Honest farmer on Shark Tank explains why he’ll never hike prices of his items — gets $150,000 deal
"Shark Tank" is a show where innovative minds introduce game-changing products, but at the same time, their ideas need to be commercially viable for the sharks to invest in them. But a farmer named Johnny Georges, the inventor of Tree T-Pee, tried to change their minds after pitching his water conservation product. While sharks loved his idea, his profit margins seemed too thin but Georges stunned them with his incredible humility.
Looking Beyond Profits
Things got emotional when Georges, a resident of Arcadia, Florida, presented the Tree T-Pee, a water conservation device for farmers that he developed in collaboration with his late father in 1984.
Georges explained that they were looking for a better way to prepare orange trees for an impending frost. They wanted to look beyond the method of making a traditional bank of dirt around the tree's trunk every night. Hence, Rick decided to put cones around the trees instead, and Johnny took the idea forward by creating a system that irrigates the trees and keeps them at a healthy temperature.
The product hit the market in 1986, and Georges founded the parent company, GSI Supply, Inc., in 2005. He brought the Tree T-Pee to sharks Kevin O'Leary, Lori Greiner, Daymond John, Mark Cuban, and special guest John Paul DeJoria, faced them with a smile, and said, "When good people come together great things can happen."
He pitched his product as a water-saving device that would lower a farmer's water requirement from 25,000 gallons per tree to only 800 gallons per tree. While the 'Sharks' loved Georges product and mission, they were a bit concerned with his profit margins. At the time, Georges was selling his product only to 42 nurseries in five counties of Florida and was making a single dollar profit on each Tree T-Pee sold.
Kevin O'Leary aka "Mr. Wonderful" was straightforward in telling Georges that the profit margins weren't enough to justify the $150,000 he was asking for. He believed that the item should be sold at a much higher price point than the current $4.50.
Georges explained that he was making the product for $2.95 and selling it for $4.50. His reasoning was simple, since he was working with farmers, he always wanted to "do the right thing". He shared that farmers typically purchase in bulk, which has allowed him to keep margins low. To this O'Leary said that there wasn't enough margin for him as a distributor and he needed to sell the product for at least $12. "But you're selling to farmers," Georges said.
Finally, John Paul DeJoria recognized the work Georges was doing to help farmers. "Farmers are the cornerstone of America", Paul DeJoria said wondering how many of them couldn't spend $12 per T-Pee when ordering them for 10,000 trees. Thus, he offered the entrepreneur/farmer exactly what he was looking for, $150,000 for 20% of the business.
What Happened to Tree T-Pee After Shark Tank?
Soon after appearing on "Shark Tank, Georges started traveling the country, showing farmers how the Tree-T-Pee works. He even landed a deal with powerhouse retailer, The Home Depot to sell his products, ABC News reported.
Most recently, House Digest reported that the company was still running successfully despite facing hardships during the Covid 19 pandemic. Speaking to the outlet, Georges shared that Tree T-Pee has expanded beyond the U.S. to Europe, Australia, and the Middle East as well, taking effective water conservation to farmers across the globe.
