Snacklin recently returned to Shark Tank to give an update two years after receiving a $250,000 investment from the show's billionaire investor, Mark Cuban
Article originally published by Washington Business Journal on November 8, 2021
The local startup that brought its vegan pork rind snacks to ABC’s “Shark Tank” in 2019 is still cooking.Rockville’s Snacklins nabbed another segment on the show Friday, two years after securing $250,000 from billionaire investor Mark Cuban, to give the audience an update. And things are heating up.
The “Shark Tank” update
When Snacklins co-founder Samy Kobrosly made his first appearance on the reality series, the company was averaging $5,000 per week in online sales and could barely keep up with production. After the company’s plant-based crisps made their national television debut, the business hit $100,000, “more sales than we’d ever gotten before,” he said on Friday’s segment.
Snacklins has since expanded its Rockville facility, where it moved in 2019 after outgrowing District culinary incubator Union Kitchen. The snack maker has also nearly tripled its team from 10 to about 27 employees and broken into 2,500 stores across the country including Giant Food, Whole Foods Market, Stop & Shop, MOM’s Organic Market locations and others. Over these two years, Snacklins has surpassed $5.3 million in sales, Kobrosly said on the show.
The startup’s two-year journey
As it expanded into more stores, Snacklins also went through “a significant rebrand” that has led it to produce 10-times the volume it was doing two years ago, CEO Kevin Blesy told us in an email.
Though the pandemic hit the food industry hard, the startup didn’t have to stop production or lay off any staff, Blesy said. “As a food manufacturer, we already had stringent health and safety protocols in place but took the time to make sure our production staff was still comfortable in their day-to-day duties. Having a presence both online and in retail stores, we were also able to capture demand wherever our consumer shopped, especially during the depths of lockdown measures.”
The company declined to disclose annual revenue or projections for 2022, but we know the business generated $2 million in 2019 and pre-pandemic had a target of $10 million for 2020, Kobrosly told us at the time.
Blesy said current priorities include bringing on “a robust pipeline of additional retailers” within the next year, introducing new flavors and package sizes, and ramping up advertising across the country.
Cuban continues to work with the Snacklins team after striking a deal with Kobrosly on the October 2019 episode.
“All you need to know is that we literally go through boxes of Snacklins every month at my house,” Cuban told us in 2019. “Because they are low-cal, taste great and have super clean ingredients we use them for everything: snacks, dipping, break them up on salads, you name it. When I travel I have them delivered to my hotel for snacking.”
“My only regret is that I couldn’t buy more of the company,” he said at the time. “Snacklins are amazing.”
About Snacklins
Former radio personality and chef, Samy Kobrosly, created a simple recipe of yuca, mushrooms, and onions to create a crunchy, airy, 100% vegan and plant-based crisp that resembled a pork rind. The unique ingredients and process used for making SNACKLINS resulted in something even better: a low-calorie, grain-free, scoop-shaped crisp unlike any other snack food available. SNACKLINS has grown all over the country, but remains a small team committed to making delicious, healthy snacks that people love. Learn more about Snacklins at https://snacklins.com/