'Shark Tank' contestants turn up dressed as chickens and land a $100,000 deal from Kevin O'Leary
Entrepreneurs on "Shark Tank" come prepared to deal with ruthless scrutiny and sharp criticism from the sharks, and some even go to bizarre lengths as part of the pitch. This includes dressing up as chickens, which the founders of "Turbo Trusser," Kirk Hyust and Brian Halasinski, pulled off. To present their revolutionary tool that helps people cook juicy chicken and turkey, the entrepreneurs became mascots for their own brand. In the end, they managed to get none other than Kevin O'Leary a.k.a 'Chef Wonderful' for a $100,000 deal.
Hyust and Halasinski were seeking $100,000 for 10% of their company, and Halasinski asked the judges if they had ever cooked a dry chicken or turkey. When the sharks said yes, they introduced the "Turbo Trusser," a tool that allows even cooking of birds to keep them juicy. Hyust then demonstrated how the tool worked with some hiccups in the middle. He showed how easy it was to truss the bird with the tool and how it kept the wings and the legs close to the body.
They shared that the product is made in the U.S. before asking the sharks if they were ready to take a bite out of the poultry industry and make a “cluckload of money.” While the Sharks tried the freshly cooked samples, the duo called up O'Leary to try the product. "I am Chef Wonderful, you know," O'Leary said as he made his way to the table.
After the demo, the Sharks got down to business with Barbara Corcoran asking if the chicken was juicy because of the tool or the way it was cooked. Halasinski explained that it was the tool, as it allowed even cooking without letting the juices leak. The Sharks then asked for the numbers, and the co-founders revealed that most of their sales came from their website and Amazon, with additional revenue from distributors. Each tool costs $3.07 to manufacture and is sold for $14.99, indicating an over 80% margin. They shared that in just nine months, they made more than $90,000 in gross revenue, and all their distributors and Amazon sellers had placed multiple reorders.
With everything laid out, Robert Herjavec made the first move to pull out. Lori Greiner followed Herjavec's footsteps, saying she doesn't like to "touch a chicken," so it wasn't for her.
Halasinski insisted that the market was strong for the product as Americans consume 87 million turkeys between Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter. However, Corcoran didn't find the business big enough, and Mark Cuban didn't find the product scalable, so they also went out. Luckily for the entrepreneurs, O'Leary still seemed to be interested.
But, O'Leary stressed that it would be too much work for him to take the Turbo Trusser "under his wing" and that he was an "expensive chef." O'Leary then offered $100,000 but for a whopping 33% on top of a $1 royalty in perpetuity. The two entrepreneurs tried to counter several times, but they gave up and accepted the deal as it was.
According to a 2023 update shared by Looper, the deal was finalized, and within a year of their appearance on the show, the company did $290,000 in sales. Their website is still up, and the business is going strong.
