The 11 Most Ingenious Foods Ever Featured On Shark Tank

By Sarah Weinberg, Delish.com

https://www.delish.com/food/g4130/the-best-foods-ever-featured-on-shark-tank/

Shark Tank pitches are essentially glorified infomercials with heartstring-tugging backstories, and we can't help but find ourselves hooked. Here are nine of our favorite foods to ever cross the stage — including one that didn't even score a deal!

Moink

Season 10, Episode 15

Moink (moo + oink, get it?) caught the attention of guest Shark Jamie Siminoff who appeared on the show to pitch the video doorbell Ring. The company's co-founder Lucinda Cramsey calls herself a tender-hearted carnivore. So while the meat and fish subscription service send animal products to customers, it depends on family farms with humanely-raised and ethically-sourced meats. You can get a box every three, four, or six weeks, and it can be customized with beef, pork, lamb, chicken, and salmon.

Loliware

Season 7, Episode 2

These cups weren't invented to satiate your hunger, but rather to solve an environmental problem. Friends Chelsea Briganti and Leigh Ann Tucker came up with the concept for Loliware — a biodegradable cup that hardens when filled with liquid but can be chewed like candy when you're done — during a Jell-O mold competition. They put it on Kickstarter (it completely surpassed its goal), then brought it to Shark Tank where it started an all out bidding war. Mark Cuban and Barbara Corocran eventually teamed up to invest, and Briganti and Tucker are developing shot glasses and larger cups.

Pipcorn

Season 6, Episode 9

Pipcorn's founders, brother and sister Jen and Jeff Martin, experienced the dark side of Shark Tank success: too much demand and not enough supply. Pipcorn is essentially just miniaturized popcorn, but people went crazy for health angle. The kernels are all-natural, gluten-free, non-GMO, vegan, and whole grain. Corcoran's deal allowed them to raise sales from just $200,000 to more than $1.5 million in three months.

Wicked Good Cupcakes

Season 4, Episode 22

A mother-daughter duo, Tracey Noonan and Danielle Desroches, created this cupcake-in-a-jar idea, which earned the support of Kevin O'Leary. He got back his $75,000 investment in just 74 days — easy, considering Noonan and Desroches did a quarter of a million dollars in the week after Shark Tank. The attention allowed the pair to publish a cookbook and expand their Massachusetts-based business.

Table 87 Pizza

When you're craving New York-style pizza but the closest you're getting to a coal-fired oven is your nearby Chuck E. Cheese, don't despair: You can get Table 87 shipped anywhere. The team behind these slices make pies to order, then immediately freeze them, so you can enjoy a Brooklyn-caliber pizza even if you're in the middle of bumblef*ck.

Cousins Maine Lobster

Season 4, Episode 6

Maine natives and cousins Sabin Lomac and Jim Tselikis started their business as a single food truck in Los Angeles, but the funding and attention from Shark Tank has since allowed them to grow to include more than a dozen trucks, a brick-and-mortar restaurant, and an online market. Corcoran is to credit for helping the pair bring the Maine classics — authentic lobster rolls, whoopie pies, and bisque — to the rest of the country.

Nuts 'n More

Season 4, Episode 18

Three Rhode Islanders, Dennis Iannotti, Peter Ferreira, and Neil Cameron, had the idea for a souped-up nut butter. Theirs is packed with added whey protein, organic flax, and a natural sweetener. Cuban and Robert Herjavec teamed up to offer the team a deal, and they've since experienced skyrocketing sales and have had their product added to GNC and Whole Foods shelves. The best part is, while they're healthier than the average peanut or almond butter, they're also tastier. The flavor roster includes birthday cake, chocolate maple pretzel, cinnamon raisin, pumpkin spice, and toffee crunch, among others.

Three Jerks Jerky

Season 7, Episode 5

Daymond John decided to back this high-end beef jerky company run by just two self-proclaimed "occasional jerks," Daniel Fogelson and Jordan Barrocas. They were able to expand the company 600 percent in just two months. Their filet mignon jerky comes in six offbeat flavors, including teriyaki, hamburger, and maple bacon churros, and you can find it in major grocery stores like Publix and Hy-Vee.

Bantam Bagels

Season 6, Episode 13

If a bagel and a jelly donut had a baby, Bantam Bagels would be it. They're balls of bagel dough stuffed with cream cheese, and before founders Nick and Elyse Oleksak even brought the product on Shark Tank, they'd had runaway success on QVC and made the list of Oprah's Favorite Things. On the show, they found an investor in Lori Grenier. The overnight success caught Starbucks' attention: Now the coffee giant carries them in every store. They're in the freezer section at grocery stores too, and if you visit their Manhattan flagship, you'll find even more flavors, including cookies and milk, French toast, and cinnamon bun.

Bubba's-Q Boneless Ribs

Season 5, Episode 11

Prior to his Shark Tank appearance, Al "Bubba" Baker, a former NFL player, was bringing a little more than $150,000 in sales. Now, he averages $16 million. The spike for his boneless ribs is all thanks to his appearance on Shark Tank, where Daymond John invested, saying he believed this could be his biggest deal ever. Baker's already got a contract with Carl's Jr., and the ribs are sold at big-name stores like Costco and Sam's Club, too.

eCreamery

Season 4, Episode 2

Despite the fact that Becky App and Abby Jordan didn't actually ink a deal on their mail-order ice cream business, they raked in half a million dollars in sales in the three months after their appearance on Shark Tank. They'd done only $2 million in the five years before the show. The shtick is that you can personalize your own pint by printing a funny name on the carton or completely customizing a flavor.