Jess Blakeley and Willow Sprague seek a Shark’s investment for BarBees Bartending, their mixology classes for groups, in Shark Tank episode 1508. The pair started the business as a bartending/catering service in 2019. The Covid-19 pandemic forced them to pivot and they began offering virtual classes. Once the world got past Covid-19, they began offering in-person classes which were a hit.
The classes can be for a corporate event, bachelor or bachlelorette parties or just a fun evening activity for friends and family. They started the business in Nashville and have expanded to 7 other cities. Classes are about 90 minutes and range from $60-$90 per person. Participants must provide their own alcohol and the BarBees provide the rest.
In the classes, participants make 2-3 cocktails from a list of 11. BarBees Bartending supplies the mixers and offers cocktail accessories and other swag for sale. They can also add cheese pairings for an additional $20. With their measured growth, they likely want a Shark to help them expand to more cities.
Company Information
Video
Posts about BarBees Bartending on Shark Tank Blog
Bar Bees Bartending: Mixing Fun and Cocktails
BarBees Bartending Shark Tank Recap
Jess and Willow enter the Shark Tank and say it’s time to “shake things up” as they shake their cocktail shakers. They say they’re the “busy bees” behind BarBees Bartending. They make it easy to celebrate and make your own cocktails in your own space. BarBees is a mobile cocktail business for friends, family or “anyone feeling the buzz.” When you book on their website, an instructor comes to your space to conduct a class full of cocktail shaking and “spirited” convesrsations.
You provide the liquor and location and they provide the rest, so all you do is show up and “Bee” your own mixologist. Whether you want to “stir things up” at your bachelorette party, corpoate team building or a birthday celebration, a BarBees cocktail class provides a fresh way to celebrate and connect together. They’re seeking $75,000 for 10% of “the BarBees’ hive.” They ask the Sharks to “take a shot” on them and get buzzed with BarBees.
Samples and Questions
The Sharks have their 2 most popular cocktails in front of them: a strawberry old fashioned and a rosemary honey paloma. The Sharks raise their glasses and shout “Les Chevaliers du Tastevin” and they taste their drinks. They all like the drinks. Daniel says in the remote working world, there is a need to connect. BarBees fills that need. They launched in Nashville, TN in 2019 an an event bartending company doing weddings etc. When they started, it was just the 2 of them, now they have a team of 25.
They started Barbees while Jess was still in school. Willow called and asked if she wanted to go to bartending school on a complete whim.
Let’s Talk Numbers
In 2019, they grossed $19,000, in 2020 with only virtual classes they hit $38,000 in sales. Coming out of the pandemic in 2021, they began doing live classes and did $76,000 in sales. In 2022 they expanded to 4 new cities and did $190,000 in sales. This year they expect to gross $400,000 and have expanded to 4 more cities. Bachelorette parties and corporate events are their top demographic. 52% of their business is bachelorette parties and 24% is corporate events.
They want a Shark’s help for expansion. There’s no one doing what they do in as many places as they are and they want help being first to market in new cities. They want too spend $20,000 on an automated booking platform. They want to spend $20,000 for enhanced onboarding so they can bring people onboard quickly and efficiently. They’ll use the resst to expand into new cities at a cost of $5000 per city.
Who’s In?
Mark thinks what they’re doing is great but opening up new cities helps them grow now. Once they’re in all the cities they want to be in, growing gets really hard and expensive. That puts a lid on the business in terms of what he needs to see as an investor; he’s out. Daymond loves what they’re doing, but he doesn’t want to be in the service industry; he’s out.
Kevin thinks they’re the real deal. He sells a lot of wine and if this was more of a wine play he’d be into it but he’s out. Daniel thinks it would be fun to work with them – he offers $75,000 for 20%. Lori says she wouldn’t make that good of an offer; she’s out. They counter with 15% and Daniel says if they take longer it could go to 25%. They ask if there’s any wiggle room. He says no and the ladies accept.
BarBees Bartending Shark Tank Update
The Shark Tank Blog constantly provides updates and follow-ups about entrepreneurs who have appeared on the Shark Tank TV show. As of the first re-run of this episode in June, 2024 (about 6 months after the original air date), there is no evidence the deal with Daniel closed. The classes are still only available in 8 cities.
The Shark Tank Blog will follow-up on BarBees Bartending & Jess Blakeley and Willow Sprague as more details become available.
