Saucemoto Before Shark Tank
Chips and nuggets are some of the most popular fast foods on the market. What’s not to love about a warm meal that’s freshly cooked, available at any time, and could even be delivered to your doorstep?
Tony Lahood, William Moujaes, and Michael Koury were three friends who all shared a mutual love for fried foods and loved to eat them in their cars. One problem that they consistently experienced was the lack of a stable container to place their condiment sauces in. They had to either eat very carefully or do without any sauce at all if they wanted to avoid a spill but this was easier said than done.
One day, while on the road, William spilled some sauce in Tony’s brand-new car. This incident made the three of them work to develop a holder for condiment sauces. This led to the invention of the Saucemoto condiment holder. The holder has a clip that can be placed in the car and then used to hold a sauce cup.
With the Sauce holder, people can enjoy meals in their cars with little to no spills at all. Tony, William, and Michael had started selling their product but ran into many difficulties. They needed expert help to improve sales and so reached out to Shark Tank to get some help in exchange for a share in the profits. The sharks called them to make their pitch on the 22nd episode of the 10th season.
Saucemoto on Shark Tank
The sharks liked the meal that the trio served them and as they ate, Robert asked them how they came up with the idea. William said that 10 years before they had been on a trip and went to get some French fries. They were in Tony’s brand new car and William accidentally spilled some sauce. After the accident, they started wondering how they could keep the French Fries secure and they came up with the idea.
Barbara was surprised that they thought it was that big of a problem but the other sharks said that it was. Kevin then asked them how many they had sold. He was told that they sold 12,000 units that made about $77,000 in sales.
Barbara asked them if they were excited to be there and Michael had to explain that Tony naturally spoke with a very soft voice. Barbara then asked them what their role in the company was. Michael said that he was mainly the engineer and testing.
William said that he did a bit of the design, testing, and tasting with Tony. Barbara asked who had mainly done the package cover and she was told that William was the one who did the cover which she thought was very well done. Lori then asked them what their sales price was.
Logan said that their sales price was around $5.75 and they sold the holder on their website and other online sources. It cost them $0.8 to make it. Robert then asked them what their backgrounds were. William said that he was a sales engineer in the tire industry, Michael was a mechanical engineer, and Tony said that he owned a couple of bars in Cleveland.
Robert asked them how they knew that the product would be a success, and William said that there is a nugget culture that is very prevalent. They did a few online campaigns and they went viral and they accumulated 44,000,000 views. Mark then asked them if they really believed that they could get millions in sales.
Tony said that two sauce manufacturers were in talks with them. Kevin said that he liked the product but they were focused on the wrong thing. He thought that they should focus on selling it for fries, not nuggets. He thought that it would be a success but the amount that they offered was too little.
Kevin then offered $45,000 but for 50% of the business. Kevin said that he agreed that the product should be sold at fast food outlets as people bought their meals. Mark Cuban then left. Mark said that the product was great but they would have to do a lot of promotional work to make the big sales they expected. It would take a lot of time which he wasn’t willing to give and so he was out.
As Barbara tried to explain her position Kevin told them that his price would go up if the trio gave the other sharks time to exit. Barbara then left. She said that the profits would be too little for her. Robert then asked them to tell him who had created the viral videos that got 44,000,000 hits.
William said that they wrote the scripts themselves but had others record them. Robert asked them what their production costs were and they said that they were $4,000. Robert then offered them the $45,000 but for 40%.
Robert said that he didn’t believe in the product but he did believe in the group behind it. The condiment holder was probably their first product but not their last. He just wanted to go along for the ride. Kevin then offered $45,000 for 25%. He did it so that they would all be equal and he pledged to work to make sure the product was a success.
Tony, William, and Michael accepted the offer. They said that they knew Saucemoto was going to take off because Kevin would open some doors for them.
Saucemoto Now in 2024 – The After Shark Tank Update
Saucemoto has increased its line of products to include a wider range of sauce holders and in a wider variety of colors. Saucemoto has active social media pages but has not focused much on them. Its Facebook and Instagram both have more than 2,000 followers. Its Twitter has less than 200 followers. On Amazon, it has a 4.5 out of 5-star ranking from over 19,500 reviews.
Saucemoto has partnered with several fast food outlets that provide the holder with their food. Some of the outlets are Zaxby’s and Chick-Fil-A.  The business has faced competition from other generic sauce holders but it has remained competitive due to brand recognition.
All 3 founders have continued with their other jobs as they continued to run Saucemoto. The company has not disclosed its revenue since its time on Shark Tank but given its high sales rate and partnerships, it’s not hard to see that it has become a success.
