Highlights
- Raven Thomas pitched The Painted Pretzel, her chocolate-covered pretzel business, on Shark Tank.
- She racked up over $60K in sales in the year prior to her appearance.
- The Sharks were impressed by her passion and product but had concerns about scalability.
Overview
| Category | Details |
|---|---|
| Name | The Painted Pretzel |
| Founder | Raven Thomas |
| Industry | Food and Beverage – Confectionery |
| Product | Chocolate-covered pretzels |
| Funding | Self-funded pre-Shark Tank |
| Investment Ask | $100,000 |
| Equity Offered | 25% |
| Valuation | $400,000 |
The Painted Pretzel founder Raven Thomas was making her delicious, chocolate covered pretzels for three years before appearing on Shark Tank episode 302 in February of 2012. Raven, a stay at home mom, made all the Painted Pretzels in her own kitchen and had some success selling in mom and pop type stores. She racked up over $60K in sales in the year prior to her appearance and was becoming overwhelmed with orders due to the popularity of her products. Raven had a big order from Neiman Marcus to stock The Painted Pretzel, but she simply didn’t have the resources to fill the order. She had previously walked away from a $2 Million order from SAM’s Wholesale Club for the same reason. She needed to take her business to the next level which meant, among other things, leasing commercial kitchen space.
The Painted Pretzel Seeks Shark Tank Funding
Raven Thomas pitched the Sharks on her business and asked for a $100K investment for a 25% share of the business. Kevin thinks he can duplicate the business and doesn’t see anything proprietary. Lori didn’t like Raven’s emotional appeal where she claimed she wanted to show her kids that being a success means following your dreams.
Did Shark Tank Invest In The Painted Pretzel?
Mark Cuban liked Raven’s “heart and soul,” he also liked the Painted Pretzels! He offers Raven the $100K for 25% of the business and tells her she can sell them in his movie theaters and sports arenas.
The Painted Pretzel Shark Tank Update
Since her appearance, Raven Thomas has been working extremely hard to make The Painted Pretzel a success. She leases commercial kitchen space and has a candy factory fulfill large orders. The Pretzels are in Neiman Marcus and SAM’s Club; they also sell quite well on Amazon. Raven credits Mark Cuban for helping make the business a success. She would have moved on without an investment from Cuban, but is unsure if she would have made it this far. Shark Tank fans get a first hand look at Raven’s success in an update segment in episode 417.
In October, 2023, the company is still in business. They no longer sell on Amazon. With many corporate clients and distribution in Cuban’s Landmark theaters, the company does over $1 million in annual sales. As of April, 2024, the company is out of business. Raven works as Director of Busines Development at a company called Neubloc.
Posts About The Painted Pretzel on Shark Tank Blog
Raven Thomas & The Painted Pretzel
The Painted Pretzel: Interview with Shark Tank Entrepreneur Raven Thomas
Company Information
More products from this episode! Check out other businesses that participated alongside The Painted Pretzel.
If this company is so successful, i dont understand why their orders are so delayed. I placed my order September 1st and its now October 1st and i still havent received a notification that my order has shipped even though the site says 3-5 business days or up to 2 weeks. I emailed them September 13th asking about my order and received a response on the 16th saying sorry for the delay it should ship out tomorrow….Well on September 24th i emailed again after never receiving anything and havent gotten a response..I’m so frustrated! I tried calling customer service, but it just sent me to voicemail. Something about this needs to change because it’s bad business!!
Like Amber, I, too, placed an order back on August 18th. I received an apology notice saying there may be a delay. I followed up with an email on September 23rd and was promised my order would ship on September 26th. Here it is October 8th and I still have not received my order. I also tried calling, only to get a recording asking me to leave a message. I just sent another email and am waiting for a response. If Mark Cuban is still involved in this business (and reaping the benefits), I think he needs to intervene and get this business back on track or it will fall apart.
Yes, me too. My daughter placed an for my birthday on October 12th. They charged for the order and today November 3rd still had not heard a thing. She emailed the company and they told her rudely that the website says it can take 2 weeks. Well, do the math it has been over 3 weeks now and still nothing. They told her they would cancel her order for her. What? Are you serious, they aren’t going to even try to make it right? What a shame, the reason she ordered in the first place was because our family enjoys watching Shark Tank and she thought it would me a cool gift. The others are right, Mark Cuban if you are still involved with this company do something quick before you lose your investment. Their customer service is horrible.
