Best Shark Tank Moment Ever? Kids Whose Dad Died From Fighting Fires On 9/11 Pitch His Cooking Invention, Get An Investment From All Sharks And Sell $1 Million In Product In 2 Days
CNBC - On Sunday’s episode of ABC’s “Shark Tank,” one pitch not only moved the sharks to tears, but spurred all five Sharks to collaborate on, rather than fight over, a deal.
Walking into the Tank were three siblings from Long Island, New York: Kaley (24), Christian (20) and Keira Young (15) with their product, Cup Board Pro. The cutting board was created by their late father, Keith — a New York firefighter, firehouse chef and two-time “Chopped” star who died of cancer related to his time doing cleanup at Ground Zero in lower Manhattan after September 11, 2001, according to the Youngs.
I love Shark Tank. Even though Mark Cuban shot down all of our genius ideas like Big Cat LLC and Iowa Trent in a corn suit, I still love it.
Like most people (read: assholes) I normally watch it for the embarrassing pitches, the people who get shot down and told by Kevin that they should basically take their inventions and use it to kill themselves.
But sometimes there are actually good inventions – and sometimes there are not just good inventions, but unbelievable stories. Like the one on Sunday night, from the Young family pitching the “Cup Board Pro.”
It’s a bamboo cutting board with a tray that you can scrape all the scraps into and carefully placed grooves that make the meat juices run into the tray as well. Awesome. I fucking love cutting boards. I basically collect them.
The Sharks loved the product. But much more importantly – they loved the background story.
While the sharks were impressed with the quality and effectiveness of the cutting board, the entrepreneurs’ personal story made an even bigger impact. For their pitch, the Youngs, who were seeking $100,000 for a 10 percent stake in their business, played a video of their father demonstrating the product. Keith had made the video for his “Shark Tank” audition tape before he died in March.
Their father Keith Young died in March from cancer caused by toxic dust from the fires of 9/11. He died just as he was about to receive the final Cup Board product, which he ordered 2,000 of to launch his business. And he knew what he was doing too – he was on Chopped, twice. And won, twice.
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And, that wasn’t the only tragedy the Young family had gone through:
Kaley told the investors that her father created the Cup Board Pro when she was in high school in 2010, but as he received the product’s first prototypes, their mother, Beth King, was diagnosed with breast cancer. The business took a backseat and King died at age 47 in 2012.
Jesus. Terrible.
But instead of wallowing in misery, the kids took their dad’s passion and decided not to let it die. They launched a website and started selling, racking up 300 sales by the time they hit the Tank.
“It was our dad’s dream to have the Cup Board Pro in kitchens all over the world,” the siblings say on the business’s website. “We feel honored to be able to continue his legacy and to share a little bit of Keith Young and the Cup Board Pro with you all.”
While it may all seem overwhelming, the Youngs say they can handle it.
“Honestly, it’s kind of hard to overwhelm the three of us because of just the amount of stress you go through seeing your loved ones sick. We are only able to be here because of how strong our parents were,” Kaley told the Sharks.
And to really seal the deal – they played their dad’s audition tape that he filmed before he passed away.
It worked out well.
All the Sharks cried. Kevin haggled over the price (obviously), but in the end, ALL the Sharks went in on the deal, giving $100,000 for 20%. But those profits they make – every cent will be donated to a charity helping firefighters who have become sick after 9/11.
So awesome.
And hey, how’s it doing so far?
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$1 million in orders, is that good? High score, is that good? Did I break it?
Shout out to the Young family and thank you to Keith Young for your service.
I will now be purchasing a Cup Board Pro and will be cooking the shit out of some steak tonight.