Farmer on 'Shark Tank' with dreams of helping smaller meat producers gets life-changing deal
Apart from the products and business models pitched on "Shark Tank," an entrepreneur’s mission is always a key factor that can influence the decisions of investors. One such entrepreneur who impressed the sharks pitched her company that sold a commonly found item, which was meat. She did not have the best margins either, but it was what she wanted to achieve through her company that might have convinced guest shark Jamie Siminoff to invest in her.
The entrepreneur was a woman named Lucinda Cramsey, and she sought $250,000 for a 10% stake in her company, Moink. As mentioned before, the company sells different kinds of meat products like beef, goat, pork, chicken, and salmon. However, Cramsey said that she provides ethically sourced meat products to her customers. These include grass-fed beef and lamb, pastured pork and chicken, and wild-caught Alaskan salmon.
Cramsey said that she was an eighth-generation farmer and that she wanted to look after the smaller farmers with the help of her company. “I grew up on a 1500-acre farm, where, ironically enough, it was hard to put food on the table. You see, family farms are struggling, being snuffed out by big businesses. With four companies controlling over 80% of the meat industry here in the United States, the little guys have been left fighting for the scraps,” she said.
Obviously, Moink sources these animals from the smaller farmers who struggle to make ends meet. The way these products are sold is through a subscription model, which the entrepreneur claimed had a whopping 71% retention rate. Cramsey had been a hustler since she was a child, and saw her mother work multiple jobs despite having such a big farm.
So, she started a similar business many years ago with fruits and vegetables. However, life was still a struggle, and when a bigger company approached her, a naive Cramsey gave up 51% of the company. But she learned from her mistakes and started Moink later on, after selling her previous company fully. She said that she had earned $85,000 in sales the year prior to the taping and a whopping $730,000 year-to-date.
However, the problem was her margin of profit. The subscription model ensured that customers got a box full of meat products for $159 each. However, it cost her $127 to assemble each box. Despite this, a lot of the sharks were dissuaded from making an offer as a result.
Guest shark Siminoff was the only one to make an offer, as he believed that every company had bad margins at some point. He believed in the entrepreneur and offered $400,000 for 20%. That was an acceptable offer, and a deal was struck.
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