Good Grief Celebrations – See What Happened After Shark Tank

Rikki Farrar from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania is a businesswoman and entrepreneur, looking to break into popular and not so popular markets by creating new products. Rikki states that her mother has been ill for a long time, and near the end of her life, she wanted that Rikki would plan a very nice celebration, instead of a sad and depressed funeral. This made Rikki Farrar think about new ideas and products, which would not only make her mother happy, but also other people who are grieving and on their deathbed. Rikki states that for her mother’s funeral, she had planned out a very big party and a lot of people were very impressed. This gave her the idea to start her company, called Good Grief Celebrations.

Good Grief Celebrations Prior To Appearing on Shark Tank

Rikki Farrar states that there are a lot of people who do not want their families and friends to get sad when they die, and that they would rather be remembered in happy moments. Good Grief Celebrations is able to provide this service for people. Rikki states that she will personally talk with the people in their deathbeds, ask them what they would like to have on their parties, and plan out everything for them personally. She also says that she has a therapy dog, who provides comfort for people who are on their deathbeds, while she is able to talk to them and ask them what they would like. Rikki Farrar is hoping to get an investment from the Sharks, she her business can get more exposure and expand itself.

Good Grief Celebrations on Shark Tank

“Rikki Farrar walks confidently and stands in front of the Sharks”

Rikki Farrar starts by introducing herself, telling the Sharks that she is the owner of Good Grief Celebrations. She states that she is seeking a fifty thousand dollar investment, in exchange for a twenty five percent stake in her company. Rikki Farrar continues by saying that Good Grief Celebrations is a funeral concierge service, and as a funeral concierge company, they are happy to write the eulogy, officiate the funeral service and handle all the post-funeral family gathering details. Rikki Farrar continues her presentation by saying that the celebration of life movement is gaining a lot of momentum and that lot of celebrities such as Michael Jackson and Bernie Mac have had a celebration when they died.

“Robert Herjavec asks Rikki Farrar if she has any sales”

Rikki Farrar answers the question by saying that she had about eleven thousand dollars in sales, last year alone, and that is the total amount of sales she has had.

“Robert Herjavec asks Rikki how she came up with the idea for Good Grief Celebrations”

Rikki Farrar answers the question by saying that she came up with the idea, when her mother passed away, two years ago. Rikki’s mother kept telling Rikki to plan a celebration party at her funeral, and that she wanted a Celebration of Life party, and didn’t want it to be sad with a lot of tears. Rikki Farrar continues by saying that she planned out a great party for her late mother, where there was a DJ and an open bar which was serving her mother’s favorite drinks etc.

Rikki Farrar states that people kept coming up to her and telling her that it was such a great idea and she should think about turning it into a business.

“Robert Herjavec asks Rikki Farrar if she did not have a problem with people drinking at an open bar at her own mother’s funeral”

Rikki Farrar answers the question by saying that it was not a problem at all, because it was a celebration of life, instead of a sad funeral.

Kevin O’Leary states that he loves the idea behind Good Grief Celebrations, and that people are dying to get into this business. He states that there is never a better time to upsell, than when a family is stricken with grief, because they are not really looking at the margins anymore. Kevin O’Leary states that he is dealing with facts, and that’s why the funeral business is so wonderful. There are lots of clients, but the problem is that for everything that Rikki Farrar has stated about her company’s services, almost all of the other funeral homes already offer those services.  

“Kevin O’Leary asks Rikki Farrar how she is going to compete with every other funeral home”

Rikki Farrar answers the question by stating that her sales have been so low, due to the fact that Good Grief Celebrations does not have enough exposure, and people do not know that her company even exists yet.

Kevin O’Leary asks Rikki Farrar to role-play with him for a moment. Kevin says that somebody in his family has died, and he does not even know that Good Grief Celebrations exists. He is sitting with the director and asks him to help him get through this grief, and the director is upselling him like crazy. Kevin O’Leary asks Rikki Farrar where she is at that moment, and states that she is nowhere, because she is not in that room, and she is not even in the funeral parlour. Kevin O’Leary states that bodies always go to a funeral parlour first and that they do not directly go to Rikki Farrar.

Rikki Farrar states that one of the methods she uses to attract clients, is by going using her therapy dog to visit hospice, and nursing homes. She comforts clients with her therapy dog and actually waits for her clients to die.

“Daymond John asks Rikki Farrar if her therapy dog can smell who is close to dying”

Rikki Farrar answers Daymond’s question by saying that she wished her therapy dog could do that, and that it would make her business a lot easier and more profitable.

