Surprise Cake Before Shark Tank
Surprise Cake is a cake company that creates unique cakes with a twist. The cakes they make consist of a pop-up tube that is hidden in the center of the cake. Within that tube, consumers can have whatever kind of surprise they want placed inside in order to give someone an extra-special surprise. This company makes cakes for nearly any celebration. This includes birthdays, anniversaries, gender reveals, and even cakes to celebrate friendships. among many more! If you visit the Surprise Cake website, you’ll find a variety of different gift options to choose from to have placed inside the cake. Not to mention, consumers can choose to have the company paste special photos on the inner sides of the box to make the surprise even sweeter!
The company has two options when it comes to buying someone a surprise cake. The first one is their “Send a Surprise Cake” option, which is the cake with the hidden tube inside. Below the cake, there is a card labeled “pull” that is slid into the cake stand. Once the card is pulled out, the tube will then pop up out of the cake, revealing the surprise inside. The second option is to shop through their pop-up stand options. While this one may be like the latter option, this cake has a small key or a music box placed in the side of the cake stand. Once the key or music box is active, the tube will then pop out of the cake.
Surprise Cake was founded by Liz Charm and her co-founder and son, Jordan Long, in 2018. The shop is located in Burlington, Massachusetts. This business is operated under its parent company, Charm Concepts LLC. Liz is a professional baker, hence the cake shop. Her son, Jordan, is an engineer who studied at the University of Miami before moving on to his studies at the USC Viterbi School of Engineering. He graduated in 2018 with a degree in engineering. Now, Jordan is helping his mother Liz manage her cake shop. Due to his experience in engineering, Jordan has taken on the responsibility of designing the prototypes and helping Liz get the tubes in the cakes to pop out. Moreover, the founder knew how harmful it was to have the plastic tube touch the cake, so her son created a solution around that. 
Liz came up with the idea for the surprise cake as her daughter’s 12th birthday was approaching. She wanted to give her daughter a new phone. One night, she had a dream that she hid the phone inside her daughter’s birthday cake; once her daughter had blown out the candles, she dreamed that the phone would then start ringing, surprising her daughter. Immediately the next day, the founder began creating the cake she’d seen in her dream. She placed the phone inside a Ziploc bag and placed it in between two of the cake’s layers. Later, during her daughter’s birthday party, just like in her dream, the phone started ringing after the candles had been blown out. Once they cut into the cake, to everyone’s surprise, the phone was revealed. After seeing the look on everyone’s faces, Liz knew she needed to create a business out of this. Hence, the surprise cake business.
When the Surprise Cake business was officially started in 2018, the founders didn’t receive many orders. They assumed this was due to people not knowing what the product really is or how it works. Fortunately, Jordan has learned a bit about marketing. With that knowledge, he started marketing the surprise cake on social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram. This ended up being a great idea because it helped guide more people to their website, leading them to see an increase in their sales. Once people started realizing what these cakes were all about, the company became more popular. Now, Liz and Jordan are thinking about paying a visit to the Shark Tank to see if a shark can help them get their business booming quicker. 
Surprise Cake on Shark Tank
Liz Charm and her son, Jordan Long, enter the Shark Tank seeking a deal of $200,000 for an 8% stake in their company, Surprise Cake. Their visit to the Shark Tank is due to them wanting a shark’s assistance in growing their $2.5 million business. The sharks think this valuation is too high for a cake shop. The mother-and-son duo started off their pitch by revealing a little bit about themselves. As they explained what their surprise cake business was, they noticed how confused the sharks’ expressions looked. Due to this, they ended up demonstrating how the pop-up cakes work. The founders stated that they were hoping to launch pre-packaged cake options in the future, which the sharks didn’t seem to like.
Jordan takes the stage and tells the sharks that they have begun the process to get their utility patents accepted in Australia, Europe, and the United Kingdom. As far as the sales of the surprise cakes go, Jordan shares that they only made $10,000 in sales during the first five months. In 2019, they made $280,000 in sales and another $550,000 in sales before appearing on Shark Tank. The co-founder adds that he believes that he and his mother could reach $900,000 in sales by the end of the 2020 year. At the time of filming the episode, their surprise cakes were being sold for $39.99 with an additional $7.99 charge for shipping. The cakes cost them $8 to make, and Jordan mentions that he makes about $50,000 from the business.
Although Liz and Jordan did a great job with their pitch, they didn’t receive a deal from any of the sharks. Mark Cuban left the deal first, sharing that he doesn’t believe their business could become profitable. While he likes the sales they’ve made, he won’t be investing in them. Daymond John, Barbara Corcoran, and Kevin O’Leary all dropped out next, agreeing with Mark. And, as for Lori Greiner, she likes the business and believes it could grow; however, she did end up backing out of the deal after negotiations. With that, unfortunately, Liz and Jordan had to leave the tank without a contract. 
Surprise Cake Now in 2023 – The After Shark Tank Update
Following Liz Charm and Jordan Long’s appearance on Shark Tank, their businesses saw an increase in sales within the next few weeks. Unfortunately, their surprise cake business is still bringing in lower profits; however, the founders have decided to hire a few employees in hopes that it will help the business grow. Additionally, Liz and Jordan have been working towards investing a portion of the profits they make into bettering their marketing strategies for the future. Though this cake shop does have a lot of competitors, it will be interesting to see if business picks up for them. Just a few of their competitors at the moment are Polka Dot, Hands on Design Cakes, Bonnie Brunt Cakes, and Custom Cakes NYC Inc.
On the plus side, Surprise Cake has been featured in a few magazines such as Today, Good Morning America, Buzzfeed, NBC, and the Daily Mail. As of January, of 2023, Surprise Cake is selling their cakes on Amazon and their website for about $64.98. Additionally, sales on Amazon have been going well, and the company has received many supportive 5-star reviews. Now, going forward, it seems that the founders of Surprise Cake will possibly reveal some new ideas. Though, for now, Surprise Cake is doing well with their $5 million annual revenue and their estimated $3 million net worth.
