Wanna Date 2024 Update – What Happened After Shark Tank

Wanna Date Before Shark Tank

Peanut butter, chocolate spread, and fruit jam are all delicious spreads to eat on your favorite meal; however, they are often unhealthy and contain lots of sugar. An average serving of peanut butter contains nearly a teaspoon of sugar. Melissa Bartow realized the problem and came up with a genius solution; she used dates as the main ingredient in her product, Wanna date.

Wanna Date started when Melissa was working at a health food shop. She realized that the fruit bowls she served contained plenty of sugar. She knew dates were a perfect sweetener for healthy meals but realized that almost no one uses them. Melissa created Wanna Date as a result.

Wanna Date is a smooth creamy spread made with dates and one of four flavors. Flavors include Vanilla, Chocolate, Cinnamon, and Pumpkin Spice. Wanna Date is completely healthy with close to no added sugar, just dates! Each jar of Wanna Date is GM[p'[–O-free, oil-free, cholesterol-free, dairy-free, allergen-free, paleo-friendly, and vegan. Wanna Date is also low on calories, containing only 25 calories per tablespoon!

Melissa started Wanna Date with an IndieGoGo fundraising campaign. Wanna Date raised $2,250 with an original goal of $!0,000. The campaign wasn’t as successful as Melissa had hoped, but she continued working on Wanna Date anyway. Wanna Date received many good reviews with people praising the product as a healthy alternative to other spreads.

Melissa believed that dates are a superfruit and would eventually be as trendy as avocados and cauliflower. She hoped Wanna Date would be on shelves nationwide and become a staple spread in any American kitchen. To accomplish her goal, Melissa decided to go on Shark Tank. She wanted to find a business partner willing to help Wanna Date reach the next level in the vegan spread market.

Wanna Date on Shark Tank

Melissa Bartow was on season 11 of Shark Tank to pitch Wanna Date. She was seeking $100,000 for a 20% stake in her business. Melissa presented her company, Wanna Date, in a hilarious manner. She then gave each Shark a sample tray of food with each Wanna Date flavor mixed in. The Sharks loved it!

Wanna Date had been selling for ten months since the time of filming. In those ten months, the company made $31,000 in sales. 10% of Wanna Date sales were through the company’s website, 35% through events and social gatherings, and 55% were wholesale. Each jar costs $2.40 to produce landed and retails for $12. She believed she could lower the costs of production to $1.70 landed.

Melissa told the Sharks her backstory. She had recently graduated from NYU. She started her business as a result of her passion for healthy natural foods. Daymond commented that her sales weren’t enough to get by in New York. Melissa replied that her father supports her financially, so she was able to make it even if her business fails.

Daymond John wasn’t sure how feasible it was to educate people about the product, so he was out.

Lori Greiner agreed with Daymond; she didn’t know if people were ready to purchase date spreads yet, so she was out.

Melissa explained that she wanted to make dates mainstream. She claimed she was doing that by lowering the entry barrier by providing customers with well-liked flavored date spreads. Mark was concerned that Melissa didn’t have a plain date spread with no flavoring. She announced that she had just finished developing a plain date spread and would soon launch it to market.

Barbara Corcoran didn’t think Melissa needed her business to succeed. Barbara believed successful startups needed to have their backs against the wall with no safety net to truly make their business work. She didn’t like the fact that Melissa received financial support from her father, so she was out.

Melissa was shocked. She retaliated by explaining how hard she worked for the company. She built Wanna Date from the ground up, all by herself, and spent many nights marketing and selling her products at events and gatherings. She stated she wouldn’t be homeless if the business failed, but she had still put all of her time and effort into the business and wasn’t depending on anyone.

Kevin O’Leary believed it was too early for Wanna Date to be worth a $500,000 valuation, so he was out.

Mark Cuban was interested. He was willing to offer a deal if Melissa would make a plain date flavor the star of the show and make the packaging more compact. Melissa agreed, and Mark offered $100,000 for 33% of the company. After some hesitation, Melissa accepted Mark’s offer.

Melissa believed Mark Cuban was the perfect partner, and he would help Wanna Date in many ways in the future.

Wanna Date Now in 2024 – The After Shark Tank Update

The deal Wanna Date struck with Mark Cuban successfully closed, and the company is still going strong in 2024. After the episode aired, sales skyrocketed, and Wanna Date gained a new customer base. By the time the episode aired, Wanna Date had officially launched its plain-flavored date spread, just as Mark had suggested.

Mark Cuban and Melissa seem to be working well together as they worked on expanding Wanna Date. Wanna Date released a new limited-time flavor, Cookie Date Spread. Wanna Date brought back the cookie date spread in 2024, but we’re not yet sure if it’s here to stay. The business didn’t stop there; Wanna Date introduced Date Dough! The company launched three Date Dough flavors: Birthday Cake Date Dough, Chocolate Brownie Date Dough, and Snickerdoodle Date Dough. The Date Dough works simply by adding water and baking in an oven.

Wanna Date is still going strong now in 2024. Wanna Date is in over 128 locations across the United States including select Whole Food stores. The company also sells its date spreads and date doughs on Amazon in addition to its website, with seasonal sales on its products. As of 2024, Wanna Date has $4.7 million in lifetime sales. Wanna Date’s annual revenue in 2024 is unknown, but the company has definitely grown since its appearance on Shark Tank.

Melissa will continue working hard on Wanna Date to ensure the business grows as she had hoped. Mark Cuban contributed to the business in various ways as he supported the brand and product. Wanna Date is expected to grow further in the following years as dates become more mainstream in the United States. For more updates and information about Wanna Date, visit their website here.