark Tank' contestants get judges to wear foam party hats — then ended up with a $100,000 deal

"Shark Tank" is known to foster innovation and entrepreneurial spirit, but it also brings families closer together to collaborate on ideas that can change their lives. Mother-son duo, Manuel and Grace Rojas, managed to get a $100,000 deal on Shark Tank after rocking the stage with their unique foam party hats. All the Sharks loved their custom giant hats, but only a couple of them were interested in making a deal. However, in the end, a clash between Mark Cuban and guest Shark Daniel Lubetsky luckily resulted in a multi-star deal for the two entrepreneurs.

Manuel and his mom, Grace, entered the Tank seeking $100,000 for 10% of their business, 'Foam Party Hats'. They started their pitch with a party announcement and by showing off their creative hats. After the show, they handed out custom hats to each of the Sharks as well, and Lori Greiner got a jewelry box hat, O'Leary got a chef's Wonderful hat, Cuban got a large money bag hat, and more.

The entrepreneurs shared that the original idea came to them around 13 years ago at Manuel’s older sister’s wedding. The company's chief designer, Grace, made a bunch of funky foam hats for the guests on the dance floor, and they were a big hit. So they decided to launch it as a business, but Manuel still kept his job as a mechanical engineer while working on the business.

They shared that each hat costs them $10 to make, and they sell it for $45. They started with the big wedding business, but Covid-19 killed their sales, so they took their store to Amazon.

Soon, in 2018, they tripled their numbers, and by 2019, they hit $145,000. In the year of filming (2020), they had made $153,000 from sales with their Covid-19 hat leading the charge in popularity. While the Sharks were impressed with the funky product, some didn't think the numbers were good enough.

However, Lubetzsky showed interest in the company, but he wanted Maneul, who was a 20% owner of the company, to quit his job and get onboard full-time with the company. Cuban interrupted Lubetsky, saying he did not agree. Lubetsky then offered the entrepreneurs $100,000 for 30% equity.

Cuban then jumped back in, saying it’d be a mistake for Manuel to quit his job at this point. Lubetsky then mocked Cuban, saying, "I love when these Sharks! They have all these comments, but they will back out." Greiner then asked Lubetsky if he would do a joint deal, with he declined. Greiner then asked Cuban if he would come back for a joint deal, and Cuban responded, saying, "Just to mess with Daniel? I will".

Cuban and Greiner then offered the mother-son duo $100,000 for 25%, undercutting Lubetsky's offer. Manuel and Grace initially looked confused, and when they tilted toward Cuban and Greiner's deal, Lubetsky lowered his ask to 25% as well. However, the entrepreneurs picked Cuban and Greiner instead, as a multi-Shark deal sounded the best to them.

Later in Season 14, 'Foam Party Hats' got an update in which Manuel and Grace shared that they made $1.35 million in sales since their episode aired on "Shark Tank." With the investment, they expanded to over 750 Party City stores across the country, and the duo became TikTok influencers, garnering millions of views, as per Shark Tank Blog.

More on Market Realist:

'Shark Tank' contestants land a $250k deal because Robert Herjavec wanted to make his wife happy

'Shark Tank' offers a life-changing deal to teenager after an intense negotiation with Mark Cuban

'Shark Tank' offers a life-changing deal to contestants who tempted the judges with their fish fry