Today’s special guest is Ori Zohar. Many of you may already know him from his appearance on Shark Tank. He is the Co-founder & Co-CEO of Burlap & Barrel. We have already covered Burlap and Barrel Shark Tank Update separately, so you can check that out.
Recently, I contacted Ori Zohar for a short email interview. I’m happy to say that he was responsive and answered my questions. I appreciate him for taking the time to provide such thoughtful responses. I hope this short interview will prove to be helpful for our audience. This conversation is a great chance for us to learn more about his journey and get some valuable advice from his experiences.
Introduction and Background
Sara: Please tell me about yourself, your background, education, experience, and position in the company.
Ori: My name is Ori Zohar and I started Burlap & Barrel Single Origin Spices with my longtime friend Ethan. Ethan’s background is as a chef in New York City, turned international aid worker. I’ve been an entrepreneur for over 2 decades, always looking for the right opportunity to start a new business. Prior to Burlap & Barrel, I started a venture-backed Silicon Valley mortgage company that raised over $30 million before we were forced to sell by unscrupulous investors. It was a good experience in running a company but made me weary of building a company that needed money from investors to exist. Instead, I wanted my next business to be a scrappy, bootstrapped, profitable company.
Ethan and I had been friends for a long time. Our first company was in 2010 – we started an activist ice cream company, pushing our carts around the streets of New York, selling ice cream flavors inspired by political movements, and donating our profits to a street vendor advocacy group. A few years later, Ethan returned from his aid work in Afghanistan, carrying a special kind of cumin that grows wild in the north. I watched as the chefs had their minds blown tasting the wild Afghan cumin, as well as a few other spices that he had brought along: cardamom from vertically integrated farmers in Guatemala, and black pepper, cloves, and nutmeg from an organic farmers cooperative in Zanzibar. The chefs were blown away, and it was clear that home cooks would love the spices, too.
Burlap & Barrel is a social enterprise that’s building a global network of smallholder partner farms to source unique, fresh spices, directly from the farm. Single origin coffee, tea and chocolate have changed people’s relationships with those foods, and that’s what we’re doing with spices.
Pre-Shark Tank Preparation
Sara: Can you describe the journey and preparation that led up to your pitch on Shark Tank?
Ori: My mother is the biggest Shark Tank fan I know, and we’ve been watching the show together for years. I started watching it on my own to get a glimpse into how young companies operate, their revenue, their costs, and their journey. When we were ready to apply, we reached out to about a dozen Shark Tank alumni to hear about their experience – and they were more than happy to share their wisdom on how the show works and how to make the most of our appearance.
We prepared for months, practicing our pitch, and responding to the show producers as quickly as possible. We watched hundreds of shows, mapped out the most common questions, rehearsed our answers, and practiced getting to the point as quickly as possible (since we know the Sharks can get impatient). We even rehearsed with other Shark Tank alumni, asking them to pretend to be a particular Shark and not hold back!
We kept returning to a few central points: we’re a small, rapidly growing social enterprise, we’re experts at building and running global food supply chains, and we have over a hundred thousand customers who love us and our spices.
Valuation and Strategy
Sara: How did you decide on the valuation you presented to the sharks, and what was the strategy behind your initial ask?
Ori: We’ve been around longer than most companies that go into the tank. Over the past 8 years, we’ve demonstrated that we’re skilled entrepreneurs, who can build a company without any investors and have sold tens of millions of dollars of spices. It felt right to ask for a higher valuation.
We never wanted to raise money from typical investors, but the Sharks are not typical investors. We came up with a valuation that we felt was fair, then cut it in half to give the Sharks something to sink their teeth into, but it was still a little too rich for their taste.
Post-Shark Tank Impact
Sara: What happened to your company after appearing on Shark Tank in terms of investments and business growth?
Ori: From the moment we stepped onto that stage, we saw a surge in site visitors. The beauty of Shark Tank is that regardless of whether the Sharks invest, entrepreneurs get a chance to share their story to an audience of millions of potential customers. We took advantage of that.
The response was immediate. We saw over 5,000 orders come in within 24 hours of Shark Tank airing! Most of the orders came through our site, but our sales on Amazon also shot through the roof: our Royal Cinnamon was the 150th best-selling item on Amazon at some point. We worked hard to prepare ahead of the show and had a mountain of spice jars ready. Our team worked tirelessly over the next few days to ship out all the orders. We wanted to show our new customers that when they order spices from us, they get delivered FAST!
The response from the Shark Tank viewers was even better than we expected – and the Shark Tank audience put more money into our business than Mr. Wonderful would have!
Current Valuation
Sara: What is your company’s net worth today?
Ori: We don’t have a good sense of our net worth, but our business has almost doubled in size since we filmed our Shark Tank episode. The Sharks missed out on a great opportunity!
Additional Investments
Sara: Have you secured any investments from other investors since your appearance on Shark Tank?
Ori: No, we have never considered investors aside from the Sharks. Since Shark Tank, we just kept growing on our own, focusing on profitable growth, which is how we’ve always done it. Many new customers from our appearance on Shark Tank became regulars, buying spices for themselves and as gifts for friends. We’re very grateful to have been on the show.
Business Strategy Evolution
Sara: How has your business strategy or operations changed after your appearance on Shark Tank?
Ori: We’ve been expanding our spice lineup. We’re listening to our customers – they want more spice blends, more alliums (think onions, garlic, shallots), more chilies. We’re also going into new spice-adjacent ingredients: single origin sugar, honey, and spice extracts. We still have a lot of ideas about what we want to do with the company, so this is just the beginning!
Challenges
Sara: What were the biggest challenges you’ve faced since your appearance on Shark Tank, and how have you addressed them?
Ori: Shark Tank put us in front of a huge audience and brought our spices into many people’s homes, but most Americans still have never heard of us. Without investment, we don’t have the budget to do traditional advertising or to pay hefty sums of money to get into grocery distribution, so we’re coming up with crafty approaches to get in front of more people.
We’re working on making Burlap & Barrel a household name by partnering with bigger names in the food world and making exceptional, fun, easy-to-use spice blends with them. We’re also getting into more of your favorite specialty and independent grocery stores, where people go to find better food than what your typical major grocery store would carry.
Long-term Objectives and Influence
Sara: What are the long-term goals for your company, and how has Shark Tank influenced these goals?
Ori: I really admire companies like Patagonia, Dr. Bronners, and Equal Exchange – independent, thoughtful companies committed to impact over the long haul. We want to do the same with Burlap & Barrel. It’s hard to make an impact over the short time horizon that most investors have, so we wanted to see if any of the Sharks would be open to a different kind of investment than their typical one.
Most food companies that go into the tank have a singular focus: to sell and cash out as quickly as possible. We’re working on building a company that can be around for years as an independent company, increasing our impact every year. The people watching Shark Tank are giving our business a huge boost in that direction by choosing our spices, which directly helps us build our company and deliver impact to our partner farmers.
Advice for Future Contestants
Sara: What advice would you give future entrepreneurs considering applying for Shark Tank?
Ori: I recommend you become a fan of the show. It’s a huge platform for entrepreneurs, fueled by all the drama of running a company and pitching investors. Think about how you share the story of your business in terms of connecting with the audience beyond the Sharks while making entertaining TV. Make sure you take the time to prepare for the show because once you’re in front of the cameras, there’s no do-over!
Hello everyone, I’m Sara Javed. I’m an IT professional expert with project management and design skills. Besides writing, I love playing video games, designing digital art, and reading books. I love Shark Tank due to its innovative business idea and unpredicted reactions of Sharks. This keeps me glued to the screens to watch the next catchy moment. Read more About me.