I placed an order on October 16th thinking I would have my pretzels by Halloween since the website says 2-5 days. When I did not receive them on the 24th I tried calling them and it went immediately to customer service voice mail. I also sent an email asking where my order is. No response either way. Terrible customer service. After numerous voice messages and emails I finally received an email on October 26th saying my order was cancelled and a refund was issued that I would receive in a few days. Still no refund on my credit card. I too saw them on Shark Tank and thought I would support a family owned business since I work for one. However, if we ran our business the way The Painted Pretzel runs their business, we would have been out of business years ago. All I want is my money back!!!
My mother placed an order for pretzels to arrive before Christmas. She was sure to order by December 7th. Upon writing a simple but nice email she was met with defensive and inappropriate answers that never actually answered her question as to where her package was. Her first email was to ask how she would know if the order was placed on on its way since it wasn’t clear on the site. Subsequent emails to follow were follow ups since calling cowtomer service led to an answering machine that said not to leave a message because it was full. This company seems to be the most unprofessional company I’ve ever seen. My mother sent me copies of all of her emails and the last email was from them telling my mother they will give her a refund only if she would never be a costumer again. Appalling. The wording in every email is uneducated and unprofessional. Please tell your friends do not purchase products from this company. My mother still hasn’t received her package and it is know December 12th.
Placed an order in mid-October. Received an immediate confirmation for my order. Followed up with an email after two weeks and didn’t hear anything back. Filed a claim with PayPal and am awaiting my refund. Needless to say execution on the sales side is poor. What is annoying is their banner ads keep appearing on my browser.
I placed an order on December 10th. I have never received a shipping confirmation though I was charged same day for the order. This was a birthday gift which is now way overdue. I have tried emailing and calling the company. The voicemail says not to leave a message because they are backed up though I did anyway. I am now trying to resolve this through paypal. I’ve wasted too much time trying to contact this company. It’s now been three weeks. If they are this backed up, they should not be accepting orders online. I hope at this point I can recover my money.
Order execution stinks. Ordered a bunch of customer Christmas gifts from them. Out of 13 ordered, I only know of two that arrived, and none by Christmas. It’s now January 9 and I and my company look like ! The absolute worst customer service I’ve ever seen. I will never, ever, ever consider them again for corporate gifts or any other type of gift for that matter. I would strongly suggest that anyone considering buying from Painted Pretzel either a) reconsider or b) place your order 6 months in advance and don’t be surprised if they still screw it up.
I’ve ordered several times. Never order when they do a re-peat on CNBC or ABC. You’ll be waiting a while because so many people buy at the same time. They’re really good all of the other times.
I’ve purchased from this website probaby 7 times and have never had a problem. I had to wait for my order in September for about 2 weeks, but every other time was really great. I bought 2 gifts for a Christmas party too. I’m kind of surprised by these posts.
I placed my order on 12/7 for a xmas gift and never received it. Apparently they had a website problem with orders. Well, I have emailed them 4 times, and called and left 3 messages..and no one ever gets back to me. I will never use them again…I want my money back ! Horrible customer service…Mark Cuban made an error with this company !!
Usually they are pretty good, but they sometimes drop the ball when they get too busy.
I ordered on December 12 and have yet to hear from the, although they had no delay in debiting my accout the day of my order. I have emailed and gotten auto replies from them, I have also called and they will only take a message…..but no one ever calls back! So my Dad’s birthday is Janaury 23 and while I thought ordered in December would be PLENTY of time…..I was wrong. So now I have to try and get my money back from my credit card company because obviously the Painted Pretzel does not care to help me out!
I placed an order in June 2017 and of date Oct 29 have not received the order. Have contacted the painted pretzel multiple times and no response. Not sure how to get the refund.
Ordered on 12/19/17 and they took my money and never delivered. It was a holiday gift for my colleagues. Thanks to them, they received nothing from me. I called several times and emailed. Left messages NO RESPONSE. I am now filing through PayPal to try to get my money back.
I WANT MY MONEY BACK
i will think twice before ordering from a company from Shark Tank since they are not learning the basics of running a business, such as customer service.