'Shark Tank' offers a life-changing deal to contestants who pitched their edible birthday candles
Placing candles on a cake and then removing them could be a hassle, and these are the kind of problems that require innovative solutions. Entrepreneurs who come up with ideas to make such things easier are more likely to get a deal on "Shark Tank." Entrepreneur Loree Sandler and her husband Bob Michelson impressed the judges of the hit show with such a product, which was an edible birthday candle made by their company, "Let Them Eat Candles". The sharks quickly grew fond of the chocolate treats, which made Barbara Corcoran and Lori Greiner fight for a bite. In the end, the founders chose to shake hands with Greiner for a $250,000 deal.
To make every celebration perfect with no messy wax, the entrepreneurs introduced their product, Let Them Eat Candles, which are premium chocolate birthday candles that can be lit and eaten. The couple explained that the wick lights up for a minute, which is enough to sing “Happy Birthday” and strike a pose. After that, kids can enjoy the candles as a delicious chocolate snack.
They then asked the Sharks to blow out the candles in front of them and have a taste. The Sharks found out that the wick was small enough to be plucked out, and the candle could be consumed straight away. Intrigued by the product, Robert Herjavec asked Sandler how she came up with the idea. The co-founder explained that the idea came to her when she found normal candles to be a mess while baking a perfect cake for her youngest son.
Thus, to make a perfect edible candle, she took pastry and chocolatier classes, and eventually researched and found how to get the molds made. Soon, she invented Let Them Eat Candles, and working with her husband, the two brought the product to market. They further shared that the candles cost $0.85 to make and they retail for between $2.99 to $3.99 a unit. They went on to blow the sharks' minds by sharing that they had done $2.3 million in sales to date and they closed to the previous year with $675,000 in sales.
But sharks started dropping out starting with Kevin O'Leary, who made the first move saying the company needed a lot of work. Herjavec had a conflict of interest, so he went out too. Mark Cuban thought the company's sales and margins weren't big enough to be investible, so he went out too.
However, Corcoran seemed interested as she saw no problem with shipping the candles. "I don't think you're crazy at all. I don't think it's a problem shipping 12 months a year. I ship Daisy Cakes all year round and they come out fine," Corcoran said. With this, she offered the couple $250,000 but for 25% equity.
Greiner then jumped in willing to make an offer as well. However, she put up $125,000 as a loan, plus $125,000 cash, for 20% equity. The couple tried to counter Greiner's offer as they weren't willing to give up so much equity. When Greiner lowered the equity ask to 18%, they accepted the deal.
According to an update from Tasting Table, Let Them Eat Candles witnessed incredible success, and media exposure after appearing on Shark Tank. As of 2025, their products are available on their website, Amazon, Market Basket, Jewel Osco, Lunds & Byerlys, Nothing Bundt Cakes, Giant, and Publix, as per the report.
