‘Shark Tank’ review: The Paint Brush Cover, Monkey Mat, Plated, and Kodiak Cakes

“Shark Tank” never ceases to surprise, and we can say that once again about the new episode that aired on Friday night. Who thought that a flapjack company wouldn’t get what they wanted, but a uncooked meal deliver service basically did? This episode was a ton of fun, and we also learned that Kevin O’Leary throws away an umbrella every time he buys one. Somewhere, there’s probably a landfill full of these umbrellas.

As always with our “Shark Tank” reviews, click on the product names below to pay a visit to each one’s respective websites. We want to make browsing for you easy!

Kodiak Cakes (asking for $500,000 for 10%) – Who doesn’t love pancakes? Well, we had pancakes last night, so we really didn’t feel that much of a craving for these whole wheat products. There is a market out there for a specialty food product like this, but that market to us seems limited. There could be a cap of around $10-20 million on sales for this annually, but that’s with the right stores falling into place and with better packaging than boxes that look out of the Dharma Initiative.

Are we surprised that they walked away without an offer? Hardly, since it was the right decision. They may have overvalued what their business was worth to the sharks (since you have to take into account their time), but Kevin O’Leary, Robert Herjavec, and Barbara Corcoran all undervalued it with their offers.

Monkey Mat (seeking $100,000 for 30% stake) – So it’s weighted sheet for a picnic? We’re torn on this one. First of all, we like the entrepreneurs, and feel like it is perfect when it comes to portability. The problem we see with it is that it’s still something that seems like it could get bunched up somewhat easily, which doesn’t make it that much better than a towel or a sheet. Also, its price is way too high. The good news for them is that they have two investors on board here in Mark Cuban and Lori Greiner who gave them the money for 35%, and they at present-day have the price down to a respectable $19.99. That’ll make them so much more attractive to moms. Their design, unfortunately, is limiting themselves more to that market.

Plated (seeking 4% for $500,000) – This is the most insane asking price of all time. You are valuing your company this high based on projections? We don’t care about other investments; once again, you have to value the sharks’ time on this show. It also doesn’t matter how much education you have.

We will say this, though: We like the idea. It costs a ton of money to go to the store and buy ingredients sometimes for a food, and then you have to worry about getting the right portions and the time commitment. Cooking can be a fun experience, and we would probably try this once or twice to see if the recipes were any good. If they turned out not-so-tasty, then we’d probably bail quick. We find it funny that Mark gave them almost everything they asked for, even though he’s probably not someone who would ever use it.

The Paint Brush Cover (seeking $50,000 for 10%) – These guys were nervous as heck … either that or they’re not good salespeople, which is probably why they have struggled to get a ton of units out there. But, they seem like cool guys, and we do genuinely think that this is a very good product that is affordable and will make a killing on QVC.

Perhaps that is what makes this deal much more interesting. Kevin actually brought up some good points, and we do think that this is a business that could actually benefit from a royalty. But just when there was almost a deal with him, they took one from Lori that was basically twice the evaluation that they were asking for. (Ironically, there was a better deal coming from Barbara at the time they took it, but we don’t blame them. Lori was the best person for something like this, which can be sold on QVC almost instantly.) Episode Grade: B+.

As always, click here if you want to see some other highlights from this season … or here if you are curious to get some more updates from us via our CarterMatt Newsletter.

Photo: ABC