Saavy Naturals Update- What Happened After Shark Tank

Saavy Naturals Before Shark Tank

Husband and wife team, Hugo and Debra Saavedra are former chefs and restaurateurs who decided to turn their knowledge on all things food products to help them develop their unique brand of personal care products – Saavy Naturals. While they were in the restaurant business, Hugo and Debra were big fans of adding herbs and edible flowers to their dishes. They decided to start using these herbs and edible flowers as ingredients for their range of personal care products. All of the ingredients that go in to Saavy Naturals are completely natural as well as vegan, gluten-free, soy-free, palm-free and non-GMO. Further to that all the ingredients are sourced responsibly. Technically, as all of the ingredients that go into the Saavy Naturals products are food products, the products are completely edible.

Hugo and Debra are passionate about feeding your body with good food and they believe that the products that go on your skin, the body’s largest organ, should be no different. With the Saavy Naturals products, anything that the skin absorbs from the product is good ingredients even for those with sensitive skin.

Saavy Naturals is not Debra and Hugo’s first business. They had a business that they built to the value of $10 million but made the mistake of selling too much equity so for them Saavy Naturals is their second chance.

At first when Hugo and Barbara developed the Saavy Naturals range, they began to sell the products at a local farmers’ markets in Los Angeles. The response to the Saavy Naturals range was really positive so Hugo and Debra started selling the products on the Saavy Naturals website and on other online stores such as Amazon. In order to develop the business and the brand, Hugo and Debra decided to take their products to the shark tank in search of some additional capital as well as some business expertise that the sharks could offer. Will the sharks like the Saavy Naturals products and will Hugo and Debra clean up successfully in the Shark Tank?

Saavy Naturals On Shark Tank

Hugo and Debra go in together, introduce themselves to the sharks and inform them that they are looking for $200,000 in return for a ten per cent equity share in their company, Saavy Naturals. Hugo acknowledges that the sharks are probably thinking this brand is yet another line of soaps and lotions but he assures them that Saavy Naturals is different to anything the world has seen or tasted before. The sharks seem surprised when Hugo mentions the word tasted and he explains that the products are purely made from edible products. Much to the sharks’’ amusement, Hugo goes on to feed wife Debra a spoon of one of the Saavy Naturals products. Debra goes on to explain to that the sharks that the philosophy herself and Hugo follow is that if you care about what you put in to your body then you should also care about what you put on your body. Hugo explains the reason the products are so pure and natural is because himself and Debra are chefs. Debra goes on to tell the sharks that each product in the Saavy Naturals range is made in their very own kitchen factory to ensure product integrity.

Robert asks Hugo and Debra if the sharks can take a closer look at the products. Lori comments on how the products smell extremely fragrant and Robert volunteers Barbara to taste the Saavy naturals products first. Hugo kindly feeds Barbara a spoon of one of the products and Barbara admits that it is not bad and describes it as tasting of perfume and sugar. Lori is very impressed at how good the sample she has been given smells. She acknowledges that it’s not as if Hugo and Barbara want people eating their products; their whole belief system is that the products should be natural and contain nothing harmful to the body.

Kevin is eager to talk numbers and asks about the sales of the Saavy Naturals products so far. Hugo informs him that in the last year, sales have been approximately $750,000. All of the sharks are incredibly impressed at this admission. Hugo explains that they are selling very little online currently. He says that himself and Debra have experience building businesses and the duo tell the sharks about the previous company they had. Debra admits that they lost control due to a majority of the equity being bought and Robert wants to know how exactly that happened. Debra explains that they sold the majority of shares to investors. Barbara acknowledges that there must have been a reason for doing that then and is keen to know what exactly has changed now for Hugo and Barbara. Hugo explains that the duo was not ‘Saavy’ then but they are now. Mark asks if they needed the cash to operate the business at the time to which Hugo replies that was the reason. Lori asks when Saavy Naturals was started to which Debra replies that they started the company approximately a year ago. Hugo explains that two months after setting up the company, they approached whole foods because of their good relationships with big businesses in the natural product industry. Since then the majority of the sales has come from the products they have sold to Whole Foods.

Kevin wants to talk numbers and asks Debra and Hugo to talk him through cost and retail of a typical bar of soap from the Saavy Naturals range. Debra explains that the products range in price from $6 to $15. However, the margin from wholesale is only between 30% and 40% which is a problem. Debra explains this is because they are buying in such limited quantities and they simply do not have the capital to expand their inventory. Robert asks how much the pair put in to start the business to which Hugo replies about $350,000.

Kevin says he wants to bring a little bit of reality to the situation. He thinks the business valuation of $2 million is absolutely crazy. He says that not one shark will be willing to give $200,000 in return for a ten per cent share. He claims if they were to do that they would not be a shark, they would be bankrupt. Hugo disagrees with Kevin’s statement but Kevin is adamant the company is worth no more than $400,000. He also asks if there is any debt on the company to which Debra replies about $400,000 in debt to friends and family. Kevin declares that the company currently has no value and declares himself out.

Mark explains that he is part of a company called Simple Sugars which also manufacture a range of completely natural products. Since Saavy Naturals is competitive of Mark’s company he concedes that he will have to declare himself out.

Lori admits that she loves Hugo and Debra’s story but is worried that the personal care area is a very competitive sector. She also declares herself out.

Barbara is interested in the product and asks the duo how willing they would be to take her advice on board and change the name of the company if it meant the product would sell more. Debra agrees that they would do it in a heartbeat to have Barbara’s backing and support. Debra and Hugo are open to change but the one thing they do not want to compromise on is the quality of the product. Barbara also admits that she agrees with Kevin on the valuation of the business and makes an offer of $200,000 for a fifty per cent equity share in the company. Debra wants to make a counter offer of a lower share so that herself and Hugo can retain the majority shares in the company. Barbara swiftly declares herself out.

Robert the final shark remaining decides to make an offer. He thinks that the company has potential especially in online sales which is a market they have not even tapped into yet. Robert offers the $200,000 in return for a forty-five per cent share in the company. At this Barbara decides to amend her offer much to everybody’s surprise. Barbara agrees to only take a forty per cent equity share and in return will give the duo $100,000 in cash as well as a second $100,000 to fund purchase orders. If they have more purchases orders than that she will continue to fund them.

Hugo and Debra consider both offers for a moment before Debra says that they would love to take Barbara’s offer. Hugo and Debra get out of the shark tank happy to have succeed in doing a deal with Barbara.

Saavy Naturals Now in 2018- The After Shark Tank Update

Since the shark tank episode aired, Hugo and Barbara have enjoyed immense success with the Saavy Naturals products. The media coverage received by the brand ensured sales rocketed much to their delight. Having Barbara on board has been wonderful for the duo and they finally got the online sales up and running successfully. Further to that the very first Saavy Naturals retail store has opened in Pacific City, California, an amazing achievement for Debra, Hugo and the brand. If you want to pick up some Saavy Naturals products, they are available to buy online on Amazon. Simply click on this link here. There is no doubt that this is another success story to come from the shark tank. We wish Hugo and Barbara the best of luck.