New Era Brands

In episode 115, Bob Kroupa brings New Era Brands to the Shark Tank. Kroupa created a small container of mints and gum that clips on to backpacks, purses, and other convenient spots, for breath freshening on the go. He wants to expand his current product to include “enhanced” versions of the product, with vitamins and antioxidants.

He wants to add a contact lens clip-on to the line, which makes sense since it’s a container, but doesn’t merge well with the mints-and-gum that he’s currently selling. Will the Sharks cut their teeth on his New Era Brands’ clip-ons?

New Era Brands Shark Tank Recap

Kroupa is seeking a $500,000 investment in exchange for a 30% of his company. Notably nervous, he pitches his product, explaining how the traveling cases work, and introducing the new line of lens containers. Robert Herjavec wants to know what mints and gum have to do with contact lenses. Kroupa explains that his products are “for people on the go.”

Immediately, Kevin O’Leary smells something off. He demands to know whether Kroupa is “in the container business, or the mint business, or the gum business, or all of the above?”

Kroupa is notably nervous during his presentation, and as the Sharks start pressing for more information, the reasons become clear. While his sales were impressive in the past year, over $800,000, he lost ground in Walgreens and other major retailers. He didn’t make a solid profit despite his sales, admitting that his overhead was “ridiculous.” He ran out of product, a revelation that has O’Leary declaring “If you worked for me, I’d fire you right now.”

Herjavec wants to know why they weren’t able to make profit on $800k. The product was being sold through the retailers as a promotional item. Kevin O’Leary calls the initial success a “sugar spike.” He says the retailers put the items on the shelf as a promotional item. When, over time, the product didn’t make the margins needed to retain the shelf space, it was replaced with other, more successful items.

Based on O’Leary’s analysis and Kroupa’s indecisive manner, Daymond John is out. The questions and answers that follow don’t get any better. Of the profit that Kroupa did manage to get out of his sales, he paid managers to run the company. The bottom line is, he’s invested $2 million of his own money, made a profit of $800,000, and all the money is gone. Kevin Harrington is out.

Robert Herjavec is “trying to chew on it from every angle,” but it just doesn’t work for him. He’s out. O’Leary encourages him to return to his former job as a real estate developer. He’s out. Barbara Corcoran tells him that he’s “not a bad salesman” but that his proposal was all over the place. She goes out as well, and Kroupa leaves the stage without a Shark deal.

New Era Brands Shark Tank Update

Not surprisingly, New Era Brands is no longer in business. Kroupa, in his exit interview, thanked the Sharks for “showing me something I needed to see” and preventing him from investing further money into the company. Hope springs eternal, it seems, and his website is still functional. There is no retail link, but he is seeking new investors for his product. He is also a children’s author and he left his job as a real estate developer to found Sureway Health, LLC in 2020. The company makes PPE.