Atlantic Candy Company

Jared Whetstone hopes to get a sweet deal with a Shark when he pitches his Atlantic Candy Company in Shark Tank episode 803. Whetstone works in his family business. Originally called Whetstone Candy, the company was founded in the late 1980’s by Jared’s dad, Hank Whetstone Jr. The elder Whetstone is a pioneer in the candy manufacturing industry.

They moved to their current state of the art factory in St. Augustine, Florida in 1997 with their primary business being a contract manufacturer for Nestle, Hershey, Mars and other candy brands. They company was involved in the creation of machinery that produces the Hershey Kiss, Hershey Nugget, M&M Hollow characters and more. Their factory has the capacity to produce 40 million units per year and is expanding to 160 million units in 2017.

Their newest product is “the Awesome Ball,” a patented chocolate toy product. Henry Whetstone owns the patent. Nestle came out with a similar design in the early 2000’s, but the FDA shut the product down due to safety concerns. The Awesome Ball is a two piece plastic capsule that holds a small toy which is wrapped in chocolate. What differentiates the Atlantic Candy Company design is it is “a safe product design.” They are widely sold in Europe – a company called Ferrero owns the European rights.

Mr. Whetstone is expanding his capacity fourfold. He likely needs a lot of cash to fund expansion. Will a Shark think this is a sweet deal?

Atlantic Candy Company Shark Tank Recap

Jared enters seeking $1 million for 10% of his company. He tells the Sharks about his chocolate encapsulated balls or eggs that sell in Europe. He claims over 2 billion are sold world-wide each year. Unfortunately, this product and ones like it have been banned in the USA due to safety concerns, but that will change with the new design.

Jared is clearly nervous and Mark tries to calm him down. After some internal debate, Jared hands out samples. The Sharks all like the chocolate and they’re surprised to find little plastic toys with a picture of each Shark inside. The reason embedding toys in chocolate was illegal was in the 1930’s companies were putting metal toys in chocolate and kids were choking. Lori recognizes the eggs as Kinder Eggs she’s seen in Germany. The reason they are able to get around the law is the chocolate doesn’t completely encase the egg.

Kevin wants to know the numbers. Jared says they made $2.5 million last year. He’s concerned that they only have two more years until the patent expires. Mark is unsure Jared can deal with contract manufacturing and retail, he’s out. Daymond echoes Mark’s concerns and he goes out. Lori doesn’t like the fact the patent is ending, she’s out. Robert is concerned that they don’t have a sales force in place for the upcoming holiday season and he goes out.

Atlantic Candy Company Shark Tank Update

The Shark Tank Blog constantly provides updates and follow-ups about entrepreneurs who have appeared on the Shark Tank TV show. In August, 2016, an Australian candy company that previously used Atlantic Candy as a contract manufacturer sued the company for $2 million. They claimed Jared’s dad interfered in negotiations with another contractor among other claims. The case was terminated in December, 2017.

As of June, 2022, Atlantic’s Toy Box Chocolates can be found in Wal Mart, Target, Office Depot and many other retail outlets. It has estimated annual revenues of $4 million.