“Daymond John looks shocked by Rikki Farrar’s answer to his question”

“Robert Herjavec asks Rikki if she does not think that she is taking advantage of people”

Rikki Farrar answers Robert’s question by completely disagreeing with him, and saying that she absolutely does not take advantage of people. Robert Herjavec says that Rikki Farrar goes out and visits people with her therapy dog, in order to make them feel comfortable, so she can sign her family up for Good Grief Celebrations.

“Kevin O’Leary states that there is nothing wrong with Rikki Farrar’s way of working, because she is not charging people when she visits them with her therapy dog”

Robert Herjavec states that there is a fundamental problem with Rikki Farrar’s presentation. He states that she is trying to get into people’s lives, in their moment of need, and that she is trying to take advantage of their grief. Robert Herjavec states that Rikki Farrar is a slick business woman and he says that he thinks that Rikki knows that she is taking advantage of people, and she does not have a problem with it at all. Robert continues by saying that he does have a problem with it, and that he does not want to be in business with Rikki Farrar for that very reason. Robert Herjavec states that he is out.

Barbara Corcoran states that the funeral business is a little bit too creepy for her, and she thinks that it is a one man business. She states that she does not think that it is expandable and for that reason, she is out as well.

“Daymond John points at a picture and asks Rikki Farrar if that is her mom”

Rikki Farrar answers the question by saying that it is her mom in that particular picture.

“Daymond John asks Rikki Farrar what her mom would think about Good Grief Celebrations”

Rikki answers the question by saying that, if her mother would be alive, she would not have started Good Grief Celebrations, because her business is a tribute to her mother. She states that she thinks that her mother is looking down on her right now, and is impressed with the business that Rikki has been able to set up on her own. Rikki also states that her mother would be really proud of her, because of the fact that she is helping other people.

“Daymond John asks Rikki Farrar if Robert Herjavec is wrong to assume that she is taking advantage of grieving people, by going to their homes with a therapy dog”

Rikki Farrar states that it is not at all about manipulating or taking advantage of people at all. She states that somebody has to officiate the funeral service, so why not Good Grief Celebrations, instead of some other random funeral house.

Daymond John states that the bottom line is about the money. He states that, at eleven thousand dollars in sales, he does not see margins or profits. Daymond states that Rikki has a done a good job with her presentation and giving them all of the facts, but he is out.

Kevin Harrington states that he looks at Good Grief Celebrations as an ambulance chase kind of a business, and that is really not the type of business he would want to invest in. Kevin Harrington states that he is out as well. Kevin O’Leary states that he is looking for every way possible to invest in Good Grief Celebrations, because he likes death. He states that death is inevitable, but the problem is, that Good Grief Celebrations is not making any money and because of that reason alone, he is out as well.   

“Kevin O’Leary makes a joke at the end by saying that Rikki Farrar’s mother is looking at him, and telling him that she wished that Good Grief Celebrations would make more money, so he would have a reason to invest in it”

Good Grief Celebrations Now in 2018

Rikki Farrar really needed an investment, just so Good Grief Celebrations could get exposure and well known by people in the need for a funeral home. Rikki Farrar did have sales worth of eleven thousand dollars, but her business was really struggling. She was only able to sell her services locally, because she would visit nursing homes with her therapy dog, and made people comfortable with the idea of celebrating their deaths. Rikki Farrar did not manage to get an investment from the Sharks, and it seems that for this very reason, she no longer is offering her services.

There is no mention of Good Grief Celebrations being the best or worst on Shark Tank. The reason why the sharks did not invest in Good Grief Celebrations is because of the fact that most of them were not comfortable with the business model. Only Kevin O’Leary seemed to be interested in investing, but did not do it because Good Grief Celebrations was not making any profit.

It does not seem like Good Grief Celebrations continued as a business, as there is no official website. In fact, it is very difficult to find any kind of information about Good Grief Celebrations or Rikki Farrar herself. Rikki Farrar does have a Twitter account with the @GoodGriefCeleb handle, but her last tweet was in late 2011, which tells me that she has entirely moved on from Good Grief Celebrations.

I am almost entirely sure that Good Grief Celebrations has stopped as a business, due to the fact that Rikki Farrar could not secure an investment from the Sharks. Only a few websites mention Good Grief Celebrations, and the business does not have any reviews on Facebook, Twitter or any other social media platform. On Rikki Farrar’s LinkedIn page, it states that she is the current Director of Marketing for a company called The Cake Doctor, but there is no information about such a company on the internet.